Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Tree changes in a mature rainforest with high diversity and endemism on the Brazilian coast

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biodiversity and Conservation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The tree changes of 1.02 ha of montane forest at the Santa Lúcia Biological Station, southeastern Brazil, were analyzed using two surveys separated by an interval of 11 years with the aim of confirming the patterns of stability of structure and diversity over time. In the original survey all trees with diameter at breast height ≥6.4 cm were sampled. In second survey (this study), dead trees, survivors and recruits in the same forest were reported. The data suggest a dynamic balance of the forest structure because mortality (−1.06% year−1 for number of trees and −0.85% year−1 for basal area) was very close to recruitment (0.89% year−1) and ingrowth (1.05% year−1). The high diversity of the original survey (H′ > 5.2) was maintained by the turnover species. The main tree populations also showed stability of number of trees and basal area. This pattern was shared by most of the 28 local endemic species, ensuring the maintenance of their populations in the plot.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ayres M, Ayres M Jr, Ayres DL et al (2007) BioEstat: aplicações estatísticas nas áreas das ciências biomédicas, 5th edn. UFPA, Belém

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayyappan N, Parthasarathy N (2004) Short-term changes in tree populations in a tropical evergreen forest at Varagalaiar, Western Ghats, India. Biodivers Conserv 13:1843–1851

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carey EV, Brown S, Gillespie AJR et al (1994) Tree mortality in mature lowland tropical moist and tropical lower montane moist forests of Venezuela. Biotropica 26:255–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daws MI, Ballard C, Mullins CE et al (2007) Allometric relationships between seed mass and seedling characteristics reveal trade-offs for neotropical gap-dependent species. Oecologia 154:445–454

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guedes-Bruni RR, Silva AG, Mantovani W (2009) Rare canopy species in communities within the Atlantic Coastal Forest in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Biodivers Conserv 18:387–403

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guilherme FAG, Oliveira-Filho AT, Appolinário V et al (2004) Effects of flooding regimes and woody bamboos on tree community dynamics in a section of tropical semideciduous forest in South-Eastern Brazil. Plant Ecol 174:19–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hammer Ø, Harper DAT, Ryan PD (2001) Past: paleontological statistics software package for education and data analysis. Palaeontol Electron 4:1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Higuchi P, Oliveira-Filho AT, Bebber DP et al (2008) Spatio-temporal patterns of tree community dynamics in a tropical forest fragment in South-east Brazil. Plant Ecol 199:125–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (1992) Manual Técnico da Vegetação Brasileira. Série Manuais Técnicos em Geociências, vol 1. IBGE, Rio de Janeiro

    Google Scholar 

  • Korning J, Balslev H (1994) Growth and mortality of trees in Amazonian tropical rain forest in Ecuador. J Veg Sci 4:77–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laurance SGW, Laurance WF, Nascimento HEM et al (2009) Long-term variation in Amazon forest dynamics. J Veg Sci 20:323–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis SL, Phillips OL, Baker TR et al (2004a) Concerted changes in tropical forest structure and dynamics: evidence from 50 South American long-term plots. Phil Trans R Soc Lond B 359:421–436

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis SL, Phillips OL, Sheil D et al (2004b) Tropical forest tree mortality, recruitment and turnover rates: calculation, interpretation and comparison when census intervals vary. J Ecol 92:929–944

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lingenfelder M, Newbery DM (2009) On the detection of dynamic responses in a drought-perturbed tropical rainforest in Borneo. Plant Ecol 201:267–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Machado ELM, Oliveira-Filho AT (2010) Spatial patterns of tree community dynamics are detectable in a small (4 ha) and disturbed fragment of the Brazilian Atlantic forest. Acta Bot Bras 24(1):250–261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magurran AE (1988) Ecological diversity and its measurement. Princeton University Press, New Jersey

    Google Scholar 

  • Manokaran N, Kochummen KM (1987) Recruitment, growth and mortality of tree species in a lowland dipterocarp forest in peninsular Malaysia. J Trop Ecol 3:315–330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melo MMRF, Gomes EPC, Mantovani W (2000) Demografia de árvores em floresta pluvial tropical Atlântica, Ilha do Cardoso, SP, Brasil. Pub Aciesp 109:184–196

