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Impact on soil and tree community of a threatened subtropical phytophysiognomy after a forest fire

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Abstract

Knowledge about the effects of fire on tree communities of Araucaria forests (AF) is scarce, although this physiognomy is among the most threatened ones in the entire Brazilian hotspot Atlantic Forest. With this study, we sought to answer the following questions: After three years of the fire, how has the soil of this forest remnant been recovering? Are fires in the AF able to change the structure, composition and species richness of tree community? The survey was carried out in a remnant of AF in an integral protected area in Brazil. Two areas were selected, one that has no fire history in the last 30 years (unburned) and another that burned recently. In each area 25 permanent plots of 20 × 10 m were allocated and all shrub-tree vegetation with DBH ≥ 4.8 cm was sampled. Our initial expectations were largely refuted, since we found no differences between the two areas in composition and richness of tree species and in most soil environmental variables, but only in the community structure. The majority of the dead individuals were concentrated in the smallest diameter classes (DBH < 9.8 cm). The only soil environmental variables that presented differences were pH and organic matter. Our study shows that the AF presents a significant resistance against forest fires, probably due to the evolutionary history of this physiognomy with fire. Nevertheless, several individuals died, so it is also important to highlight that preventive measures against fires are always relevant for conservation of this endangered physiognomy.

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Acknowledgements

We thank colleagues from the CESJ herbarium and the Plant Ecology Laboratory (Department of Botany/ UFJF) for help in identification of species and fieldwork; the taxonomists Andressa Cabral, Kelly Antunes, Miltom Groppo Jr and Vinícius A. O. Dittrich, for the identification of Ericaceae, Myrtaceae, Aquifoliaceae and Pteridophytes, respectively; the staff at the Instituto Estadual de Florestas (IEF)/ MG and Serra do Papagaio State Park for all the support provided, especially Clarice Silva and Emanuel Landroz; Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) by granting the scholarship (Finance Code 001). This research was supported by the Brazilian National Council of Technological and Scientifc Development (CNPq) under grant 454008/2014-7 and the Research Support Foundation of Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) under grant APQ 2165/14.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ciências Florestais, Universidade Federal de Lavras, C. Postal 3037, Lavras, Minas Gerais State, 37200-000, Brazil

    Lucas Deziderio Santana

  2. Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Sudeste de Minas Gerais, 36884-036, Muriaé, Minas Gerais State, Brazil

    José Hugo Campos Ribeiro

  3. Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Lavras, C. Postal 3037, Lavras, Minas Gerais State, 37200-000, Brazil

    Eduardo van den Berg

  4. Departamento de Botânica, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais State, Brazil

    Fabrício Alvim Carvalho

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  1. Lucas Deziderio Santana
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Santana, L.D., Ribeiro, J.H.C., van den Berg, E. et al. Impact on soil and tree community of a threatened subtropical phytophysiognomy after a forest fire. Folia Geobot 55, 81–93 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-020-09367-3

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