Schizolobium parahyba (Vell.) S.F. Blake is a native species of the Atlantic rain forest which trees disappeared from Ilha Grande, Rio de Janeiro, due to a mortality episode. In this study, the growth-rings were investigated with the objective of determining the age of the dead trees, the relationship between growth-ring width and local precipitation, and the possible relationship between mortality episode and the population age structure or successional processes. The results showed that dead individuals had different ages and that growth-rings width was significantly correlated with the annual precipitation in the period investigated. The possibility of the death episode being part of a natural succession process or a particular event of a senescent population was discarded and it is suggested that climatic anomalies that occurred between the years 1997 and 2001 have probably contributed to tree mortality.
Brazil; guapuruvu; tree-growth analysis; tropical rain forest
