Effects of bamboo dominance and palm-heart harvesting on the phylogenetic structure of the seed and seedling communities in an old-growth Atlantic Forest

Autor(es)

Schweizer, Daniella ; Rother, Debora Cristina ; Muler, Ana Elena ; Rodrigues, Ricardo Ribeiro ; Pizo, Marco Aurelio ; Brancalion, Pedro H. S.

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: JOURNAL OF TROPICAL ECOLOGY; v. 33, p. 8-pg., 2017-09-01.

Resumo

A comprehensive assessment of the effect of disturbances on tropical and subtropical forests is needed to better understand their impacts on forest structure and diversity. Although taxonomic and functional diversity measures have been successfully adopted in this context, phylogenetic diversity metrics are still poorly explored. We compared the phylogenetic structure of the seed rain and regenerating seedling community in patches of an old-growth Atlantic Forest remnant dominated or not by a ruderal bamboo species, Guadua tagoara. We sampled those patches before and after illegal harvesting of the palm Euterpe edulis thus assessing if the harvesting led to changes in the phylogenetic structure of the seed rain and the regenerating community in both patches. Bamboo-dominated patches showed a significantly higher presence of species in the seed rain that were more distantly related to each other in the phylogeny than expected by chance compared with patches without bamboos, but this difference disappeared after palm-heart harvesting. Contrary to what we expected, we did not find significant changes in the phylogenetic structure of seedlings before or after palm-heart harvesting. The phylogenetic structure at the tips of the phylogeny was random overall. The maintenance of a higher presence of far relatives in the phylogeny of the seedling community suggests, assuming trait conservatism, that despite bamboo dominance and palm-heart harvesting, functional diversity is being preserved at least in the early regenerating stages and in the time frame of the study. However, higher presence of pioneer taxa after palm-heart harvest indicates that this disturbance may lead old-growth areas to earlier successional stages. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 13/50718-5 - Restauração ecológica de florestas ciliares, de florestas nativas de produção econômica e de fragmentos florestais degradados (em APP e RL), com base na ecologia de restauração de ecossistemas de referência, visando testar cientificamente os preceitos do Novo Código Florestal Brasileiro
• Beneficiário: Ricardo Ribeiro Rodrigues
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa BIOTA - Temático
• Processo FAPESP: 03/11073-7 - Influencia dos bambus na chuva de sementes e estabelecimento de plan tulas na mata atlantica.
• Beneficiário: Debora Cristina Rother
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Mestrado
• Processo FAPESP: 07/06745-7 - Sementes e plântulas: etapas do ciclo de vida de plantas e sua relação com a regeneração de uma floresta pluvial atlântica ocupada por bambus
• Beneficiário: Ana Elena Muler
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Iniciação Científica
• Processo FAPESP: 99/09635-0 - Diversidade, dinâmica e conservação de árvores em florestas do estado de São Paulo: estudos em parcelas permanentes
• Beneficiário: Ricardo Ribeiro Rodrigues
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa BIOTA - Temático