Can intensive management accelerate the restoration of Brazil's Atlantic forests?

Autor(es)

Campoe, Otavio Camargo ; Stape, Jose Luiz ; Teixeira Mendes, Joao Carlos

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT; v. 259, n. 9, p. 7-pg., 2010-04-15.

Resumo

Only 7% of the once extensive forest along the eastern coast of Brazil remains, and much of that is degraded and threatened by agricultural expansion and urbanization. We wondered if methods similar to those developed to establish fast-growing Eucalyptus plantations might also work to enhance survival and growth of rainforest species on degraded pastures composed of highly competitive C-4 grasses. An 8-factor experiment was laid out to contrast the value of different intensities of cultivation, application of fertilizer and weed control on the growth and survival of a mixture of 20 rainforest species planted at two densities: 3 m x 1 m, and 3 m x 2 m. Intensive management increased seedling survival from 90% to 98%, stemwood production and leaf area index (LAI) by similar to 4-fold, and stemwood production per unit of light absorbed by 30%. Annual growth in stem biomass was closely related to LAI alone (r(2) = 0.93, p < 0.0001), and the regression improved further in combination with canopy nitrogen content (r(2) =0.99, p < 0.0001). Intensive management resulted in a nearly closed forest canopy in less than 4 years, and offers a practical means to establish functional forests on abandoned agricultural land. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 06/59378-9 - Produtividade primaria liquida, uso e eficiencia do uso da luz em plantios de restauracao da mata atlantica por efeito da composicao floristica, espacamento de plantio e praticas silviculturais.
• Beneficiário: Otávio Camargo Campoe
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Mestrado