Tree community structure in a seasonally dry tropical forest remnant, Brazil

Abstract

Ocorreram no estudo grande número de espécies arbóreas, 79, e altos valores para os índices de diversidade e equabilidade (3,6 nats/indivíduos e 0,83, respectivamente). A distribuição diamétrica para os indivíduos que apresentaram maiores valores de cobertura e para a comunidade não resultou em padrão de J-reverso, o que indica adaptações ecológicas ao stress hídrico adotadas em diferentes estratégias de crescimento. Não houve formação de grupos florísticos, já que a alta fertilidade do solo da área de estudo configura um ambiente homogêneo. A característica da área de estudo detectada através da estrutura, associada a dados edáficos, nos permitiu vislumbrar sua importância em termos de conservação e reforçar a importância de estudos com este enfoque nas FTSS.Palavras-chave: distribuição diamétrica, Caatinga, fitossociologia, conservação.

Temporal changes in tree community structure and richness in a seasonally dry tropical forest in Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil

“…Based on tree diameter class patterns observed in other studies (e.g. Apgaua et al 2014a, Coelho et al 2016 for late successional SDTF forest, we also predicted that there would be higher recruitment and mortality rates for trees in the smaller size class diameters, and a higher gain in biomass in intermediate classes.…”

“…Species richness and diversity. The species richness of the community we sampled is typical of seasonally dry Brazilian ecosystems, which ranges between 36 and 110 species per hectare (Apgaua et al 2014a, Reis et al 2017, and Table 2. Dynamics parameters and abundance of dead and recruited individuals for the total sample and for the most abundant species of a seasonally dry tropical forest tree community in Minas Gerais, southeast Brazil in 2005 and 2010.…”

“…) in the municipality of Juvenília, northern Minas Gerais, Brazil. The SDTF in the area has a seasonally deciduous tree component with discontinuous canopy which varied in both height (3-9 m) and density (Santos et al 2012, Apgaua et al 2014a. The flora comprises mostly succulent cacti and non-succulent shrubs and trees, many of which are armed with either thorns or prickles and bear microphyllous foliage, though they are leafless during periods of drought (Santos et al 2012).…”

Tree community dynamics of a northern Minas Gerais seasonally dry forest

“…Brazilian Seasonally Deciduous Forests can commonly be found in Northern Minas Gerais and Central Brazil in both Caatinga and Cerrado domains (IBGE, 2012;Santos et al, 2012). In the Northern Minas Gerais, they usually lie in ecotonal regions presenting high beta diversity (Santos et al, 2012;Apgaua et al, 2014a;b). According to Apgaua et al, (2014b), conservation efforts should be given to these areas as their tree component are important in maintaining ecosystem functions, acting as sources of seeds and propagules to other areas as well as keeping the organic matter cycling which in turn sustains soil fertility.…”

“…Because of the continuous risk of anthropic perturbations, studies focusing these communities may be useful for elaborating conservation strategies for the forest remnants. Forests patches of these regions have been studied in the last years, mainly focused on their floristic composition, diversity, structure and distribution (Santos et al, 2007;Santos et al, 2008;Santos et al, 2011;Santos et al, 2012;Apgaua et al, 2014a;b). However, to date, few studies focused on temporal structural changes and dynamics of these tree communities have been reported.…”