Restoring tropical forest composition is more difficult, but recovering tree-cover is faster, when neighbouring forests are young

Autor(es)

Toledo, R. M. ^{[1, 2]} ; Perring, M. P. ^{[1, 3]} ; Verheyen, K. ^[1] ; Martini, A. M. Z. ^[4] ; Ferreira, M. P. ^[5] ; Santos, R. F. ^[2]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Ghent, Dept Environm, Forest & Nat Lab, Geraardsbergsesteenweg 267, B-9090 Melle Gontrode - Belgium

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biociencias, Dept Ecol, LEPaC, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[3] Univ Western Australia, Sch Biol Sci, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009 - Australia

^[4] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biociencias, Dept Ecol, LabTrop, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[5] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Ciencias Biol, Escola Super Agr Luiz de Queiroz, Piracicaba - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY; v. 35, n. 6 MAY 2020.
• Citações Web of Science: 2

Resumo

Context Neighbouring forests constitute biological sources that enable the succession from species-poor systems, such as tree-plantings, to highly diverse forests. However, old forest patches are becoming rare in tropical agricultural landscapes. Objective We were interested in if, and how, spontaneous regeneration under tree-plantings reflects the age and the amount of the neighbouring forest cover. We anticipated that older forests promote a compositionally broader recovery in neighbouring tree-plantings, because older forests likely include disturbance-sensitive species, particularly within least deforested landscapes. Methods We studied twenty-seven restoration sites implemented as tree-plantings in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We quantified the effects of age and amount of neighbouring forest cover on structural and compositional characteristics of the regeneration community (dbh < 5 cm). We used two landscape groups (presence, or absence, of forests older than 30 years.) with a similar areal range of forest cover, enabling the disentanglement of forest age from forest amount effects on regeneration community responses. Results Surprisingly, we found that greater forest cover correlated with denser and more species-rich regeneration communities only when neighbouring forests were young. This pattern was promoted by non-vertebrate dispersed species. Regeneration communities in tree-plantings near to young forests had lower seed-mass and relative abundances of forest-specialists, compared to communities found near old forest patches. Conclusion Regeneration is likely denser in landscapes of vast young-forest coverage. However, small-seeded and habitat-generalist species, frequently related to disturbance tolerance, tend to be dominant if old-growth forests are far away. This biased seed source appears to preclude the restoration of typical historic tropical forest composition. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 14/20206-5 - Investigando o efeito do contexto espacial sobre restauros florestais e suas implicações sobre serviços ecossistêmicos
• Beneficiário: Renato Miazaki de Toledo
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Exterior - Estágio de Pesquisa - Doutorado