Fine-scale variation reveals high structure and floristic heterogeneity in dry forests of the Cerrado

Abstract

This study aimed to compare the floristic and tree structure of two dry forests patches located in a forest remnant encompassed in Cerrado biome, south Goiás state, Brazil. In semideciduous (SF) and deciduous (DF) dry forests, we allocated 25 permanent plots (20 × 20 m), including trees and palms individuals with diameter at breast height (DBH1.3m) ≥ 5.0 cm. The whole survey showed 2 614 individuals, 146 species and 46 families. SF showed higher basal area and average height, but DF had higher density. Due to the low equitability and smaller species richness found in DF (87 species) than in SF (113), the Shannon diversity in SF was significantly higher. Both vegetation types showed low qualitative (Jaccard, 36%) and quantitative (Morisita, 19%) similarity, as only three of the 25 species regarded as having the highest importance/value were common in both dry forests. Fabaceae predominated in the number of species and density, especially in DF. Zoochory was more abundant, although it was not different between vegetation types, whereas both anemochory and autochory dispersion mechanisms were higher in DF. Although the surveys are geographically close, differences in the vegetation structure between dry forests showed strong heterogeneity and environmental complexity, reflecting an increase in local diversity, and reinforcing the need for conservation of these forest remnants in Cerrado.