The seedling functional morphology classification was used to study 122 tree species occurring at the Ecological Station of Panga, Uberlândia, Minas Gerais. The tree species of three contiguous forest formations - gallery forest, semideciduous forest and "cerradão" - had their seedlings classified according to the position, texture and cotyledon exhibition. This study intended to verify if all the studied species would fit in a functional morphology classification system and if seedling morphology would have any relation with some ecological traits, such as successional group, type of dispersal, fruiting period, seed weight, habitat, sexual system, and root/stem biomass allocation. The species were subdivided into five categories: 63 species of the phanero-epigeal-foliaceous type (PEF), 20 phanero-epigeal-reserve type (PER), 10 phanero-hypogeal-reserve type (PHR), 28 crypto-hypogeal-reserve type (CHR) and only one species of the crypto-epigeal-reserve type (CER). The classification used was very effective, representing almost all the studied species. There were no significant relationships between functional morphology groups and type of dispersal, fruiting period, root/stem biomass or micro-habitat. On the other hand, significant relationships were found between successional groups, seed weight and sexual systems with seedling functional morphology categories. Pioneer species, mostly with small and light seeds, presented almost exclusively PEF seedlings, while shade tolerant climax species, which usually produce fewer and larger seeds with plenty of reserves, showed mostly CHR seedlings. This seedling type prevails also among the dioecious species. The results demonstrated that morphology has, at least in early stages, a determinant role in the processes of tree seedling establishment and development.
cerrado; cotyledons; ecology; establishment; seedling
