Dynamics of Natural Regeneration: Implications for Landscape Restoration in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil

Abstract

This study aimed to understand post-agricultural natural forest regeneration in the Southern Brazilian Atlantic Forest and its possible role as a cost-effective, passive approach to forest restoration. The study characterized vegetation structure, floristic composition, and the dynamics of secondary forest chronosequences. Data were collected from 159 plots (10 × 10 m each) across forest remnants in Santa Catarina State, covering forest ages that ranged from 2 to 60 years of regeneration after swidden agriculture. Only areas with no signs of degradation were sampled in order to provide a description of vegetation characteristics that could be used to identify and monitor natural regeneration. A total of 11,455 woody plants were identified and classified into 334 species representing 71 families. As the succession process unfolds, the continuous turnover of species makes forests more diverse and structurally complex. Floristic similarity among forest types is observed during the early stages of succession, but decreases over time. Pioneer species dominate young secondary forests, representing about 40% of the basal area up to 10 years of regeneration. Shade-tolerant species start colonizing the sites at early ages; however, they become more important structural elements only after 30 years of succession. The observed patterns of forest structure and species diversity largely conform to the post-agricultural succession seen in many tropical forests. The high species diversity found in this study highlights the importance of natural regeneration as a strategy to restore ecosystems. Floristic data can be used as a reference for choosing suitable species for active restoration, as well as contributing to the design of integrated restoration strategies. We herein reinforce the potential of natural regeneration as part of large-scale restoration programs, which would be particularly attractive to family farmers by the low cost of supplies and labor.

Timber stock recovery in a chronosequence of secondary forests in Southern Brazil: Adding value to restored landscapes

“…The same pattern of succession was reported in other studies, in which different species, both pioneers and non-pioneer, initiate regeneration concurrently (van Breugel et al, 2007;Chazdon et al, 2007;Peña-Claros, 2003;Piotto et al, 2009). This pattern of richness and diversity of tree species found in our study is also reported to be common in secondary tropical forests (Siminski et al, 2021;Villa et al, 2018) given the high abundance of commercial species (Fig. 5a).…”

“…While the need to restore degraded lands/forests is unquestioned, scaling up programs to achieve ambitious targets remains elusive because of several limiting factors, costs being an important one (Brancalion et al, 2016;Crouzeilles et al, 2017;Crouzeilles et al, 2020). Passive restoration through natural regeneration, after agriculture, has proved to be successful in some ways, suggesting economic efficiency as a factor that could incentivise management initiatives (César et al, 2020;Crouzeilles et al, 2020;Siminski et al, 2021). Nonetheless, even bringing the cost of investments to near zero may not even be sufficient to stimulate landowners to set aside parcels of their land for restoration, especially in the case of small farmers (Alarcon et al, 2017).…”

“…Most studies on secondary forest regeneration after swidden agriculture focus on understanding diversity, forest structure and biomass recovery through time (Adams et al, 2013;Aide et al, 2000;Coomes et al, 2017;Fantini et al, 2017;Liebsch et al, 2008;Lintemani et al, 2020;Piotto et al 2009;Ribeiro Filho et al, 2015;Siminski et al, 2011;Wood et al, 2017). Other studies have focused on the natural regeneration of secondary forests as a strategy to restore forest ecosystems (Brancalion et al, 2019;Chazdon and Brancalion, 2019;Chazdon and Guariguata, 2016;Crouzeilles et al, 2020;Rozendaal et al, 2019;Siminski et al, 2021). Only recently has secondary forest, as source of timber production, started to gain attention based on data from forest management (Britto et al, 2017;Britto et al, 2019;Fantini et al, 2019;Oliveira et al, 2018;Piazza et al, 2017;da Silva et al, 2017).…”

Invasive alien species in protected areas: the dynamics of Pinus taeda at Rio Canoas State Park – Brazil

“…The structural parameters of EIV were higher than those reported by Siminski et al (2011;2021) for young secondary forests in the region. The difference could be explained by the presence of individuals of P. taeda with high DBH in the area assessed.…”

Floristic Composition of Buah Hitam Habitats in Lowland Tropical Mixed Forest of West Papua, Indonesia

“…Regardless of the species compositing, the regeneration of tree species in three habitats of Buah Hitam was successfully established during the natural process. The vertical structure relationship in the three habitats of Buah Hitam includes seedlings, trees, poles, and trees, where small individuals (seedlings and trees) were mostly larger than larger individuals (poles and trees) indicating as natural regeneration (Pamoengkas et al, 2019;Sales de Melo et al, 2019;Siminski et al, 2021) The individuals of Buah Hitam have a strong relationship with other tree species in which the ten species were mostly present along with Buah Hitam (Figure 5). The dendrogram was executed to see how many species had heterospecific associations forming the tree community.…”