Amazon Forest morphometry on the tree management of the second harvest cycle.

Abstract

Knowledge of the morphometric relationships of Amazonian species can contribute to forest-sustainable tree management. The objective of this study is to describe and evaluate the morphometric relationships of 10 tree species from a tropical forest managed in a second cutting cycle. Morphometric data were collected in a forest located in the municipality of Itaúba (“Mato Grosso” state – MT, Brazil). In general, the DBH, Total Tree Height, and commercial morphometric parameters were similar for the species, except for copaiba, which presented a small value for minimum DBH, and low regeneration of the species in the area. The evaluated species showed a high value of Canopy Shape (average CS = 1.28) and the value of Canopy Proportion was 44.87%, slightly lower than those found in the literature. In the Salience Index, the data found ranged from 14 to 36, a result close to that expected for tropical forests. The average Slenderness Ratio (SR) observed in the area indicated that the trees are relatively robust and less prone to crown and trunk breaks. For the Salience Index, it was observed that the species showed a reduction of the index with the increase of DBH. There was a positive response for the relationships between variables evaluated, with 23.4% for the Canopy Diameter x DBH ratio (i.e., CD × DBH), 5.6% for the Canopy Ratio × DBH (CR × DBH), and 18.8% for the Total Height (HT × DBH). The morphometric correlations obtained low results (R²: 0.234; 0.056 and 0.188 respectively). However, the average correlation between Total Tree Height and DBH was expected to be higher due to changes in tree growth due to the intervention carried out in the forest.