ATLANTIC EPIPHYTES: a data set of vascular and non-vascular epiphyte plants and lichens from the Atlantic Forest

Epiphytes are hyper-diverse and one of the frequently undervalued life forms in plant surveys and biodiversity inventories. Epiphytes of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, have high endemism and radiated recently in the Pliocene. We aimed to (1) compile an extensive Atlantic Forest data set on vascular, non-vascular plants (including hemiepiphytes), and lichen epiphyte species occurrence and abundance; (2) describe the epiphyte distribution in the Atlantic Forest, in order to indicate future sampling efforts. Our work presents the first epiphyte data set with information on abundance and occurrence of epiphyte phorophyte species. All data compiled here come from three main sources provided by the authors: published sources (comprising peer-reviewed articles, books, and theses), unpublished data, and herbarium data. We compiled a data set composed of 2,095 species, from 89,270 holo/hemiepiphyte records, in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, recorded from 1824 to early 2018. Most of the records were from qualitative data (occurrence only, 88%), well distributed throughout the Atlantic Forest. For quantitative records, the most common sampling method was individual trees (71%), followed by plot sampling (19%), and transect sampling (10%). Angiosperms (81%) were the most frequently registered group, and Bromeliaceae and Orchidaceae were the families with the greatest number of records (27,272 and 21,945, respectively). Ferns and Lycophytes presented fewer records than Angiosperms, and Polypodiaceae were the most recorded family, and more concentrated in the Southern and Southeastern regions. Data on non-vascular plants and lichens were scarce, with a few disjunct records concentrated in the Northeastern region of the Atlantic Forest. For all non-vascular plant records, Lejeuneaceae, a family of liverworts, was the most recorded family. We hope that our effort to organize scattered epiphyte data help advance the knowledge of epiphyte ecology, as well as our understanding of macroecological and biogeographical patterns in the Atlantic Forest. No copyright restrictions are associated with the data set. Please cite this Ecology Data Paper if the data are used in publication and teaching events. © 2019 The Authors. Ecology © 2019 The Ecological Society of Americ

The role and the precariousness of volunteer work in Brazilian protected areas

This study aimed to evaluate the occurrence patterns and role of volunteering in Brazilian protected areas in facing the scenarios of reduced public funds for conservation. Thus, we analyzed volunteer work documents in 210 Brazilian conservation units and carried out a meta-analysis on the proposed objectives, activities offered, the prerequisites for participation and the provisions offered to volunteers. Parks have the highest demand for volunteers (i.e. the type of protected area where volunteers are needed the most to perform volunteer work), as well as for the objectives, activities and prerequisites. Volunteering is motivated by objectives associated with providing practical experience, but in activities associated with public use, visitation and infrastructure. The desired profile is associated with adults with advanced education who have experience in the environmental sciences, and there is no incentive for participation by local resident. The provisions offered to volunteers are mainly related to work execution itself, such as accommodation, food and transportation, despite the relatively low supply of training courses and personal protective equipment. We argue that volunteer actions are being encouraged to meet both the need for professionals and the reduced public funds allocated to conservation. In this sense, this incentive has motivated volunteer precariousness, since the ideal volunteer activity motives are distorted, as well as the services rendered. Knowledge of this process is important to assist in planning public policies and initiatives for conservation, as well as in models for restructuring voluntary action that can achieve both the objectives of volunteer action (i.e. inclusion of the surrounding community and society in the conservation), as well as to contribute to advances in the ecology and in the effectiveness of natural area conservation. Keywords: Conservation units, Volunteering, Nature conservation, Non-remunerated activit

Comparisons of the relative basal area, density and frequency of coffee between shaded and unshaded systems that were abandoned (>70 years) and now are secondary forests in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

<p>Area size was included as random effect to account for the possible confounding effect of patch size in our results and SAR models were performed to reduce spatial autocorrelation between plots. Different letters indicate significant differences between shaded and unshaded systems (p<0.05).</p

Bivariate relationships between coffee basal area and native community parameters of sapling and tree components.

<p>a) sapling basal area; b) tree basal area; c) sapling density; d) tree density; e) absolute species richness of saplings; f) absolute species richness of trees; g) rarefied species richness of saplings; h) rarefied species richness of trees; i) Shannon diversity of saplings; j) Shannon diversity of trees; k) percentage of pioneer saplings; l) percentage of pioneer trees. Only shaded systems were included because coffee was absent in most unshaded system plots (22 of 25 plots). Regression lines, confidence interval (95%) and Nagelkerke R² of SAR models are given for both shaded sites (BGJF-1 –solid symbols, N = 25; and MPP–open symbols, N = 10). Sites were included as random effect to account for the nestedness of the plots within sites, and SAR models were performed to reduce spatial autocorrelation among plots.</p

Persistence of <i>Coffea arabica</i> and its relationship with the structure, species diversity and composition of a secondary forest in Brazil

<div><p>Understanding the relationships between <i>Coffea arabica</i> L. and the native tree community of secondary forests regrowing after the abandonment of coffee plantations is important because, as a non-native species in the Neotropics, coffee can outcompete native species, reducing diversity and forests ecosystem services. We aimed to answer three questions: 1) Does coffee regeneration in secondary forests differ between shaded and unshaded abandoned plantations?; 2) How is coffee basal area related to structural attributes, species diversity and composition of the native community?; and 3) Do the relationships between coffee and native community differ between tree and sapling components? We sampled the tree and sapling components in a seasonal tropical dry forest that were previously used as shaded and unshaded coffee plantations. Coffee was the most important species in the sapling component of shaded systems, but was almost absent in unshaded ones. Coffee basal area was negatively related with the native density and absolute species richness of the sapling component; and was negatively related with tree density, and positively related with the percentage of pioneer individuals of the native tree component. Our results indicate that coffee persists in secondary forest communities even after more than 70 years of shaded-coffee plantations were abandoned, potentially reducing density and diversity of native species. Despite limitations, which hinder more general conclusions on coffee invasiveness in Brazilian secondary tropical forests, our results indicate that coffee is a strong competitor in the studied secondary forests and provide important insights for future research on this topic.</p></div

Simultaneous autoregressive (SAR) models between coffee basal area and native density (individuals.plot^-1), basal area (cm².plot^-1), absolute species richness (species.plot^-1), rarefied species richness (species.ind^-1), Shannon diversity (H’.plot^-1) of tree and sapling components.

<p>Moran’s I p-values > 0.05 indicate no spatial correlation among plots. The SAR models intercept, β coefficient, p-value and Nagelkerke R squared are given.</p