Post-fire impacts on the natural regeneration in an ombrophylous forest fragment in Areia municipality, Paraíba, Brazil

Abstract

This work aimed to evaluate the impacts of the fire on the regenerant stratum in a fragment of Atlantic forest, in Areia municipality, PB. It was plotted 40 parcels in two environments: intact forest (Environment I) and burned forest (Environment II). The structure of the vegetation was evaluated through usual parameters to natural regeneration and the difference in the number of tillers of the individuals between Environments was analyzed by KW test. The individuals were grouped in four high classes and it was calculated the index of Shannon diversity and equability of Pielou. It was surveyed 7.270 individuals belonging to 23 families, 28 genera and 45 species. In the Environment I, Protium heptaphyllum represented 38,56% of the abundance, while in the Environment II, Myrcia sp. and the dead individuals represented 73,77% of the sample. The KW test reveals significant differences between environments, specially in number of stems. The index of diversity and the equability in  the Environment I were bigger  than in the burned environment. The results demonstrated that the fire modified the floristic composition, affected the structure of the community, and increased significantly the tillering, indicating the death of the aerial part of many individuals.