Bromeliaceae of the brazilian Atlantic Forest: Checklist, distribution and conservation

Abstract

The Atlantic Forest is amongst the most important tropical forests in the world, being considered a priority for conservation due to the high degree of threat to its megadiversity. In this forest, Bromeliaceae is one of the most relevant taxonomic groups due to its expressive level of endemism and ecological importance mainly reflected by its manyfold relantionships with the local fauna. This work presents a species list of Bromeliaceae from the Atlantic Forest domain in Brazil together with their conservation status, as well as the distribution of species within states and biodiversity corridors. Thirty one genera were registered, with 803 species and 150 infraespecific taxa. The genera Andrea, Canistropsis, Canistrum, Edmundoa, Fernseea, Lymania, Nidularium, Portea, Quesnelia and Wittrockia are endemic to the domain, and Vriesea (166 spp.), Aechmea (136 spp.) and Neoregelia (97 spp.) are the most diverse. The genus Alcantarea, Cryptanthus, Orthophytum and Neoregelia are not exclusive to the Atlantic Forest, however they have their center of diversity in this biome. Brazil's southeast region plus southern Bahia state hold the highest species richness in the Atlantic Forest. Regarding the conservation status, 338 taxa of Bromeliaceae are cited in oficial lists of threatened species. The biodiversity corridors are extremely important for the conservation of the family, housing a great number of endemic and threatened species.