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(American Journal of Botany. 2005;92:674-681.)
© 2005 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

Tropical Biology

Ramet demography of a nurse bromeliad in Brazilian restingas1

Michelle C. Sampaio2,4, F. Xavier Picó3 and Fabio R. Scarano2

2Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, CCS, IB, Departamento de Ecologia, Caixa Postal 68020, cep 21941-970, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; 3Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF), Faculty of Sciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain

ABSTRACT

Restingas are sandy coastal plains that stand between the sea and the Brazilian Atlantic forest mountains. The predominant restinga vegetation type in northern Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is characterized by the formation of islands that begins with colonization by some pioneer herbs and/or woody plants. Pioneer plants are stress-resistant and nurse many other less-resistant plant species. Determining the spatiotemporal variation in the dynamics of nurse plants is essential to understand the ecological functioning of restingas as a whole. The goal of this study was to analyze the spatiotemporal variation in population dynamics of the nurse bromeliad Aechmea nudicaulis. We monitored A. nudicaulis ramets in different habitats, microhabitats, and years. We analyzed the spatiotemporal variation in demographic traits and in population growth rate. Results showed young ramet traits were more variable at the microhabitat level, and when variable, vegetative ramet traits varied at all spatiotemporal scales. Overall, {lambda} values indicated that A. nudicaulis basically remained spatiotemporally stable as most of the {lambda} values did not significantly differ from unity. Hence, the stability of A. nudicaulis in different microhabitats and habitats in the restinga may create several settlement opportunities for many other less-resistant species.

Key Words: Aechmea nudicaulis • Brazil • Bromeliaceae • life-cycle traits • nurse plants • population dynamics • restinga




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