Invertebrados de fitotelmata bromelícola em remanescentes de Mata Atlântica (Minas Gerais, Brasil)

Abstract

The bromeliad fauna provides a high potential to understanding the landscape ecology. With the expansion of agricultural activities, forest remnants have been reduced to small patches of vegetation, making the species more vulnerable to the effects of this landscape modification. This study aims to characterize the community structure of aquatic invertebrates in four morphospecies of bromeliads between 0 and 1.9 m height above the ground in a gradient from the edge to the interior of forest fragments of Atlantic Forest that have different sizes, shapes and distances apart and are located near areas of grassland and planted forests in a region of Serra da Mantiqueira (Brazil). The most abundant groups were Ostracoda, Culicidae, Chironomidae and Scirtidae. Greater diversity and richness were found in less isolated, probably by the ease of dispersion among fragments. The richness and diversity of invertebrates observed were similar in different distances from the edge, suggesting the absence of influence of the gradient on the invertebrate bromeliad fauna in the studied fragments. Regarding the type of matrix, both the abundance and richness observed were similar in planted forest and pasture. Nor does the composition of taxa varied in relation to the type of matrix. The diversity, richness and faunal composition were not associated with the bromeliad height from the ground, the morphospecies and the water volume gathered, there was no difference between the bromeliads of the beginning of the research and of the end. It was concluded that the structure and distribution of the bromeliad invertebrates were not influenced by the effects of the gradient away or by the type of the surrounding landscape.