Seed rain and limitation of plant recruitment in fragments of Northeast Atlantic Forest

• Grant number: 20/10339-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: November 01, 2020
• End date: October 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Ecosystems Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Luís Fábio Silveira
• Grantee: Rafael Barbizan Sühs
• Host Institution: Museu de Zoologia (MZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 17/23548-2 - Evaluation, recovering and conservation of endangered animal species from the Pernambuco Centre of Endemism, AP.BTA.TEM

Abstract

One of the ecological processes that has attracted the attention of plant ecologists in recent years is the recruitment limitation: the inability of plants to occupy all available places in the environment for the recruitment of new individuals. This limitation has profound implications for the structure and dynamics of plant populations and communities. The dispersion limitation is one of the mechanisms involved in the recruitment limitation. Dispersion limitation occurs when the seeds do not reach the places available for recruitment. Another mechanism involved in the recruitment limitation is the establishment limitation, which occurs when the seeds, despite reaching available places for recruitment, fail to establish due to inappropriate biotic and / or abiotic conditions. Such mechanisms, still little studied for tropical forests in general, can be affected by environmental disturbances. The project proposed here aims to investigate the patterns of limitation of recruitment of plants in fragments of Atlantic Forest of Alagoas. For this, seed rain and seedling establishment will be studied. This project aims to understand the factors that influence recruitment in plant populations in disturbed forest environments. This information will be useful for the development of management practices that promote the maintenance of native plant populations in the studied forest fragments.