Correlates of plant β-diversity in Atlantic Forest patches in the Pernambuco Endemism Centre, Northeastern Brazil

Abstract Understanding how vegetation structure and floristic composition vary across landscapes is fundamental to understand ecological patterns and for designing conservation actions. In a patch-landscape approach, we assessed the β-diversity (q0 order – rare species, q1 order – common species, and q2 order – dominant species) of plants between forest patches and surveyed plots in Atlantic Forest patches located in the Pernambuco Endemism Centre, northeastern Brazil. Furthermore, we tested the influence of predictor variables linked to landscape (forest cover and edge density) and habitat (basal area), as well as the geographical distance between forest patches and plots on the β-diversity in each forest patch and plot. We measured and identified a total of 1,682 individuals (trees and lianas), corresponding to 248 species, 116 genera, and 56 families in 10 plots (50 × 2 m) from each forest patch. The β-diversity presented lower values for the Mata de Água Azul patch at a landscape scale (i.e., between forest patches) and Mata dos Macacos patch at a site scale (i.e., between plots) for all orders. Geographical distance positively influenced the β-diversity at the landscape scale, and higher turnover between plots (e.g., within forest patches) was positively associated with differences in geographical distance, edge density, forest cover, and basal area. Our results indicate the need to conserve forest patches distributed across a wide area (distant sites) that encompass different landscape contexts with different vegetation structures, in order to conserve greater floristic diversity.