This work verified the possible correlations among the variations of the strucuture, species diversity and variations of the substrate in a tree compartment in a continuum of Gallery Forest/Savana stricto sensu in Itumirim, southern of Minas Gerais. The soils of the areas of Gallery Forest, Transition Forest and Savana stricto sensu presented medium structure, high acidity with pH between 4.5 and 5.0 and high aluminum contents. The structural survey all over the patch presented 1,347 individuals distributed into 39 families, 77 genera and 102 species. The family Fabaceae stood out by the greatest richness of species followed by the families Myrtaceae, Lauraceae and Rubiaceae. The species Protium spruceanum and Myrsine umbellata were superior in all the phytosociological parameters, respectively, for all the areas of Gallery Forest and Savana stricto sensu. In the area of transition , the species Copaifera langsdorffii reached the highest values of basal area and absolute dominance; however, as regards to absolute density and cover value was the species Myrsine umbellata. Shannon's diversity indices (H') and Pielou's equatibility index (J') for the three places were of 3,57, 3,51 and 2,58 and 0,79, 0,88 and 0,77, respectively, for the areas of Gallery Forest, transition Forest and Savana stricto sensu. Through the rectified correspondence analysis (DCA), two groupings in the DCA diagram were found: grouping 1 containing only the three plots corresponding to the Savana stricto sensu; and grouping 2 joining together the other plots sampled encompassing the sites of Gallery and transition Forest.
Savanna-florest gradient; tree compartment strucuture; diversity; soil-vegetation relationships; forest fragmentation
