Morphofunctional Characteristics of Seedlings of 30 Woody Species From a Tropical Coastal Vegetation (Restinga Forest), Area of Northeastern Brazil

Maria Maria Claudjane Jerônimo Leite Alves, Daniel PortelaWanderley de Medeiros, Marcelo Francisco Pompelli, Carmen Silvia Zickel

Abstract


The morphology of seedlings provides important information. It can be used in studies of regeneration and succession in natural ecosystems. This work was guided by the following issues: The morphofunctional characteristics of the cotyledons allow inference about the group successional species? Is there any relation between the morphofunctional types of seedlings and some ecological characteristics? Mature fruits from restinga forest, southern coast of Pernambuco, were randomly collected from the 30 woody species. The fruits were measured (length x width) and the seeds were weighed (g), and then allowed to germinate. The correlation about the morphofunction of seedlings and ecological characteristics were determined using the Pearson correlation test and chi-square. As a result, the species were subdivided into four categories: 13 phanero-epigeal-foliaceous (PEF), 3 phanero-epigeal-reserve (PER), 4 phanero-hypogeal-reserve (PHR) and 10 crypto-hypogeal-reserve (CHR). There were significant correlations between the morphofunctional types of the species with successional groups, seed weight, dispersal syndrome and place of occurrence. When considering pioneer species with cotyledons, PEF mostly had small lightweight seeds. While most of those with cotyledons CHR showed larger seeds and a high number of reservations, which were considered secondary species. The results showed that, at least in the initial stage, the morphology of seedlings can be used as a parameter-level succession, contributing data for the projects management and conservation of areas of Restinga forest.

Keywords


Cotyledon Morphology, Ecological Succession, Pernambuco.

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