Abstract

KALINOWSKI CANESTRARO, Bianca  and  DE ANDRADE KERSTEN, Rodrigo. The slope does not influence understory community on a Brazilian Montane Atlantic Forest. Darwiniana, nueva serie [online]. 2018, vol.6, n.1, pp.00-00. ISSN 0011-6793.  http://dx.doi.org/10.14522/darwiniana.2018.61.762.

The understory is a component of great relevance to the flora and structure of tropical forests. Mountain environments, through physical factors, can show differences in the structure and composition of this stratum. We aimed to analyze whether there is a correlation between the slope and the understory plant community. A transition area between the Montane Dense Ombrophilous Forest and the Araucaria Forest in the Atlantic Forest in South of Brazil was analyzed. 63 plots of 1 m² were made, being equally subdivided into three slope classes (0-25%, 40-60%, and >80%). 93 species, 63 genera and 42 families were recorded. The richest families were Myrtaceae (15 species), followed by Lauraceae (7), Dryopteridaceae (6), and Rubiaceae (5). The most frequent life forms were arboreal (43 species), followed by herbaceous (24) and shrubby (11). 58 species were transient and 35 were resident. The richness and diversity indices showed no significant differences between the structure and composition of the slope classes. The ordination analysis could not distinguish any slope class grouping. This is possibly justified by the environmental homogeneity of the sampled area created by the density and regularity of the canopy, climatic stability, high organic matter and shallow soil.

Keywords : Araucaria Forest; Dense Ombrophilous Forest; Floristics; Lower stratum; Phytosociology.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )