ARCHITECTURE AND VERTICAL STRUCTURE OF THE TREE COMMUNITY IN A SUBTROPICAL SEASONAL FOREST

ABSTRACT

This study proposed stipulate the limits and characterize the vertical strata, observing the regularity of the distribution of species abundance, on height gradient of the trees in forest. Data were obtained from fourteen plots (20m x 100m) distributed systematically, registering the species and the total height of the trees with circuference at breast height (CBH) ≥30 cm. The strata were defined from the cluster analysis. We conducted a redundancy analysis (RDA) between species abundance and architectural models, in the vertical strata. For the species distribution in vertical strata was used detrended correspondence analysis (DCA). The community is comprised of four vertical strata. According to the study there was a relationship between the species of the architectural models with the vertical structure of the forest, thus observing that there are strategies of canopy occupation among species according to the architectural model studied. The architectural models with preferential occupancy by certain strata were those of Aubréville for the understorey and the one of Prévost for the emergent strata. Other species presented a wide distribution in the vertical strata of the forest, having no preferential distribution in the vertical structure. Being the models of Massart, Rauh, Roux, Champagnat and Troll, essentials for conformation of the forest arquitecture.

Keywords:
functional ecology; plant ecology; fitossociology; silvology; functional trait