Incremento e mortalidade como indicadores de sucesso da restauração ecológica

Abstract

The Atlantic Forest is one of the most threatened and fragmented tropical forests in the world and still has a set of highly rich phytophysiognomies, with high environmental diversity and endemism. An alternative to restore its characteristic and functional attributes is with the ecological flora. Restoration is a set of practices aimed at directing the degraded ecosystem towards a recovery trajectory, being fundamental in this process, monitoring actions that use indicators to assess whether the strategies implemented in the area are fulfilling the standard ecological objectives and the choice of this must be delimited according to the specific demands of the project. Given this, this work aimed to evaluate two ecological indicators, mortality and annual periodic increment in height and diameter of individuals from a three-year reconstructive restoration in the Atlantic Forest. The destruction action took place in the municipality of Cruz das Almas, in the Recôncavo Baiano, with the reconstructive restoration strategy, by the total planting method in alternating lines with the filling and diversity groups, totaling 13 species. The general average mortality of the plantation was 27% and can be explained by factors of adaptation of the species to the environment and competition for resources. The mean value for the annual periodic increment in diameter (APID) was 87.11 mm/year and for the annual periodic increment in height (APIH)) 375.9 cm/year. The filling functional group showed better adaptability and development in the area, as expected by the characteristic of fast growing species and light tolerance. Mortality indicators and annual periodic increment in height and diameter, a crucial requirement to evaluate the initial process of establishing the restoration, since the success of a restoration goes far beyond planting actions and the execution of auxiliary regular monitoring in maintenance activities over time, ensuring the resilience of forest species.