Natural forests are key for bryophyte conservation, while active land-use reveals homogenous communities with low richness, new records, and habitat indicators in the Eastern Amazon

Abstract

Abstract The implementation of strategies that integrate land use with biodiversity conservation has never been more urgent in the Brazilian Amazon. Here, we compared the effects of land-use types characterized by family farming and low-intensity management systems on the community structure of bryophytes and their lineages (liverworts and mosses) in the Eastern Amazon. We evaluated bryophyte communities across natural forest and three active land-use types: managed forest, agroforestry, and açaí monoculture. We analyzed bryophyte richness, abundance and composition, as well as species associations with each land-use type. Natural forest and active land-use types differed in bryophyte composition, whereas natural forest and agroforestry exhibited similar species richness and abundance. Among active land-use types, no significant differences in bryophyte abundance were observed. Agroforestry and managed forest exhibited similar bryophyte composition, but species richness was lower in managed forest. Açaí monoculture exhibit difference in bryophyte composition between all land-use types. Liverworts and mosses exhibited different responses to the land-use types, with liverworts exhibited similar patterns to the total bryophytes and more sensitive to the habitat change, whereas mosses were more resilient. Thus, liverworts may be a practical group for monitoring the ecological effects of land-use practices, while Cololejeunea surinamensis and Prionolejeunea muricatosserulata showed potential as indicators of natural forest conditions. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of maintaining natural forests and promoting low-intensity land-use systems, particularly agroforestry, to conserve bryophyte community structure in Amazonian landscapes.