Leaf structural changes in the herbaceous-shrub community of Cerrado due to vegetation densification

• Grant number: 21/11633-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2022
• End date: February 28, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany
• Principal Investigator: Rosana Marta Kolb
• Grantee: Pedro Firme da Cruz Júnior
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL-ASSIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Assis. Assis , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The suppression of fire regimes in the management of Cerrado areas has enabled the vegetation densification of open or semi-open physiognomies, caused by the advance of forests. With this, changes in the microenvironment of these new densified physiognomies can be observed, such as the decrease in light incidence in the understory and the increase in litter production. This project aims to evaluate the influence of these environmental changes on the morpho-anatomical responses in leaves of the herbaceous-shrub community of cerrado sensu stricto. For this, the quantitative leaf attributes of this community will be evaluated, from plots submitted to an experiment that simulates the microenvironmental changes caused by vegetation densification in cerrado sensu stricto. (AU)