Biológical interactions of species of Marantaceae driving their occupation in areas of Mussununga and Tabuleiro

Abstract

Marantaceae are tropical herbaceous plants and occur in much of the Atlantic Forest. Marantaceae are common in Vale Nature Reserve in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil, where the relationship between environment and intra- and interspecific interactions may determine their distribution and abundance.To examine factors that may influence the local distribution of these plants, using transects in two habitat types (Tabuleiro and Mussununga) we counted all Marantaceae at focal plants along the transect. All plants (in the Marantaceae) within a radius of 1m from thefocal plant were identified, counted and measured. We measured or counted height, number of stalks, stalks length, number of plants and abiotic conditions (sun, shade, interior, margin). We compared the expected (based on random distributions of species over transects) with observed distributions. Five species of Marantaceae were identified. In the Forest habitat, with four of the five species, fewer species co-occur than expected, suggesting that interactions between the species limit plant proximity. In the Mussununga, the two species found there were simply proportional to their overall abundance, suggesting no interactions. The most common species was found in both habitat types where it was equally abundant. Thus, one in five species seemed to be a generalist, while the remaining four, much less common, species were more specialist and found only in one habitat type.