Diversidad de líquenes y briófitos epífitos en un gradiente de perturbación del bosque tropical amazónico de la Estación Científica Timburi Cocha, Loreto-Orellana

Abstract

Amazonian forests are home to great diversity of non-vascular organisms. The epiphytes (lichens and bryophytes) are effective indicators of forests disturbance due to that they are poikilohydric organisms. The objective of this study was to analyze the richness and composition of lichens and bryophytes epiphytes in disturbed and undisturbed forest of The Timburi Cocha Scientific Station, Loreto-Orellana. In each forest we were performed 12 plots of 10 x 10 m with 5 trees per plot (120 trees). We were analyzed changes in richness with non-parametric test ―Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA‖, the Shannon-Weaver and Simpson indices. We were analyzed changes in communities composition of lichens and bryophytes in two forests with non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDNS) and multivariate analysis (PERMANOVA). We identified 105 epiphytic species (43 bryophytes and 62 lichens). We found that total richness decreased in disturbed forests. Multivariate statistical analyses showed not changes in the epiphytic composition related with forests disturbance; however, a large component of variation was associated with the host tree characteristics