Forest edges are permanently under pressure by natural factors and disturbances, such as fire, which can cause changes in plant communities. We studied nature and extension of damages and also the resilience of the plant community after fire in the seasonal semideciduous forest, at Estação Ecológica de Caetetus, Galia municipality, São Paulo State, Brazil. Vegetation survey comprised five transects 50 m long (10 m wide) from the edge to the forest interior in the burnt forest, and the same area in the unburnt continuous forest, used for comparisons. Every transect was divided in five 10 × 10 m plots. Tree species were identified and measured from a minimum height of 1.7 meter. Vegetation cover of every life form was assessed by line interception method in every plot. Data were collected at six, 15 and 24 months after fire and separately analysed for the external strip (0-20 m from the edge) and internal strip (20-50 m). Structural changes were larger at the external strip, where arboreal biomass was totally lost, while 11% remained in the internal strip. The difference in species number was high in the first evaluation after fire - 43 species less in the burnt forest, but decreased to only 14 species after 24 months, a demonstration of high resilience in terms of arboreal species richness. Biomass recovery take longer at the external strip (11 years estimated) compared to the internal strip (five years).
Atlantic Forest; edge effects; fire; resilience; secondary succession
