Colonization standards and effect on natural regeneration of two invasive tree species in a plantation forest restoration

• Grant number: 12/18703-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2013
• End date: February 28, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Forestry Resources and Forestry Engineering - Nature Conservation
• Principal Investigator: Pedro Henrique Santin Brancalion
• Grantee: Felipe Arthur Benedetti
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Biological invasion is one of the main factors for the failure of areas under restoration. However, although the deliberate use of exotic species is a common practice in restoration projects in Brazil, little is known on how this exotic species can become invasive in these projects, making the future uncertain for many current areas which are undergoing a restoration process due to the absence of guidelines to follow the management of these species. The present research aims to survey the colonization standards and the effect of two exotic invasive species over the natural regeneration in a forest restoration area. The project will be conducted in a 23-year-old forest restoration plantation located in Iracemápolis-SP city. Currently, the understory area is dominated by regenerations of Clausena excavate and Triplaris Americana, which will be evaluated. Through 220 plots installed in this reforestation, the colonization standards (relation between exotic density and canopy openness, the proximity of forest edges and adults of these species) and the effect on natural regeneration of these two exotic species (relation between exotic density and density, richness, and diversity of shrub and native tree regeneration species, and the establishment success of native species from direct seeding in plots with and without the removal of exotic species). (AU)