Richness and abundance of aechmea and hohenbergia (bromeliaceae) in forest fragments and shade cocoa plantations in two contrasting landscapes in Southern Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

The intensification of agricultural activity can have profound impacts on biodiversity. We evaluated the influence of the landscape’s percentage of forest cover and shaded cocoa plantations on the community of zoochorous bromeliads in southern Bahia, Brazil. We selected two contrasting landscapes, one dominated by Atlantic tropical rainforest and the other by traditional cocoa plantations. In each landscape we sampled three forest fragments and three areas of cocoa plantation, where we conducted a survey of epiphytic bromeliads of the genera Aechmea and Hohenbergia in eight plots of 400 m2 in each area. The number of trees differed between landscapes and habitats, and was higher in forest fragments than in shade cocoa plantations, but the number of phorophytes was similar between landscapes and habitats. Highest richness of Aechmea and Hohenbergia species was found in forest fragments in landscapes where forests are predominant. Contrary to expectations, the richness in the other areas was relatively low, and extremely low in the landscape dominated by cocoa plantations, ranging from zero to four species per fragment. Bromeliad abundance was not different among landscapes and habitats, but the shade cocoa plantations located in predominant agroforest landscape showed the higher number of stands. Moreover, the species found in the cocoa plantations were more drought-tolerant species. These results suggest that the conservation of species of these genera depends on factors such as the conservation status of each forest fragment and the microclimatic alterations in the habitats, and not only on the percentage of forest in the landscape per se.