Padrão e processo sucessionais em florestas secundárias de diferentes idades na amazônia oriental

• Main Authors: Maristela Machado Araújo, Joanna Marie Tucker, Steel Silva Vasconcelos, Daniel Jacob Zarin, Wilson Oliveira, Patrícia Delamônica Sampaio, Lívia Gabrig Rangel-Vasconcelos|, Francisco de Assis Oliveira, Roberta de Fatima Rodrigues Coelho, Débora Veiga Aragão, Izildinha Miranda
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Maria 2005-01-01
• Series: Ciência Florestal
• Online Access: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=53415402
• ISSN: 0103-9954; 1980-5098

Most published studies of secondary forest succession in the Amazon examine stands of different ages that represent a successional chronosequence, rather than monitoring a single stand over the long-term. This study compares floristic composition and structure of tree species with diameter at 1.3 m height (DBH) ≥ 1 cm in a 4-year-old and a 12-year-old re-growth stand in the Eastern Amazon, and examines mortality and recruitment occurring within both stands based on repeated sampling carried out annually for four years. The study areas were abandoned after multiple agricultural cicles that lasted 7 to 10 years, beginning in ~1940. Both stands are largely dominated by the same tree species Lacistema pubescens and Vismia guianensis, with significantly higher stem density, diameter, height, basal area and species richness in the 12-year-old stand. In the 4-year-old stand there were measured an increase in annual net recruitment during the first two data collection periods but relatively lower net recruitment during the last evaluation period, indicating on-going but gradually weakening colonization. There were registered a high net mortality during the first two data collection periods in the 12-years-old stand with a relatively lower net mortality during the last evaluation indicating rapid self thinning. When used in combination, the chronosequence and the longitudinal approaches significantly strengthen the understanding of successional development.