Abstract
Epiphytes reach up to 67% of the total plant species richness in some tropical areas and act as diverse food resources that can be crucial in times of food scarcity. The avifauna assists in their reproduction, either through pollination or seed dispersal, thus creating a vast interaction spectrum between both communities within a continuous ecological process. Few scientific studies concerning avian and epiphytic community interactions are available and not much is known on their specific relationships. However, their absence can change existing ecological processes in habitats. With this in mind, a study undertaken at the Reserva Ecológica do Guapiaçu, Cachoeiras de Macacu, RJ analyzed bird and epiphytic interactions in three different environments: forest, fragmented forest and pastureland. The aim was to study how these interactions can vary according to their degree of conservation and successional stage. Three observation points were marked in a forest, nine points in forest fragments and ten observation points in the pastureland, thus providing a total of 1056 observation hours. As a result, 643 avian and epiphytic interactions were registered. We tested differences in the number of interactions between the areas. The initial hypothesis was that the largest number of registered interactions would occur in the preserved forest given its preserved state and existing biodiversity; however, the pasture area presented the highest number and variety of interactions. Most of the birds observed in the different habitats presented a high interaction in pasture areas where resource availability is reduced, making epiphytes an important food supply. Epiphytes permit a valuable network of interactions by attracting a high diversity of birds, especially those that disperse fruit or pollinate flowers, illustrating their importance within a degraded environment.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Antas P.T.Z. 2004. Pantanal: guia de aves. http://www.avespantanal.com.br/paginas/index.htm (Access on 03 December 2013).
Azevedo A.D. 2012. Composição florística e estoque de carbono em áreas de recuperação da Mata Atlântica na Bacia do Rio Guapiaçu, Cachoeiras de Macacu, RJ. MSc. Dissertation. Rio de Janeiro: Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro.
Barth B.J., Gibbon S.I.F & Wilson R.S. 2015. New urban developments that retain more remnant trees have greater bird diversity. Landscape and Urban Planning 136: 122–129.
Benzing D.H. 1990. Vascular epiphytes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Canela M.B.F. & Sazima M. 2003. Aechmea pectinata: a hummingbirddependent bromeliad with inconspicuous flowers from the rainforest in south-eastern Brazil. Annals of Botany 92: 731–737.
Cestari C. 2009. Epiphyte plants use by birds in Brazil. Oecologia Brasiliensis 13: 689–712.
Cestari C. & Pizo M.A. 2008. Utilization of epiphytes by birds in a Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Ornitología Neotropical 19: 97–107.
Cruz-Angón A. & Greenberg R. 2005. Are epiphytes important for birds in coffee plantations? An experimental assessment. Journal of Applied Ecology 42: 150–159.
Derroire G., Coe R. & Healey J.R. 2016. Isolated trees as nuclei of regeneration in tropical pastures: testing the importance of nichebased and landscape factors. Journal of Vegetation Science 27: 679–691.
Fadini R.F. & Marco-Jr. P. 2004. Interaçoes entre aves frugívoras e plantas em um fragmento de Mata Atlântica de Minas Gerais. Ararajuba 12: 97–103.
Gibbons P., Lindenmayer D.B., Fischer J., Manning A.D., Weinberg A., Seddon J., Ryan P. & Barrett G. 2008. The future of scattered trees in agricultural landscapes. Conservation Biology 22: 1309–1319.
Groombridge B. 1992. Global biodiversity: status of the Earth’s living resources. London: Chapman & Hall.
Hasui E., Gomes V.S.M. & Silva W.R. 2017. Effects of vegetation traits on habitat preferences of frugivorous birds in Atlantic Rain Forest. Biotropica 39: 502–509.
Ikuta K.G. & Martins F.C. 2013. Interaçoes entre aves frugívoras e plantas no Parque Estadual da Cantareira, estado de Sao Paulo. Atualidades Ornitológicas 172: 33–36.
IBGE [Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística]. 2009. Mapa da vegetação do Brasil. http://mapas.ibge.gov.br/tematicos/vegetacao (Access on 03 October 2016).
Jordano P., Galetti M., Pizo M.A. & Silva W.R. 2006. Ligando frugivoria e dispersao de sementes a biologia da conservaçao, p. 411–436. In: Rocha C.F.D., Bergallo H.G., van Sluys M. & Alves M.A.S. (eds.). Biologia da conservação: essências. Sao Carlos: RiMa.
