Species composition of Bromeliaceae and their distribution at the Massambaba restinga in Arraial do Cabo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

• Main Authors: TC. Rocha-Pessôa, AF. Nunes-Freitas, L. Cogliatti-Carvalho, CFD. Rocha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Internacional de Ecologia
• Series: Brazilian Journal of Biology
• Subjects: bromeliads; restinga; species composition; vegetation zones
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1519-69842008000200005&lng=en&tlng=en

We studied some ecological parameters such as richness, abundance, density, biomass and variation in species composition in four vegetation zones and in a zone with anthropic disturbance in the Massambaba Restinga in Arraial do Cabo, Rio de Janeiro State. We sampled 100 plots of 100 m² (10 x 10 m) recording the bromeliad species and their abundance. We found a total of seven bromeliad species, with Vriesea neoglutinosa (5647 ramets) and Tillandsia stricta (1277 ramets) being the most abundant. The vegetation zone called Clusia shrubs had the highest richness (S = 5) and density (6360 ramets.ha-1) of bromeliads. The differences found in abundance and variation in species composition among vegetation zones seems to be related to the vegetation structure of each zone.