Padrões florísticos e estruturais das Florestas Estacionais Semideciduais do Triângulo Mineiro, MG

Abstract

The semideciduous seasonal forests (SSF) of southeastern Brazil have a high floristic diversity, accompanied by a high beta diversity, even between nearby fragments. However, nowdays these forests have been represented by a large number of small fragments, a landscape pattern typical for this region. In addition to the processes related to fragmentation, the human impact, in particular on the remaining forests, is an important force to modify plant communities, generating spatial and temporal heterogeneity and changing the composition and community structure. To determine the floristic composition and structure of forest remnants is an important way to help the maintenance and conservation of these natural relics. The objective of this study was to increase the knowledge about the flora of semideciduous seasonal forests of the Triângulo Mineiro, through a study of the composition and structure of the tree component, in ten forest fragments located in five municipalities of region. The Triângulo Mineiro is located in the far west of Minas Gerais State, defined by the geographical coordinates 18º29 19º40 S e 47º30 - 49º53 W. The site of sampling in each fragment was an hectare plot placed as central as possible in the FES. All alive individual trees with CAP (circumference at breast height, 1.30 m) ≥ 15 cm were sampled, identified and measured. A similarity analysis was done using the Jaccard's coefficient. A data ordination was carried out using the Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA). To complement this, we used a dichotomous hierarchical division by TWINSPAN. Stratification was realized by species and not by individuals, using a nonparametric statistical analysis by quartile and median. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the differences between the soil and among fragments, and a post-hoc comparison of the means was done using the Tukey test at 5%. A structured matrix was created with the information (scores) obtained from the evaluation of the array, severity and duration of selected environmental impacts, besides the information about the environment array and of the edge type. A correlation analysis was done between the scores of the impact matrix and the variables of the tree community structure. Finally, the species were classified according to the sucessional groups, dispersal syndromes and deciduousness. The FES of the Triângulo Mineiro have a high species richness, consisting of 242 tree species, distributed in 163 genus and 58 families. Out of the 242 species, only Copaifera langsdorffii Desf. and Hymenaea courbaril L. occurred in all fragments. The levels of floristic similarity between the areas were low, indicating a high heterogeneity in relation to tree species. The classification by TWINSPAN separated the areas into two groups in the first division. The fragments of Uberaba, Água Fria and Ipiaçu formed a distinct group, due to lack of Siparuna guianensis, specie considered as an indicator for the others fragments. As for environmental groups, the FES of the Triângulo Mineiro showed a pattern formed by zoochoric species, early secondary and perennial, which coincides with the pattern found for the tropical season forests. The methodology applied in this study for stratification analysis was effective for the recognition of three tree layers. The variations found for the values of quartile and median represent the historical development of the succession of each fragment, allowing vertical variations in the occupation by species characteristic of certain strata. The analysis of the vertical structure of the FES of the Triângulo Mineiro allowed clearly to see the division of species and their ecological groups exercising their functions in each of the strata. The FES of the region are characterized by a variation in soil types and can be, divided into two groups: the areas of eutrophic and dystrophic soils. However, there was no relationship between these groups and the diversity in the fragments. Areas of extremely dystrophic soils showed high species richness. The species diversity of the fragments increased in areas characterized by intermediaries disturbances leves and / or when inserted in forest gradients. Species richness decreased with the severity of human impacts and edge effects and also with the conservation degree of the fragments. The mechanisms for generation and maintenance of the tree species richness and diversity of semideciduous seasonal forests of the Triângulo Mineiro respond to variation in levels of natural and anthropogenic disturbances, in other words, the historical use and occupation of the area, mainly by the availability for use by the owners, directly influences the natural dynamics of forest succession and allows the development to mature stages.