Spatial Distribution Of Plants Research Articles

Современные подходы к моделированию разнообразия и пространственному распределению видов растений: перспективы их применения в России

Современные подходы к моделированию разнообразия и пространственному распределению видов растений: перспективы их применения в России

Can an increase in nitrogen rate mitigate damages caused by uneven spatial distribution of maize plants at the sowing row?

An uneven distribution of maize plants at the sowing row can decrease grain yield. This work was carried out to evaluate the effect of an increasing nitrogen rate on maize agronomic performance under different variation coefficients of plant spatial distributions at the sowing row. The experiment was conducted in Lages, Santa Catarina State, South Brazil. Three variation coefficients (VC) of plant spatial distribution (0, 50, and 100%) were tested. At the 0 level, seeds were evenly distributed 17 cm from each other. In the other treatments with uneven spatial distributions, the distances between two neighbouring seeds ranged from 2 to 54 cm. Four nitrogen side-dress rates (0, 125, 250, and 375 kgN ha -1 ) were evaluated. The increase in VC of plant spatial distribution decreased the leaf area and the relative chlorophyll content of the index leaf at silking, regardless of the nitrogen rate. When the variation coefficient of seed placement was enhanced from 0 to 100%, such behaviour contributed to a decrease in the number of kernels per ear and the grain yield. Therefore, increasing the amount of N was not an efficient strategy for preventing yield losses caused by irregular plant spatial distribution at the sowing row.

Effects of Understory Shrub Biomass on Variation of Soil Respiration in a Temperate-Subtropical Transitional Oak Forest

Quantification of the temporal and spatial variations of soil respiration is an essential step in modeling soil carbon (C) emission associated with the spatial distribution of plants. To examine the temporal and spatial variations of soil respiration and its driving factors, we investigated soil respiration, microclimate, and understory vegetation in a 50 m × 70 m plot in a climatic transitional zone oak forest in Central China. The temporal variation of soil respiration based on the 21 measurements ranged from 15.01% to 30.21% across the 48 subplots. Structural equation modeling showed that soil temperature and understory shrub biomass had greater positive effects on the seasonal variability of soil respiration. The spatial variation of soil respiration of the 48 subplots varied from 3.61% to 6.99% during the 21 measurement campaigns. Understory shrub biomass and belowground fine root biomass positively regulated the spatial variation of soil respiration. Soil respiration displayed strong spatial autocorrelation, with an average spatial correlation length of 20.1 m. The findings highlight the importance of understory shrub and belowground biomass in regulating the temporal and spatial heterogeneity of soil respiration in forest ecosystems, and the need to carefully address it to robustly estimate the contribution of soil C emission in terrestrial C cycling.

Macrofungal species distributions depend on habitat partitioning of topography, light, and vegetation in a temperate mountain forest

The habitat partitioning hypothesis provides a conceptual framework for explaining the maintenance of plant and animal diversity. Its central tenet assumes environmental conditions are spatially structured, and that this structure is reflected in species distributions through associations with different habitats. Studies confirming habitat partitioning effects have focused primarily on spatial distributions of plants and animals, with habitat partitioning hypothesis under explored for macrofungi. Here, we examined the sporocarps of macrofungi in a 5-ha forest dynamics plot in China. We used four different methods to define microhabitats for habitat partitioning analyses based on topography, understory light availability, plant community, or a combination of these factors, and analyzed the effect of microhabitat partitioning on epigeous macrofungal community. Our results showed that the characteristics of the macrofungal assemblages varied among the habitats. A total of 85 species examined were associated with one or more of the habitat types (85/125, 68%). The factors related to the sporocarp composition differed among the various microhabitats. Our findings suggest that different microhabitats favor occurrence of different macrofungal species, and sporocarps -environment relation varied among the different microhabitats at this temperate mountain forest locality. These findings shed new light to the biodiversity conservation in macrofungi in temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest and point to the potential importance of microhabitat partitioning for sporocarp formation.

