DIVERSIDADE E DISTRIBUIÇÃO ESPACIAL DE BROMELIÁCEAS EPIFÍTICAS DO ALTÍSSIMO RIO TIBAGI – PARANÁ – BRASIL

The present study aims to characterize the diversity and the spatial distribution of epiphytic bromeliads on the region of the high Tibagi river, considering geomorphologic, pedologic, climatic and vegetacional factors. The phytossociological evaluation was achieved with installation of variable number of plots in the three study areas. The floristic survey was complemented by observations in adjacent areas, respecting the geomorphologic, pedologic and vegetacional compartimentation. Eleven bromeliad species were found in total, being seven species in headwater of Tibagi river area, eight in canyon area and nine in the forest of the Bugio river estuary. The richness was related, mainly, with the macro and microclimatic conditions. The humidity supplied by clouds and rains formed in the cuesta of the second platean, as will as, in microscale, the atmospheric humidity generated by canyons waterfalls and originated of the Organossolos water, is the fundamental climatic factor in the definition of the found standards. Considering the species horizontal distribution, the bromeliads reduction of the closer portion to the stream to the most distant ones is related to the microclimatic gradient, formed by the decreasing of relative humidity associated with luminosity