Floresta e Ambiente 2019; 26(2): e20170602 https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8087.060217 ISSN 2179-8087 (online) Original Article Conservation of Nature Structure and Diversity In Ombrophilous Forest in the Zona da Mata of Pernambuco Rosival Barros de Andrade Lima1 , Luiz Carlos Marangon1 , Fernando José Freire2 , Ana Licia Feliciano1 , Roseane Karla Soares de Silva1 1Departamento de Ciências Florestais, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco – UFRPE, Recife/PE, Brasil 2Departamento de Agronomia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco – UFRPE, Recife/PE, Brasil ABSTRACT The objective of this work was to evaluate the arboreal component of a Dense Ombrophilous Lowland Forest fragment through evaluations of richness, structure and diversity. For the sampling of this component, we implanted 40 sample units of 10 × 25 m. We measured all arboreal individuals who presented circumference at breast height ≥ 15 cm, 1.30 m from the ground level. The tree stratum presented 1324 individuals, 100 species, 64 genera and 38 families. The Fabaceae family had the highest wealth and Anacardiaceae was the most abundant. The Shannon index and Pielou equability were 3.60 nats.ind.–1 and 0.78, respectively, suggesting the existence of relevant ecological dominance in the community. The results of this work emphasize the ecological importance of this remnant for maintaining the local flora and fauna, also emphasizing the importance of preserving Atlantic Ombrophilous Forests, particularly in the Zona da Mata of Pernambuco. Keywords: phytosociology, atlantic forest, floristic. Creative Commons License. All the contents of this journal, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. 2/12 Lima RBA, Marangon LC, Freire FJ, Feliciano AL, Silva RKS Floresta e Ambiente 2019; 26(2): e20170602 1. INTRODUCTION Usina Trapiche S/A, municipality of Sirinhaém, located in the southern region of Pernambuco state (Figure 1). Forests constantly change their structure, Forests in this region are currently circumvented physiognomy and floristic composition until climax by extensive sugar cane plantations or even by urban (Téo et al., 2014). A way to detect the current state of areas, clearly reducing the extent of areas with large these forests is through floristic and vegetation structure forests. The fragment studied is in this situation and analysis, which provides a necessary ecological basis has already suffered deforestation, being surrounded by for quantitative and qualitative inferences of the forest the sugar cane matrix, but currently it is well preserved. structure (Silva & Bentes-Gama, 2008). Studies of this According to the Köppen classification, the region nature provide us with important data for restoration, presents an Am monsoon climate (Alvares et al., 2013) conservation and management of natural resources, with annual average temperature of 25.6 °C. The average contributing to the maintenance of the high diversity altitude is 60 m and the period of greatest rainfall begins of species and habitats (Silva et al., 2011). in April and ends in September. The average annual The situation of tropical forests is disturbing due rainfall of the region from March/2011 to April/2016 to several factors that promote fragmentation, loss of was approximately 1,860 mm (Oliveira et al., 2016). habitat and biodiversity (Laurance et al., 2017), such The predominant soils in the study area are: Yellow as: logging, agricultural area expansion, extensive Latosol; Yellow, Red-Yellow and Greyish Argisols; livestock production, and especially the increase in Gleysol; Cambisol; and Flossic Neosols (Silva et al., the population (Roa-Romero et al., 2009; Vega et al., 2001; Santos et al., 2013). 2016). As the population increases, the consumption standard rises, which increases the demand for natural 2.2. Data collection resources, promoting the degradation of ecosystems with serious consequences for the present society and For the tree component sampling we systematically future generations (Philippi et al., 2012). implanted 40 sample units of 10 × 25 m (250 m2), the Such degradations cause important ecosystems to equivalent of 1 ha of sampled area and distance between be decharacterized even before their original floristic 42 m plots. We georeferenced all sample units and composition is known (Silva et al., 2008). According sampled all tree individuals that presented circumference to Cordeiro et al. (2011), floristic composition at breast height (CBH) ≥ 15 cm, at 1.30 m above knowledge is the first step towards understanding the ground level. We measured this using a tape measure, real dimensioning of local biodiversity. and estimated height with high pruning shears of six meters in length. All the sampled individuals received