Pedology and plant physiognomies in the cerrado, Brazil

Abstract

This study was carried out in Paraopeba National Reserve. It aims to classify and evaluate the soil of the studied area and to verify the influence of soil attributes on vegetation by testing the following hypotheses: 1) under woodland physiognomies (Cerradão) the soil fertility is higher and the Al content lower; 2) open savanna occurs only in areas with high Al contents. For this purpose, representative soils in the Paraopeba National Reserve were mapped, identified, and samples from five profiles were analyzed. The environmental gradient was easily observed by principal components analyses, where the differences between the sites were highlighted. The Spearman correlation was used to verify the hypothesis. The correlation between vegetation (basal area, density, and richness) and soil (K, Ca 2+ , and Al 3+) was statistically significant. The hypotheses were accepted, but hypothesis 1 only partially. Soil features seem to have an influence on the Cerrado phytophysiognomies and structure. Available phosphorous was an important factor for the maintenance of woodland Cerrado. Also, exchangeable Al 3+ plays a major role in the establishment of different Cerrado physiognomies in Paraopeba National Reserve.

Functional antagonism between nitrogen-fixing leguminous trees and calcicole-drought-tolerant trees in the Cerrado

“…2) suggests a causal relationship between the type of plant community and soil biogeochemistry. The uppermost 20 cm of the soil in the studied woodlands in the Paraopeba Reserve has the highest content of organic matter, according to Neri et al (2013). This indicates the strong biotic influence in this upper soil horizon and supports the hypothesized causality between plant composition and soil functioning.…”

“…The selection of the studied areas was based on the classification of the soils and physiognomies. The soil types where the woodlands occur are red-yellow oxisols and red oxisols (Neri et al 2012;Neri et al 2013).…”

“…Recently, water retention, rather than the nutrient or aluminum content, has been reported as the most important soil factor determining the occurrence of Cerrado woodlands (Assis et al 2011). However, diff erent studies in Cerrado's savannas and woodlands found a signifi cant positive relationship between the basal area or canopy area and soil P, K and Mg (Neri et al 2012;2013;Lloyd et al 2015). Th ese fi ndings, along with many others, have helped explain some of the physiognomic variations of the Cerrado, but there is still a lot remaining to be understood.…”

Detection of water abundance in Baluran National Park with landsat satellite imagery analysis

“…Kondisi ini menurut Neri et al (2013) menunjukkan bahwa kerapatan tanaman di TNB masih perlu ditingkatkan untuk meningkatkan kelembapan tanah dan kondisi tanah tetap selalu gelap, sehingga kondisi kelimpahan air cukup bagi flora dan fauna di Taman Nasional.…”

Influence of edaphic factors on the floristic composition of an area of cerradão in the Brazilian central-west

“…The variation in richness and diversity might be related to factors such as the inclusion criterion for trees, basal area, sample size (Pinheiro & Durigan 2012), soil (Assis et al 2011;Neri et al 2013) and biogeography (Ratter et al 1997). The cerrado areas in the Alto Araguaia region in the state of Mato Grosso, the state of Tocantins and the Federal District have a high species richness in comparison to the marginal and disjunct areas of the cerrado biome (Ratter et al 1997).…”