ABSTRACT
Cerrado restoration has been a challenge for science and practice, which depends on experimentation. We compared the ecological efficacy and costs of direct seeding in rows, broadcast seeding, planting nursery-raised seedlings, and assisted natural or passive regeneration, to restore the Cerrado vegetation in old pastures at Canarana, MT. After 22 months, we recorded 112 woody species in the entire experimental area, from which only 16 were planted, demonstrating the high resilience of Cerrado vegetation in abandoned pastures. Richness did not differ among treatments, but direct seeding resulted in high dominance of a single species and low diversity. On the other hand, direct seeding in rows provided higher woody plant density than the other treatments. The higher costs of planting seedlings did not result in either higher richness or density. Resilience, costs and the restoration goal (recovery, commercial exploitation, or biodiversity) lead to different decisions among restoration techniques for Cerrado vegetation.
Keywords:
direct seeding; natural regeneration; resilience; restoration costs; savanna