Spatial patterns and competition in trees in early successional reclaimed and natural boreal forests

Spatial distribution of plants in early successional stands provides an indication of future plant community structure and population dynamics. Determining the factors driving plant interactions and their demographic relationships at stand initiation is critical to gain a better understanding of plants’ responses to competition and limited resource conditions. Reclaimed ecosystems are ideal for studying such community mechanisms because they are completely reconstructed ecosystems with known community filters such as soil type, propagule composition, and the presence of both planted and naturally establishing trees. The current study explored the spatial patterns and competition-facilitation mechanisms in deciduous and evergreen trees in two oil sands reclaimed sites with different reclamation age (2-year old and 5-year old) and cover soils (wetland peat origin – PMM; and forest floor origin – FFMM) in Alberta, Canada, and compared this with a naturally-disturbed site at 5 years since fire. Spatial point pattern analysis was performed using pair correlation function g(r), mark correlation function kmm(r), and bivariate g-function. Intraspecific competition in deciduous seedlings was stronger in the 5-year old reclaimed site than in the 2-year old site. Spatial patterns in deciduous seedlings on PMM were aggregated at 1–3 m scale similar to the natural site, whereas seedlings on FFMM sites had aggregated patterns at greater than 5 m scale. Planted conifers had regular pattern at 1–2 m scale in the 2-year old sites which reflects the plantation spacing, but showed a random pattern in the 5-year old sites indicating the effect of random mortality. Bivariate spatial analysis indicated a significant repulsion between deciduous and coniferous seedling at 1 m in the 2-year old PMM site and a significant attraction in the 5-year old FFMM site suggesting that the mechanism of competition-facilitation between trees is different in different cover soils. Density dependent thinning was only observed in the 2-year old PMM and natural sites; however, a gradual increase in nearest neighbour distances with increasing seedling size in all the reclaimed sites suggests that density dependent thinning has started.

Spatio-temporal arrangement of Chamaerops humilis inflorescences and occupancy patterns by its nursery pollinator, Derelomus chamaeropsis.

Nursery pollination is a highly specialized interaction in which pollinators breed inside plant reproductive structures. Pollinator occupancy of host plants often depends on plant location, flowering synchrony and sex. The nursery pollination system between the dioecious dwarf palm Chamaerops humilis (Arecaceae) and the host-specific palm flower weevil Derelomus chamaeropsis was investigated. For the first time, sex, flowering synchrony and spatial distribution of plants was related to the occupancy probability and the abundance of D. chamaeropsis larvae, important traits influencing both pollinator and plant fitness. During the flowering season, all inflorescences in anthesis were counted every 12 d and a flowering synchrony index was calculated taking into account all possible correlations with generalized linear mixed models. To analyse the spatial structure of plants, larva occupancy and abundance, different techniques of spatial point pattern analysis were used. In total, 5986 larvae in 1063 C. humilis inflorescences were recorded over three consecutive seasons. Male inflorescences showed a higher presence and abundance of weevil larvae than females, but interestingly approx. 30 % of the females held larvae. Also, larvae occurred mainly in highly synchronous plants with a low number of inflorescences, perhaps because those plants did not lead to a resource dilution effect. There was no evidence of spatial patterns in larva occupancy or abundance at any spatial scale, suggesting high dispersal ability of adult weevil. The results in a nursery-pollinated dioecious palm demonstrate that plant sex, flowering display and flowering synchrony act as additive forces influencing the presence and abundance of the specialized pollinator larvae. Contradicting previous results, clear evidence that female dwarf palms also provide rewarding oviposition sites was found, and thus the plant 'pays' for the pollination services. The findings highlight that plant local aggregation is not always the main determinant of pollinator attraction, whereas flower traits and phenology could be critical in specialized plant-pollinator interactions.

