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Soil–vegetation relationships in cerrados under different fire frequencies

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Abstract

Fire is an important ecological factor that structures savannas, such as the cerrado, by selecting plant species and altering soil nutrient content. In Emas National Park, central Brazil, we compared soils under three different fire regimes and their relationship to the cerrado species they support. We collected 25 soil and vegetation samples at each site. We found differences in soil characteristics (p < 0.05), with fertility and fire frequency positively related: in the annually burned site we found higher values of organic matter, nitrogen, and clay, whereas in the protected site we detected lower values of pH and higher values of aluminum. We also observed differences in plant community structure, with distinct floristic compositions in each site. Floristic composition was more related to sand proportion (intra-set correlation = 0.834). Different fire frequencies increase environmental heterogeneity and beta diversity in the Brazilian cerrado.

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Fig. 1
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Abbreviations

OM:

organic matter

SB:

sum of bases

CEC:

cation exchange capacity

V:

base saturation

m:

aluminum saturation

CCA:

canonical correspondence analysis

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to CNPq, for the scholarships granted to both authors; to Fapesp, for financial support; to Ibama, for research permission; to Emas National Park staff, for logistical assistance; to R. Moreira, M.B. Ramos-Neto, and Oréades, for the ENP’s satellite images; to A.T. Fushita, for help in ENP’s fire history map; to P.K. Amorim, C.A. Casali, A.V.F. Jardim, P. Loyola, M. Maia, L.T. Manica, F.Q. Martins, M.V. Cianciaruso, I.A. Silva, L. Sims, for valuable help in field; to M.I.S. Lima, M.V. Cianciaruso and I.A. Silva, for suggestions on the manuscript; to UnB and Unicamp herbaria; and to C. Proença and J. Semir, for their assistance in species identification.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, Federal University of São Carlos, P.O. Box 676, 13565-905, São Carlos, SP, Brazil

    Danilo Muniz da Silva & Marco Antônio Batalha

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  1. Danilo Muniz da Silva
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  2. Marco Antônio Batalha
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Correspondence to Danilo Muniz da Silva.

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Responsible Editor: Tibor Kalapos, Ph.D.

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da Silva, D.M., Batalha, M.A. Soil–vegetation relationships in cerrados under different fire frequencies. Plant Soil 311, 87–96 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-008-9660-y

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