ABSTRACT
Aspects of the effect of fragmentation and isolation of habitats were investigated considering the structure of tree components, founded in three forest fragments of different size and shape located at Poço das Antas Biological Reserve, Silva Jardim, RJ. Transects of 10 m wide and as long as the distance between the edges, toward north-south and east-west and subdivided in contiguous plots of 10 x 25 m, were set and all tree individuals with 5 cm DBH or more were tagged and data of height and diameter collected. Were recorded 1.771 individuals, being distributed within 43 families, 107 genera and 297 species. The areas have high diversity and the families Euphorbiaceae, Sapotaceae, Annonaceae, Moraceae and Nyctaginaceae presenting the higher important index values. The high proportion of species (70%) in low density represents potential risk of extinction to many local populations and the fact that common species occurs at various stages of development just with the distance and spatial arrangement between the areas that permit the action of pollinators and dispersers, act toward to minimize this effect.
Key words:
Atlantic Forest; community structure; forest remnants; fragmentation