Dispersion Syndrome, Ecological Sucession and Structure of the Arbor Component in an Atlantic Forest Fragment, Pernambuco

Abstract

The Atlantic Forest is considered one of the richest areas of biodiversity on the planet. However, it has been continuously threatened and must receive strategies aiming for its restoration and conservation. Thus, the objectives of this work were to evaluate the arboreal component, to classify the ecological succession and the dispersion syndrome and to analyze the structure of a fragment located in the city of Goiana, Pernambuco. For this, 10 plots of 10 m x 25 m were allocated, where individuals with height greater than or equal to 5.0 m and chest circumference (CC) equal to or greater than 15 cm were sampled. As for dispersion syndrome, species were classified in autochoric, zoochoric and anemochoric, and ecological succession were classified in pioneers, early secondary and late secondary. For structural analysis, vegetation was divided into three classes, representing 0-50%, 50-80% and 80-100% of the maximum total height, and the diametrical structure was distributed in 7 classes with intervals of 5 cm between them. A total of 422 individuals were found, distributed in 47 species and 28 families. In relation to the dispersion syndrome, species were predominantly zoochoric. As for the ecological succession, most species of the area were early and late secondaries. Considering the diametric and hypsometric analysis, it can be seen that individuals were mainly concentrated in the first classes of diameter and height, indicating that the fragment has a high regeneration potential. Thus, with all analysis performed, it can be suggested that the studied fragment is in intermediate stage of succession.