The objective of this work was to study the floristic and structure of a tree community as well as the distribution of the species in different ecological groups and the soil at the initial and advanced stages of a semideciduous seasonal forest located in the campus of Universidade Federal de Viçosa in Viçosa, MG (20°46' S and 42°52' W). The survey was carried out in a half hectare where ten 25 × 20-m plots were allocated in each stretch, being sampled all individuals with circumference at breast height at 1.30 m from the soil (DCH) > 15 cm. It was registered 820 individuals, 440 in the initial stretch of the forest and 380 in the advanced stretch of the forest. In the floristic survey of the initial forest, it was sampled 76 species which belonged to 28 families, standing out as the one with the greatest number of individual the following: Fabaceae (137), Urticaceae (45) and Sapindaceae (41), and the species with the greatest importance value were the following: Cecropia glaziovii Snethl., Anadenanthera peregrina (L.) Speng., Piptadenia gonoacantha (Mart.) Macbr., Allophylus sericeus Radlk., Siparuna guianensis Aubl. and Maclura tinctoria (L.) Don ex Steud. The Shannon diversity index (H') was 3.57 nat.ind.-1 and the Pielou evenness (J') was 0.82. In the advanced forest it was sampled 59 species distributed among 26 families, from which Fabaceae (103), Meliaceae (49) and Flacourtiaceae (34),stood out with the greatest number of individuals. In turn, the species with the highest importance value were A. peregrina, Trichilia pallida Swartz, Cariniana estrellensis (Raddi) Kuntze, P. gonoacantha, Rollinia silvatica Mart. and S. guianensi. Shannon diversity index (H') was 3.49 nat.ind.-1 and the Pielou evenness (J') was 0.85. In the continuum, Shannon diversity index (H') was 3.82 nat.ind.-1 and the Pielou evenness (J') was 0.84. Each forest presented distinct floristic and structural idendity, tending to be minimized succession advanced.
Phytossociology; Successional stages; Ecologic group
