Planting designs and functional traits of native plant species used in restoration projects in araucaria forests

• Autor(a) principal: Kissmann, Camila
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Pozzan, Marluci, Sausen, Tanise Luisa, Simões, Daniel Albeny
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Ciência Florestal (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufsm.br/cienciaflorestal/article/view/40924
• topic: Atlantic Forest; Ecological succession; Functional traits; Mata Atlântica; Sucessão ecológica; Atributos funcionais

Araucaria forest (AF) is one of the most devastated vegetation types in the Atlantic Forest, with a high percentage of areas to be restored. The purpose of this study was to compare two planting models in areas of AF and to determine functional attributes of four native species for ecological restoration – Schinus terebinthifolius, Psidium cattleianum, Eugenia involucrata, and Ocotea odorifera. The study compared the survival, initial growth, canopy cover, and ground cover throughout 18 months between systematic planting models (pioneer species interspaced with non-pioneer species in the same planting row) and random models (pioneer and non-pioneer species randomly distributed within the plots). The functional attributes assessed were average height growth, survival, susceptibility to frost, canopy diameter, and frequency of herbivory. There were no differences in survival, initial growth, and canopy cover of plants between the planting models. Schinus terebinthifolius presented 87% of the desirable attributes to use in restoration projects in AF with high rates of survival and growth (height growth and canopy diameter). The non-pioneer species had a survival rate of 50% or lower and are not recommended for joint planting with the pioneer species for implementation during the frost season in AF.