    Google Scholar 

  • Mendes SL, Padovan MP (2000) The Estação Biológica de Santa Lúcia, Santa Teresa, Espírito Santo, Brazil. Bol Mus Biol Prof Mello Leitão (Nova Série) 11(12):7–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Mittermeier RA, Gil PR, Hoffmann M et al (2004) Hotspots revisited: earth′s biologically richest and most endangered terrestrial ecoregions. Cemex, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Mueller-Dombois D, Ellenberg H (1974) Aims and methods of vegetation ecology. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Nascimento MT, Barbosa RI, Villela DM et al (2007) Above-ground biomass changes over an 11-year period in an Amazon monodominant forest and two other lowland forests. Plant Ecol 192:181–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliveira-Filho AT, Mello JM, Scolforo JR (1997) Effects of past disturbance and edges on tree community structure and dynamics within a fragment of tropical semideciduous forest in south in south-eastern Brazil over a five-year period (1987–1992). Plant Ecol 131:45–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phillips OL (1996) Long-term environmental change in tropical forests: increasing tree turnover. Environ Conserv 23:235–248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Picard N, Magnussen S, Banak LN et al (2010) Permanent sample plots for natural tropical forests: a rationale with special emphasis on Central Africa. Environ Monit Assess 164:279–295

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Portela RCQ, Bruna EM, Santos FAM (2010) Demography of palm species in Brazil’s Atlantic forest: a comparison of harvested and unharvested species using matrix models. Biodivers Conserv 19:2389–2403

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rees M, Condit R, Crawley M et al (2001) Long-term studies of vegetation dynamics. Science 293:650–655

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ribeiro MC, Metzger JP, Martensen AC et al (2009) The Brazilian Atlantic Forest: how much is left, an how is the remaining forest distributed? Implications for conservation. Biol Conserv 142:1141–1153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rolim SG, Jesus RM, Nascimento HEM et al (2005) Biomass change in an Atlantic tropical moist forest: the ENSO effect in permanent sample plots over a 22-year period. Oecologia 142:238–246

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Silva-Matos DM, Watkinson AR (1998) The fecundity, seed, and seedling ecology of the edible palm Euterpe edulis in Southeastern Brazil. Biotropica 30:595–603

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stephenson NL, Van Mantgem PJ (2005) Forest turnover rates follow global and regional patterns of productivity. Ecol Lett 8:524–531

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Swaine MD, Lieberman D, Putz FE (1987) The dynamics of tree populations in tropical forest: a review. J Trop Ecol 3:359–366

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor D, Hamilton AC, Lewis SL et al (2008) Thirty-eight years of change in a tropical forest: plot data from Mpanga Forest Reserve, Uganda. Afr J Ecol 46:655–667

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomaz LD, Monteiro R (1997) Atlantic Forest floristic composition for the slopes of the Santa Lúcia Biological Station, municipality of Santa Teresa-ES. Bol Mus Biol Prof Mello Leitão (Nova Série) 7:3–48

    Google Scholar 

  • Werneck MS, Franceschinelli EV (2004) Dynamics of a dry forest fragment after the exclusion of human disturbance in southeastern Brazil. Plant Ecol 174:337–346

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitmore TC (1988) The influence of tree population dynamics on forest species composition. In: Davy AJ, Hutchings MJ, Watkinson AR (eds) Population biology of plants. Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Zar JH (1999) Biostatistical analysis. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study is part of the Master’s dissertation of Felipe Z. Saiter. The authors thank the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) for financial support (grant n. 690149/01-8) and for a productivity grant to T Wendt and FAG Guilherme, the Museu de Biologia Prof. Mello Leitão for research permits and logistical support, and FR Scarano, MT Nascimento and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions. They also thank the biologists who helped with the field work: T Senna, V Demuner, R Vervloet, J Tomasini, FA Obermüller, GM Tobón, TS Cóser, ML Dan and MAS Godinho.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Espírito Santo, Campus Santa Teresa, Rodovia ES 080, km 21, Santa Teresa, ES, 29660-000, Brazil

    Felipe Zamborlini Saiter

  2. Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Campus Jataí, Rodovia BR 364, km 192, Jataí, GO, 75801-615, Brazil

    Frederico Augusto Guimarães Guilherme

  3. Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Avenida Fernando Ferrari, 514, Vitória, ES, 29075-900, Brazil

    Luciana Dias Thomaz

  4. Departamento de Botânica, IB, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21941-590, Brazil

    Tânia Wendt

Authors
  1. Felipe Zamborlini Saiter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Frederico Augusto Guimarães Guilherme
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Luciana Dias Thomaz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tânia Wendt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Felipe Zamborlini Saiter.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 6.

Table 6 List of 399 species (with 28 local endemic) recorded in two successive surveys (1992–1993 and 2003–2004) of trees with dbh ≥6.4 cm carried out in a stand of 1.02 ha in Santa Lúcia Biological Station, Santa Teresa, southeastern Brazil. Presence (1) and absence (0) of species in each survey are listed separately
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Saiter, F.Z., Guilherme, F.A.G., Thomaz, L.D. et al. Tree changes in a mature rainforest with high diversity and endemism on the Brazilian coast. Biodivers Conserv 20, 1921–1949 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-011-0067-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-011-0067-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation