Floristic composition of trees in a seasonal semidecious forest in Viçosa, Minas Gerais, and species of greater ocurrence in the region

Abstract

There is a great demand for ecological studies on forests focusing on biodiversity conservation and establishment of environmental laws. The major need, however, is the qualitative survey of the flora. Thus, this work aimed to determine the floristic composition of a site in the Biological Reserve of the Federal University of Vicosa (UFV) in Vicosa-MG, under natural regeneration for 78 years, as well as to establish a comparative analysis with other works in the region, providing information to serve as a basis for further works on recovery and conservation of the biodiversity of seasonal semi deciduous forest sites. The floristic data were obtained by phytosociological sampling in 1 ha, through contiguous plots, with all the wood individuals with stem diameter = 4.7 cm, 1.30m far from the soil were recorded. A total of 130 species was sampled, belonging to 94 genera and 38 botanical families. The analysis of those data combined with other surveys in different sites of the Biological Reserve on the UFV campus showed a remarkable influence of local environmental variables (topography, slopes, sun exposure and water availability on the floristic richness distribution of this site. Casearia decandra, Guapira opposita, Apuleia leiocarpa, Dalbergia nigra, Jacaranda macratha, Matayba elaeagnoides, Piptadenia gonoacantha, Bathysa nicholsonii, Carpotroche brasiliensis, Luehea grandiflora, Mabea fistulifera, Ocotea odorifera, Sorocea bonplandii and Zanthoxylum rhoifolium presented the highest occurrence in the sites studied in the Vicosa region and are recommended for recovery of degraded environments in regions.