In addition to assisting in ecosystem management PVC plates (3 × 5 cm) with increasing numeration, and conservation, the information generated in which were nailed 15 cm above the measurement point. floristic-structural studies also helps in planning management practices aimed at recovery of degraded We identified the species whenever possible in the areas (Hernández-Ramírez & García-Méndez, 2015). field. When necessary, we collected plant material to help In this aspect, the objective of the present study was to the identification by professionals from the Dárdano de characterize the floristic composition and the structure Andrade Lima Herbarium of the Agronomic Institute of an Atlantic Forest fragment in order to obtain of Pernambuco (IPA). We used the Angiosperm basic information that will result in support tools for Phylogeny Group classification system to classify the management and conservation of the Atlantic Forest, families (APG IV, 2016). Spelling and the names of the especially in the Zona da Mata of Pernambuco. species were checked through the Missouri Botanical Garden website (Tropicos.org, 2017). 2. MATERIAL AND METHODS 2.3. Data analysis 2.1. Study area 2.3.1. Sample sufficiency The study was conducted in an Ombrophilous We evaluated the floristic sufficiency from the Lowland Forest fragment (Martins & Cavararo, 2012). rarefaction curve using EstimateS 9.1.0 Software This fragment has 42 ha called Coelhas and belongs to the (Colwell, 2013). Sampling sufficiency was determined Floresta e Ambiente 2019; 26(2): e20170602 Structure and Diversity in Ombrophilous Forest... 3/12 Figure 1. Geographic location of the Coelha Forest, Usina Trapiche S/A, Sirinhaém, Pernambuco, Brazil. (Source: Walter Lucena). by considering the random sampling estimators based (Gandolfi et al., 1995; Brandão et al., 2009; Oliveira et al., on three parameters: number of individuals, mean 2011; Silva et al., 2010). diameters and mean height, where we performed the 2.3.3. Phytosociological structure and diversity calculations of sample errors (Ea%) at a 95% probability and equability indexes level, assuming a sample error of at most 15%. We evaluated the following phytosociological 2.3.2. Floristic composition and successional parameters: Absolute Density (AD), Relative Density classification (RD), Absolute Frequency (AF), Relative Frequency (RF), After surveying and identifying the species, we Absolute Dominance (ADo), Relative Dominance (RDo), Coverage Value (CV), Importance Value (IV). These compiled a list containing the species, genera, number parameters were calculated using the Fitopac 2 software of individuals and families of all individuals found tool. We also calculated the Shannon diversity indexes in the tree component according to the APG IV (H’) and the Pielou equability index (J) (Pielou, 1975), classification system. We adopted the criterion suggested as proposed by Magurran (1988). by Gandolfi et al. (1995) for species classification by successional group, in which the species were 2.3.4. Diametric and hypsometric distribution classified as pioneers, early secondary, late secondary For the analysis of the diametric distribution, we or uncharacterized. We performed the classification plotted the number of individuals per diametric class through field observations and bibliographic research center, where the number of class centers and their 4/12 Lima RBA, Marangon LC, Freire FJ, Feliciano AL, Silva RKS Floresta e Ambiente 2019; 26(2): e20170602 amplitude were calculated based on Sturges (1926), 3.2. Floristic composition and successional through Equations 1 and 2: classification = + (1) NC 1 (3.* 322 Log (Nind. )) Tree sampling recorded 1,324 individuals, belonging TA = X − x/ NC (2) to 100 species, 64 genera and 38 families. Among these species, 81 were identified at the species level, 13 at Where: NC = number of classes; Nind. = number of the gender level, five at the family level and one was individuals; TA = total amplitude; X = largest diameter not identified (Table 1). and x = smallest diameter. The families with the highest representativity of For analysing the hypsometric structure, we individuals were: Anacardiaceae (314 individuals), generated a graph with the number of individuals per Burseraceae (141), Moraceae (133), Melastomataceae height class center, with an amplitude of 5 m and the (100), Fabaceae (82), Lecythidaceae (71), Myrtaceae first class beginning at 2.5 m. (68), Euphorbiaceae Lauraceae (39) and Salicaceae (38), added together totalled 1,044 individuals. These 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ten families represented 78.85% of the individuals sampled. The other families (28) accounted for 21.15% 3.1. Sample sufficiency of the total, evidencing the low relative abundance of individuals in these