Anthropic impacts on the floristic and functional composition of regeneration mechanisms in an urban forest fragment of the São Paulo Atlantic Plateau, Southeastern Brazil

ABSTRACT

Urban forest fragments are subjected to anthropogenic pressures that can impact their regeneration process. We analyzed plant floristic and functional composition of regeneration mechanisms of urban forest fragment with 2 ha at the Guarulhos International Airport, São Paulo State, Brazil, to evaluate their functional resilience to anthropogenic disturbance. The tree vegetation showed high richness with a predominance of zoochoric and shade-tolerant species. The regeneration mechanisms are composed predominantly by the native tree species, but they presented anthropogenic impacts and are susceptible to biological invasion. The greater abundance of fast-growing species along in the regeneration mechanisms shows that the process of forest secondarization has been established, which could lead the forest fragments towards an early-successional stages, altering their floristic and functional composition.

Keywords:
seedling bank; seed bank; biological invasion; Heptapleurum actinophyllum; retrogressive succession