Abstract
Floristic composition and dispersal syndromes were determined along one year in an open ombrophilous forest fragment in the Municipal Park of Maceió, Alagoas State, Brazil. A total of 178 species belonging to 61 families were examined. Fabaceae was the most species-rich family, with 24 species. Among sampled species, 123 had their syndromes of diaspore dispersal determined, and most of them (69%) were zoochoric. Anemochoric and autochoric plants represent 11 and 20% from the total, respectively. The data about reproductive phases indicate coincident peaks of flowering and fruiting in August, at the end of the rainy season. The results are in accordance to those expected for ombrophilous forest with poorly defined seasonality.
Highlights
The interaction between plants and animals is quite intense, decisive for the structuring of the ecosystem (KAGEYAMA; GANDARA, 2001)
About 50 to 90% of tree and shrub species found in tropical forests produce fruits with seed that are dispersed by animals (FLEMING, 1979)
The obtained material was processed according to standard techniques (FIDALGO; BONONI, 1989) and stored in the MAC Herbarium, from the Environmental Institute of Alagoas State (IMA/AL)
Summary
The interaction between plants and animals is quite intense, decisive for the structuring of the ecosystem (KAGEYAMA; GANDARA, 2001). About 50 to 90% of tree and shrub species found in tropical forests produce fruits with seed that are dispersed by animals (FLEMING, 1979). The dispersal ecology is an important base to understand the structure and functioning of communities in Neotropical forests (GENTRY, 1983), besides that, the absence of dispersal processes in degraded areas is a limiting factor to forest recovery. In Northeast Brazil, studies on dispersal syndromes have been accomplished mainly in Caatinga (BARBOSA et al, 2003; GRIZ; MACHADO, 2001; LEAL, 2003; MACHADO et al, 1997) and less often in dense ombrophilous forest (GRILLO et al, 2006) and sandbanks.
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