Most of the morphological and developmental characteristics of different parts of a plant may vary in function of the species architecture, microenvironment and degree of ecological restriction where its has begun it growth. This study aimed to analyze the allometric relation between height and the largest horizontal crown axis and, for a community of tree seedlings and saplings up to 1 m in height in the Reserva Estadual do Morro Grande (23o35’S - 23o50’S; 46o45’W - 47o15’W), situated in São Paulo’s Atlantic Plateau, SE Brazil. We sampled 600 individuals in 34 1m2 plots distant 2.5 m from each other along six transects, 100 individuals per transect. For each individual we measured their height and largest crown axis. We adjusted different regression models (linear, exponential, power, polynomial and logarithmic) to the data. The best fit was for the power model (r2 = 0.640, p<0.001). The fact that juveniles from different species adjust to the same allometric model suggests that ecological factors could have an important restrictive role in the allometry of seedlings and saplings of tree species.
allometry; seedling; height; crown; Atlantic forest