ATBC 2012 49th Annual Meeting Bonito-MS, Brasil
S11.P.04 Recruitment Success of Pioneer Tree Species: Importance of topography and gap micro-sites conditions Bentos TV1, Nascimento HEM2, Williamson GB3 - 1National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA) - Dept. Ecology, 2National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA) - Dept. of Forestry, 3Louisiana State University - Dept. of Biological Sciences The objective of this study was to assess the effect of topography and micro-site conditions on the recruitment success of pioneer tree species in a 20-year old secondary forest in Central Amazonia, Brazil. Four 1x1-m plots were allocated systematically in the center of 21 10x10-m artificial gaps created in three different topographic positions (plateau, slope and valley). The 84 seedling plots were assigned to four different treatments generated by the combination of two litter treatments (unmanipulated and litter removal), and two soil disturbance treatments (undisturbed and disturbed). Seedling emergence was five-fold higher in litter-free plots than in plots without litter removal. Seedling growth and emergence were significantly higher in valleys, indicating that water avalailibility may be the limiting factor for the recruitment success on the higher parts of relief. There were no effects of topography and litter/soil treatments on seedling mortality. Our findings provide important tools for the recovery of degraded lands in which litter removal coupled with the topsoil mixing enhance seedling emergence from the seed bank.
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