Leaf morphoanatomical and germination responses of the herbaceous-shrub community of cerrado stricto sensu due to vegetation encroachment

• Grant number: 23/10176-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: November 01, 2023
• End date: January 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Pant Physiology
• 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 Cerrado areas has enabled the vegetational encroachment of open or semi-open physiognomies, caused by the advance of typical forest species. Due to this process, changes in the microenvironment can be observed, such as a decrease in light incidence in the understory, an increase in litter deposition, and a decrease in water availability. Corresponding to about 80% of the plant species in this biome, the herbaceous-shrub species have their richness and dynamics negatively affected by the encroachment process. However, their leaf morphoanatomical and germinative responses in this new environmental scenario are still poorly understood. Thus, the present project aims to analyze the influence of these environmental changes on the leaf morphoanatomical and germination responses of the herbaceous-shrub community of cerrado sensu stricto. Therefore, the quantitative leaf attributes of this community will be evaluated from previously implanted plots, in which the decrease of luminosity and increase in litter was simulated. Moreover, the effects of the reduction in water availability will be evaluated on the germination and initial growth of non-arboreal species typical of cerrado sensu stricto.