ABSTRACT
This study was carried out in a fragment called "Reserva da Biologia", which belongs to the Universidade Federal de Viçosa, in Minas Gerais State, Brazil (20º35'-28º50'S e 42º45'-43º00'W), where 10 plots of 5 x 5 m plots, 1m away from each other, were set up. A controlled burning was performed on the plots, following the wind-driven fire technique, according to the slope orientation. The objective was to characterize the soil seed of the tree community before and after fire, in order to verify the effects of such discontinuance on both population density and floristic composition. In the centre of each plot, one 40 x 25 cm soil sampling was collected, from the leaf litter downward 5cm deep. One day after the soil sampling the plots underwent controlled burning. New soil samplings were done immediately after burning, following the previous methodology. It was counted 528 and 429 seedlings emerging from the soil seed bank before and after the fire, respectively. Such plants were of 23 species and 14 botanical families, from which Melastomataceae, Asteraceae and Urticaceae stood out. There was no meaningful reduction in the species richness or in the density of individuals of the populations between both samplings. The floristic similarity was 34 %. Miconiacinnamomifolia and Leandra purpurascens were the most frequent/abundant species. Pioneer species stood out making up 44 and 40 % of the species found in the area before and after fire, respectively.
Keywords:
fire ecology; forest restoration; forest disturbance