Manning A.D., Fischer J. & Lindenmayer D.B. 2006. Scattered trees are keystone structures implications for conservation. Biological Conservation 132: 311–321.
Martinelli G. 1997. Biologia reprodutiva de Bromeliaceae na Reserva Ecológica de Macaé de Cima, p. 213–250. In: Lima H.C. & Guedes-Bruni R.R. (eds.). Serra de Macaé de Cima: diversidade florística e conservação em Mata Atlântica. Rio de Janeiro: Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro.
Moga C.I., Samoilă C., Öllerer K., Băncillă R.I., Kinga-Olga R., Craioveanu C., Poszet S., Rákosy L. & Hartel T. 2016. Environmental determinants of the old oaks in wood-pastures from a changing traditional social-ecological system of Romania. Ambio 45: 480–489.
Myers N., Mittermeier R.A., Mittermeier C.G., Fonseca G.A.B. & Kent J. 2000. Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature 403: 853–858.
Nadkarni N.M. & Matelson T.J. 1989. Bird use of epiphyte resources in Neotropical trees. Condor 91: 891–907.
Piacentini V.Q. & Varassin I.G. 2007. Interaction network and the relationships between bromeliads and hummingbirds in an area of secondary Atlantic Rain Forest in southern Brazil. Journal of Tropical Ecology 23: 663–671.
Pizo M. A. 1994. Estudo comparado da dispersão e predação de sementes de Cabralea canjerana (Meliaceae) em duas áreas de mata do Estado de São Paulo. MSc. Dissertation. Campinas: Universidade Estadual de Campinas.
Pizo M.A. & Santos B.T.P. 2011. Frugivory, post-feeding flights of frugivorous birds and the movement of seeds in a Brazilian fragmented landscape. Biotropica 43: 335–342.
Poltz K. & Zotz G. 2011. Vascular epiphytes on isolated pasture trees along a rainfall gradient in the lowlands of Panamá. Biotropica 43: 165–172.
Prevedello J.A., Almeida-Gomes M. & Lindenmayer D.B. 2018. The importance of scattered trees for biodiversity conservation: a global meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Ecology 55: 205–214.
Richards P.W. 1996. The Tropical Rain Forest: an ecological study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rocha C.F.D., Cogliatti-Carvalho L., Nunes-Freitas A.F., Rocha-Pessôa T.C., Dias A.S., Ariani C.V. & Morgado L.N. 2004. Conservando uma larga porçao da diversidade biológica através da conservaçao de Bromeliaceae. Vidalia 2: 52–68.
Sandor M.E. & Chazdon R.L. 2014. Remnant trees affect species composition but not structure of tropical second-growth forest. PLoS ONE 9: e83284.
Scheffers B.R., Edwards D.P., Diesmos A., Williams S.E. & Evans T.A. 2014. Microhabitats reduce animal’s exposure to climate extremes. Global Change Biology 20: 495–503.
Schlawin J.R. & Zahawi R.A. 2008. “Nucleating” succession in recovering Neotropical Wet Forests: the legacy of remnant trees. Journal of Vegetation Science 19: 485–492.
Sheldon K.S. & Nadkarni N.M. 2013. The use of pasture trees by birds in a tropical montane landscape in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Journal of Tropical Ecology 29: 459–462.
Sigrist T. 2009. Avifauna brasileira: pranchas e mapas. Vinhedo: Avis Brasilis.
Sillett T.S. 1994. Foraging ecology of epiphyte-searching insectivorous birds in Costa Rica. Condor 96: 863–877.
Wheelwright N.T, Haber W.A., Murray K.G. & Guidon C. 1984. Tropical fruit-eating birds and their food plants: a survey of Costa Rican Lower Montane Forest. Biotropica 16: 173–192.
Zwiener V.P., Cardoso F.C.G., Padial A.A. & Marques M.C.M. 2014. Disentangling the effects of facilitation on restoration of the Atlantic Forest. Basic and Applied Ecology 15: 34–41.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Boechat, R.F., da Silva, B.F. & Nunes-Freitas, A.F. Bird-epiphyte interactions in three Atlantic Forest environments in southeastern Brazil. Rev. Bras. Ornitol. 27, 108–114 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03544454
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03544454