Population structure and spatial distribution of Copaifera langsdorffii Desf.

Abstract

The aim of this work was to analyze the population structure and the spatial distribution of Copaifera langsdorffii Desf. in two areas of the Cerrado biome. The study was carried out in two physiognomies of the Cerrado biome: cerrado sensu stricto and cerradão, both located in the southern region of the state of Tocantins. The spatial distribution was evaluated using Morisita and dispersion indices, as well as the population structure of C. langsdorffii. We quantified 318 individuals of C. langsdorffii in the two studied areas. There were 200 individuals sampled in the cerrado sensu stricto and 118 in the area of cerradão. Regarding the type of spatial distribution of individuals of C. langsdorffii, the value found for the Morisita index was 2.67 in the physiognomy of cerrado sensu stricto, suggesting grouped spatial distribution (I >1). The dispersion index calculation showed that, in fact, the spatial distribution of the individuals sampled in the two areas was the grouped type; for the area of cerrado sensu stricto, the variance (S2) found was 24.21 and for the cerradão it was 9.67, higher than their means 10.00 and 9.67 respectively. By analyzing the age structure of the population of C. langsdorffii, we found a typical trend of the inverted-J curve, suggesting that the areas studied are self-regenerating communities composed of young and developing individuals.