Early ecological outcomes of natural regeneration and tree plantations for restoring agricultural landscapes

Autor(es)

Cesar, Ricardo G. ^[1] ; Moreno, Vanessa S. ^[1] ; Coletta, Gabriel D. ^[2] ; Chazdon, Robin L. ^{[3, 1]} ; Ferraz, Silvio F. B. ^[1] ; de Almeida, Danilo R. A. ^[1] ; Brancalion, Pedro H. S. ^[1]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Luiz de Queiroz Coll Agr, Dept Forest Sci, Padua Dias Ave 11, BR-13400970 Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Estadual Campinas, UNICAMP, Inst Biol, Cidade Univ Zeferino Vaz Barao Geraldo, BR-13083970 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Connecticut, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, Storrs, CT 06269 - USA

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: Ecological Applications; v. 28, n. 2, p. 373-384, MAR 2018.
• Citações Web of Science: 9

Resumo

Mixed tree plantings and natural regeneration are the main restoration approaches for recovering tropical forests worldwide. Despite substantial differences in implementation costs between these methods, little is known regarding how they differ in terms of ecological outcomes, which is key information for guiding decision making and cost-effective restoration planning. Here, we compared the early ecological outcomes of natural regeneration and tree plantations for restoring the Brazilian Atlantic Forest in agricultural landscapes. We assessed and compared vegetation structure and composition in young (7-20yr old) mixed tree plantings (PL), second-growth tropical forests established on former pastures (SGp), on former Eucalyptus spp. plantations (SGe), and in old-growth reference forests (Ref). We sampled trees with diameter at breast height (DBH) 1-5cm (saplings) and trees at DBH > 5cm (trees) in a total of 32 20x45m plots established in these landscapes. Overall, the ecological outcomes of natural regeneration and restoration plantations were markedly different. SGe forests showed higher abundance of large (DBH>20cm) nonnative species, of which 98% were resprouting Eucalyptus trees, than SGp and PL, and higher total aboveground biomass; however, aboveground biomass of native species was higher in PL than in SGe. PL forests had lower abundance of native saplings and lianas than both naturally established second-growth forests, and lower proportion of animal dispersed saplings than SGe, probably due to higher isolation from native forest remnants. Rarefied species richness of trees was lower in SGp, intermediate in SGe and Ref and higher in PL, whereas rarefied species richness of saplings was higher in SG than in Ref. Species composition differed considerably among regeneration types. Although these forests are inevitably bound to specific landscape contexts and may present varying outcomes as they develop through longer time frames, the ecological particularities of forests established through different restoration approaches indicate that naturally established forests may not show similar outcomes to mixed tree plantings. The results of this study underscore the importance that restoration decisions need to be based on more robust expectations of outcomes that allow for a better analysis of the cost-effectiveness of different restoration approaches before scaling-up forest restoration in the tropics. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 14/14503-7 - Cronossequência e efeito da paisagem na sucessão secundária de florestas tropicais
• Beneficiário: Ricardo Gomes César
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 11/19767-4 - O papel dos remanescentes florestais nas funções ecossistêmicas de riachos de cabeceira e manuntenção da qualidade da água em microbacias agrícolas
• Beneficiário: Silvio Frosini de Barros Ferraz
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 13/22679-5 - Funções eco-hidrológicas de florestas ripárias em gradientes de intensidade de manejo agrícola da paisagem
• Beneficiário: Silvio Frosini de Barros Ferraz
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular