Structure of a Dense Montana Ombrophilous Forest with dominance of Euterpe edulis Mart.

Abstract

The current article analyzed the horizontal, vertical, internal and parametric structures of a Dense Montana Ombrophilous Forest with a dominance of Euterpe edulis Mart. species. Twenty (20) sections of 10 x 50 m were inventoried contingently, totaling 1.0 ha of sampling area. The criteria for inclusion was the diameter at the breast height, measured 1.30 m above ground level (DBH), equal or greater than 5.0 cm, which resulted in 2,394 indiviuals.ha^-1; 2,594 boles.ha^-1, total dominance of 42.20 m².ha^-1, wherein 7.81 m².ha^-1 corresponded to 642 individuals.ha^-1 of Euterpe edulis. The average diameters were 12.33 cm and 11.48 cm for the community and the population of Euterpe edulis, respectively. The medium extract of the forest, defined at a height of 5 to 12 m total size revealed 65% Euterpe edulis individuals. The diametric structure of the forest community showed distribution in the form of “inverted-J”, but unbalanced. As for the internal structure, 96.4% of the individuals showed epiphytes, 57.8% without creepers, and 62.5% of individuals without lianas. These characteristics associated to the edaphoclimatic effect of the studied area and absence of a deciduousness phenomenon, permitted classifying the fragment as Dense Montana Ombrophilous Forest in an intermediated-advanced stage of regeneration. As for the Euterpe edulis population, the species representation by the basal area demonstrated its dominance in the forest community, showing a mature population in spite of underestimated adult individuals.

Keywords:
Successional stage; Structural parameters; Juçara palm