Atraso na resposta de palmeiras (Arecaceae) às alterações de uma paisagem de Mata Atlântica.

Abstract

The history of intense disturbance of the Atlantic Forest biome resulted in the loss and fragmentation of its landscapes. Evidence suggests that plant communities may respond late to changes in landscape structure, so extinctions of species that exhibit longer longevity may occur late, for a long time after an environmental change. Arecaceae (palms) are among the longest-lived families in the plant kingdom and their species play a key role in the structure and functioning of tropical forests. The present work investigated the existence of a delay in the response of the palm community to the changes in an Atlantic Forest landscape in the north of the state of Rio de Janeiro. To identify the existence of the delay, we examined the effect of the present (2000) and past (1970) landscape structure on species richness and abundance of individuals. For this purpose, generalized linear models were created to evaluate the influence of size and forest cover of nine fragments on the richness and abundance of palm species at different stages of development. Only the abundance of individuals was better explained by the selected models. The results suggest that there is a delay in palm response at some stages of development. The delay found shows that the effects of landscape change can be even more drastic in some cases, but also that there is still time to implement measures that prioritize biodiversity conservation.