Spatial characterization of species Copaifera langsdorffii and Xylopia brasiliensis located in an urban forest fragment of the Atlantic Forest domain

Caracterização espacial das espécies Copaifera langsdorffii e Xylopia brasiliensis localizadas em um fragmento de floresta urbana do domínio Mata Atlântica

ABSTRACT:

It is estimated that the Atlantic Rain Forest currently occupies about 12% of its original area, predominantly composed of fragments resulting from high deforestation rates. Fragmentation alters the natural habitat of trees, potentially impacting the level of competition among native species in the biome. Understanding current tree relationships is essential for assessing the impacts of fragmentation on forest dynamics. Thus, this study analyzed the spatial distribution of the two most populous native tree species (C. langsdorffii and X. brasiliensis) in a Montane Semideciduous Forest fragment within the Atlantic Rain Forest biome, located in the city of Lavras, MG, Brazil. The spatial characterization of the species was conducted through first- and second-order analysis using marked and unmarked inhomogeneous point process methods. The results indicated that, individually, the species exhibit a non-homogeneous distribution and tend to occur in an aggregated manner within the forest fragment. Furthermore, the data suggested the absence of interaction between the species, indicating no significant competition for resource availability. These findings also highlighted the importance of using methods that consider inhomogeneous processes in the analysis of spatial dependence among native tree species.

Key words:
forest ecology; tropical forests; spatial configuration; Kernel estimator; nonhomogeneous J- and L- functions; Monte Carlo method