Seasonal Dynamics of the Phenology of Native Species from the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest

Abstract

Phenological processes are strongly affected by environmental conditions. In this study we investigate the phenological patterns of six tree/shrub species in three Caatinga fragments and analyze the influence of rainfall and air temperature on these processes. Circular statistics was used to analyze the vegetative and reproductive phenophases over 12 months (dry and rainy seasons) in the years 2016 to 2017 and 2018 to 2019. Spearman's linear correlation test (r) was applied to verify the influence of meteorological variables of the two years of study on the phenological stages for each species. All species showed a seasonal pattern for vegetative phenophases. Reproductive phenophases were recorded in the two study periods only for one species. There was correlation of the phenophases only with rainfall, but not for all species. The amount of rainfall below the historical average indicates that precipitation is the most limiting factor for flowering in the evaluated species.