Key words: Floristic similarity, Forest fallows, Mature forest, Recovery process, ResproutingAbstractThe contribution of tree sprouts to the recovery of tropical moist forest in Eastern Paraguay after swidden agri-culture was examined in 2–15 yr old forest fallows and compared with sprouting in mature forest. The proportionof stems of sprout origin, as individuals arising from stumps or lower parts of live stems (1 m), in the stemdensity declined from 59.5% (stems 1–4.9 cm DBH) and 21.0% (stems 5 cm DBH) in the young regrowthstands (2–5 yr old) to 32.9% and 19.6%, respectively in the older regrowth stands (10 and 15 yr old). Sproutswere absent in the mature forest. Out of 58 species sampled in the regrowth stands, 28 occured both as resproutsand seed regeneration, 7 were only found as resprouts, and 23 were only present as seed-established individuals.No significant relationship was found between the successional status or the growth form of species and apparentresprouting capacity. Seed-established individuals ofTrema micranthawere predominantin the two and three-yearold regrowth stands. In the more advanced successional stages, T. micrantha was replaced by Cecropia pachys-tachia and other secondary species. Species richness increased during succession. Species-abundance distributionin the successional stands followeda log series pattern, whereas the mature forest showed a log normaldistribution.Floristic similarity to the mature forest, calculated with the qualitative Soerensen index, increased from 0.45 (1–4.9 cm DBH) in the young regrowth stands to 0.52 in the older regrowth stands. In the tree stratum (5cmDBH),however, floristic composition approached only 0.28 in the younger regrowth stands and 0.44 in the older regrowthstands, respectively that of the mature forest.IntroductionInitial floristic composition in disturbed tropical forestis mainly determined by the soil seed bank, advanceregeneration, and the resprouting capacity of stumps.In recent times, sprouting has been studied in nat-ural forests after hurricane disturbance (Yih et al.1991; Basnet 1993; Bellingham et al. 1994), after firedisturbance(Kauffman1991),orasa componentofre-generation after natural gap creation (Putz & Brokaw1989; Matelson et al. 1995).In neotropical forests, sprouting is the most com-mon means of regeneration after forest cutting, butburning reduces the amount of sprouts (Uhl et al.1981; Uhl & Jordan 1984). Moreover, repeated weed-ing and prolonged cultivation lead to a steady declinein, or even to the complete exhaustion of, the resprout-ing capacityof trees (Uhl et al. 1982a; de Rouw 1993).However, except for the work of Saldarriaga et al.(1988), who studied sprout density in 9 to 80 yr oldforest fallows and mature forest stands, the long-termrole of sprouts in the overall recovery process afterslash-and-burn agriculture is not well documented.This paper describes resprouting in different-agedforest fallows and mature forest in Paraguay with thefollowing objectives: (1) determining the proportionof sprouts in stem density and basal area with succes-sional age, (2) studying the role of sprouts in canopy