Biological attributes of soil cultivated with corn intercropped with Urochloa brizantha in different plant arrangements with and without herbicide application

Cultural techniques such as spatial distribution of plants and initial control of the growth rate of forage by applying herbicide sub-doses should be adopted for economic sustainability of intercropping between corn and forage. However, disturbances in the system can affect mycorrhizal colonization, metabolic quotient, microbial respiration, and the number and diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of nicosulfuron spraying and the seeding density of Urochloa brizantha on soil microbiological attributes. The treatments were arranged in a 2×4 factorial design in randomized blocks. The first factor was nicosulfuron doses (0 and 1/5 of the recommended), and the second factor was the forage seeding densities (0, 2, 4 and 6kg of seeds per hectare). Soil samples were collected 60days after the emergence of corn plants. The respiratory rate, carbon associated with microbial biomass, metabolic quotient, diversity and number of mycorrhizal fungi spores and mycorrhizal colonization were determined in the soil samples. The seeding density of U. brizantha interfered with microbial respiration, metabolic quotient, mycorrhizal colonization and the population of AMFs. A planting density of 8kgha−1 associated with the application of nicosulfuron resulted in a lower metabolic quotient. The increase in forage seeding density linearly reduced corn yield when sub-doses of nicosulfuron were not applied. Management of the spatial distribution of plants and control of initial forage growth by spraying nicosulfuron provide economic and environmental sustainability to the production system.

Autochory in ferns, not all spores are blown with the wind

Dispersal is a key process in plant population dynamics. In ferns, two successive vectors are needed: the sporangium catapulting mechanism, and wind or gravity. However, some rock ferns have a growth habit that suggests a kind of autochory by placing spores on the rock surface. Moreover, some ferns show modifications of the sporangial dehiscence. To determine the role of growth habit in spore dispersal, we checked the sporangial opening mechanism and explored the spatial distribution of plants on the walls. The presence of spores of Asplenium celtibericum, a rupicolous fern, in the rock surface was checked. In addition, its sporangial dehiscence, plant size and position in the wall were analysed. Spores and indehiscent sporangia were present on walls at each sampling moment. Their highest number was found close to the plants. There was a positive correlation between crack width and plant size. However, most plants occupy the upper half of the cliffs. The growth habit of A. celtibericum is instrumental to deposit the spores over the neighbouring rock surface, thus enhancing the probability of spores to find suitable crevices for germination. Furthermore, dispersal of indehiscent sporangia might promote intergametophytic mating, and the modified sporangial opening mechanism extends the dispersive period.

English

Optimization of the use of agricultural inputs and the efficient management of the wheat crop can increase the yield potential per unit area. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the agronomic performance of a wheat cultivar in function of different spacing and sowing densities in two agricultural years. The experiment was performed during the 2010 and 2011 agricultural years.  The experimental design was a randomized complete block design in a factorial 3 x 4. The first factor was comprised of three spacings (13, 17 and 21 cm between rows), and the second factor consisted of four sowing densities (200, 300, 400 and 500 viable seeds m2). The results obtained showed that the lowest densities evaluated (200 and 300 seeds m2) promoted greater number of spikelets per ear, length of ears, number of grains in 10 ears and weight of one hundred grains, as well as, a smaller number of unviable tillers per m2. The shortest spacings evaluated (13 and 17 cm) promoted greater mass of spikes per m2 and greater accumulation of dry mass of plants. The grain yield and hectoliter weight were not influenced by the density and spacing. The yield was higher in the year, 2011 as compared to 2010.   Key words: Triticum aestivum, competition between plants, spatial distribution of plants.

Effects of <i>Apis mellifera</i> adansonii, L. 1758 (Apidae: Hymenoptera) pollination on yields of <i>Cucumeropsis mannii</i> (Naudin) in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo

The honeybees play an important role in the pollinations of many field crops. Here, we assessed the effect of the presence of honeybee colonies, A. mellifera adansonii, L. 1758 (Apidae: Hymenoptera) in the production of African melon crop, C. mannii (Naudin) (Cucurbitaceae) in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo. The influences of distance to the apiary and flight orientation were also investigated. Generally, four fields of one hectare were cultivated in two study sites. At each site, both fields of one hectare were separated by more than 3 kilometers to avoid interference between treatments. Two honeybee colonies were installed in the middle of the first experimental field at each site (T1) during flowering (when there were 10% of flowering plants). A second experimental field, without honeybee colonies, was the control (T0). Each experimental field (with or without colonies) was divided into three concentric subplots around the apiary (P1: 0-10 meters to the apiary, P2: 10-30 meters, and P3: 30-50 meters to the apiary). The impact of pollination of honeybees on the yield of C. mannii was assessed on five components of yield (average number of seeds per fruit, average number of fruits per plant, average weight of seeds extracted per fruit, average length and average width of the seeds). The results of this study have shown that the pollination of introduced honeybees significantly improved the number of seeds per fruit by 83.78%, while the number of fruits per plant and the weight of seeds per fruit were improved by 422.89% and 185.61%, respectively. Indeed, the seed size was positively influenced by the presence of the apiary in the field. According to the findings in this study, the spatial distribution of plants (distance to apiary and orientation) did not influence the yield and the size of seeds in the field of C. mannii. The association "apiary - culture of C. mannii" could be integrated in the arsenal of strategies to enhance symbiotic interactions Apis mellifera with C. mannii in DRC.Keywords: Apis mellifera adansonnii, L., pollination, Cucumeropsis mannii (Naudin), yield, Kisangani, RDC.

Modeling the spatial distribution of plants on the row for wheat crops: Consequences on the green fraction at the canopy level

This work investigates the spatial distribution of wheat plants and its consequences on the canopy structure. A set of RGB images were taken from nadir on a total 14 plots showing a range of sowing densities, cultivars and environmental conditions. The coordinates of the plants were extracted from RGB images. Results show that the distance between-plants along the row follows a gamma distribution law, with no dependency between the distances. Conversely, the positions of the plants across rows follow a Gaussian distribution, with strongly interdependent. A statistical model was thus proposed to simulate the possible plant distribution pattern. Through coupling the statistical model with 3D Adel-Wheat model, the impact of the plant distribution pattern on canopy structure was evaluated using emerging properties such as the green fraction (GF) that drives the light interception efficiency. Simulations showed that the effects varied over different development stages but were generally small. For the intermediate development stages, large zenithal angles and directions parallel to the row, the deviations across the row of plant position increased the GF by more than 0.1. These results were obtained with a wheat functional-structural model that does not account for the capacity of plants to adapt to their local environment. Nevertheless, our work will extend the potential of functional-structural plant models to estimate the optimal distribution pattern for given conditions and subsequently guide the field management practices.

Prediction of Dominant Forest Tree Species Using QuickBird and Environmental Data

Modelling the spatial distribution of plants is one of the indirect methods for predicting the properties of plants and can be defined based on the relationship between the spatial distribution of vegetation and environmental variables. In this article, we introduce a new method for the spatial prediction of the dominant trees and species, through a combination of environmental and satellite data. Based on the basal area factor (BAF) frequency for each tree species in a total of 518 sample plots, the dominant tree species were determined for each plot. Also, topographical maps of primary and secondary properties were prepared using the digital elevation model (DEM). Categories of soil and the climate maps database of the Doctor Bahramnia Forestry Plan were extracted as well. After pre-processing and processing of spectral data, the pixel values at the sample locations in all the independent factors such as spectral and non-spectral data, were extracted. The modelling rates of tree and shrub species diversity using data mining algorithms of 80% of the sampling plots were taken. Assessment of model accuracy was conducted using 20% of samples and evaluation criteria. Random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM) and k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) algorithms were used for spatial distribution modelling of dominant species groups using environmental and spectral variables from 80% of the sample plots. Results showed physiographic factors, especially altitude in combination with soil and climate factors as the most important variables in the distribution of species, while the best model was created by the integration of physiographic factors (in combination with soil and climate) with an overall accuracy of 63.85%. In addition, the results of the comparison between the algorithms, showed that the RF algorithm was the most accurate in modelling the diversity.

Corn agronomic characteristics according to crop year, spacing and plant population densities

The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of row spacing, plant density, crop year and yield in crop agronomic parameters in a ‘Cerrado’ area in Brazil. The experiments were conducted during the 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 crop years, at an experimental Farm of the IF Goiás Campus Ceres, located in the city of Ceres, Goiás, Brazil. The experiment was conducted in a complete randomized block design in a 2x3x2 factorial (two crop years: 2010/2011 and 2011/2012, three population densities: 60,000, 70,000 and 80,000 plants ha-1 and two spacing: 0.50 and 0.80 m) with four repetitions, totaling 48 plots. The observed values for plant height and cob height were higher for the 2011/2012 season with values of 2.56 and 1.26 m, respectively. The cob diameter was higher for the 2011/2012 crop year with a value of 51.92 mm. The yield was higher for the 2010/2011 harvest. Increasing plant population and reducing row spacing can lead to an increase on the grain yield due to better spatial distribution of plants per area, fact observed mainly during the 2010/2011 crop year. Corn maintains high productivity with spacing of 0.50 and 0.80m. Increases in plant density can lead to increase on yield. Increasing plant population reduced the corn stem diameter.

English

Soybean has great importance in world economy. Their productivity is influenced by numerous factors like nutrition, pests, diseases, genetic factors, and weather and plant density to name a few, and the spatial distribution of plants per area a resource to increase productivity the aim of this study was to evaluate main items of productivity and soybean yield with different arrangements of plants with spacing (0.25 and 0.50 m), and population density of plants per unit area (351,000, 310,000, 270,000, 229,500 plants per hectare). The experiment was conducted in agricultural year 2013/2014, with cultivar CD 2610 IPRO® with determined type of growth and CD2611 IPRO® with indeterminate type of growth. The experiment design was conducted in a randomized block design with split-plot, containing three repetitions and for statistical analysis, we used Assistat program in sub-divided form. The two varieties tested showed significant results in 0.25 m space between plants with a density of 351,000 plants per hectare.   Key words: Arrangement, Glycine max, densities, growth.

Effect of rosette size, clonality and spatial distribution on the reproduction of Vriesea carinata (Bromeliaceae) in the Atlantic Forest of Paraná, southern Brazil

Plant size and clonality are important traits for explaining the reproductive effort of clonal plants. Larger plants can invest more resources into reproduction, and clonality is known to increase reproductive effort. Moreover, reproductive effort is influenced by environmental variation, and so the spatial distribution of plants may affect plant reproductive effort. We investigated the effect of plant size, clonality and spatial distribution on the reproductive effort of Vriesea carinata in the Atlantic Forest in the state of Parana, Brazil. We marked twenty individual plants and measured their rosette size, biomass and number, as well as rosette reproductive effort (number of flowers, fruits and seeds). We also evaluated the relationship between reproductive effort and spatial distribution of plants. Reproductive effort did not correlate with size, whereas greater clonal growth contributed to a lower reproductive effort because rosettes within clones that had more rosettes set fewer flowers. We found that plants growing closer to each other exhibited similar reproductive efforts independently of vegetative traits, because reproductive traits were spatially autocorrelated. In Vriesea carinata, the main drivers of reproductive effort are clonality, which decreases flower production, and spatial factors, which result in greater similarity in reproductive efforts among more proximate plants.

English

Proper handling of the wheat crop is crucial to obtain the full expression of the genotype potential. Among the various management techniques, the spatial distribution of plants and the disposal of the same plant in agriculture deserve attention. It is known that the distribution may alter the productivity; however, it is uncertain, the technological changes it might entails. With this in view, the aim of this study was to evaluate in two wheat cultivars, characteristics of agronomic interest and the technological quality of flour depending on the spacing. The experimental design was a randomized block with four replications in a factorial 4 × 2. The first factor refers to the spacing: 20, 28, 36 and 40 cm and the second factor refers to the cultivars:CD 150 and BRS Tarumã. The experiment was carried out in Santa Tereza do Oeste, western region of Parana state, in May 2011. The yield and grain moisture were reduced with increased spacing of 3.98 and 26.18%. The hectolitre weight, thousand grain weight, the moisture of the flour, ash content dry basis, the falling number, and flour color were not affected by increasing spacing. Cultivar CD 150 presented lighter color, higher weight hectolitre, lower ash content and fewer drop from the BRS Tarumã. Key words: BRS Tarumã, CD 150, Triticum aestivum.

Spatial Self-Organization of Vegetation Subject to Climatic Stress-Insights from a System Dynamics-Individual-Based Hybrid Model.

In simulation models of populations or communities, individual plants have often been obfuscated in favor of aggregated vegetation. This simplification comes with a loss of biological detail and a smoothing out of the demographic noise engendered by stochastic individual-scale processes and heterogeneities, which is significant among others when studying the viability of small populations facing challenging fluctuating environmental conditions. This consideration has motivated the development of precise plant-centered models. The accuracy gained in the representation of plant biology has then, however, often been balanced by the disappearance in models of important plant-soil interactions (esp. water dynamics) due to the inability of most individual-based frameworks to simulate complex continuous processes. In this study, we used a hybrid modeling approach, namely integrated System Dynamics (SD)—Individual-based (IB), to illustrate the importance of individual plant dynamics to explain spatial self-organization of vegetation in arid environments. We analyzed the behavior of this model under different parameter sets either related to individual plant properties (such as seed dispersal distance and reproductive age) or the environment (such as intensity and yearly distribution of precipitation events). While the results of this work confirmed the prevailing theory on vegetation patterning, they also revealed the importance therein of plant-level processes that cannot be rendered by reaction-diffusion models. Initial spatial distribution of plants, reproductive age, and average seed dispersal distance, by impacting patch size and vegetation aggregation, affected pattern formation and population survival under climatic variations. Besides, changes in precipitation regime altered the demographic structure and spatial organization of vegetation patches by affecting plants differentially depending on their age and biomass. Water availability influenced non-linearly total biomass density. Remarkably, lower precipitation resulted in lower mean plant age yet higher mean individual biomass. Moreover, seasonal variations in rainfall greater than a threshold (here, ±0.45 mm from the 1.3 mm baseline) decreased mean total biomass and generated limit cycles, which, in the case of large variations, were preceded by chaotic demographic and spatial behavior. In some cases, peculiar spatial patterns (e.g., rings) were also engendered. On a technical note, the shortcomings of the present model and the benefit of hybrid modeling for virtual investigations in plant science are discussed.

English

The Croton heliotropiifolius (Euphorbiaceae family) is a shrubby plant that has attracted attention both by the need for conservation as for their pharmacological potential. The present study aimed to characterize the diversity and structure genetic of a population of C. heliotropiifolius present in a forest fragment in the city of Itapetinga, Bahia. Young leaves were collected from 41 individuals after DNA extraction were genotyped with 18 RAPD primers and 15 ISSR primers. Frequentist and Bayesian statistical methods were used to estimate the diversity and genetic structure, being observed a total of 164 polymorphic markers (mean 4 and 4.3 bands obtained with the use of RAPD and ISSR primers, respectively). Genetic diversity ranging between 0.12 and 0.48 and Bayesian method indicated by the existence of three probable gene pools (K = 3). Indications of association between spatial distribution of plants and the genetic structure were also observed, being likely that the dynamics of the seed carriage performed by the ants and the pollination by insects are related with the results observed. These results allow the beginning of a discussion about the diversity and genetics patterns of the species, since there are no studies of this nature for C. heliotropiifolius. Key words: Caatinga, conservation genetics, genetic variability, inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR), random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD).

Germination patterns in three terrestrial orchids relate to abundance of mycorrhizal fungi

Summary The spatial distribution of plants, which is often generated by patterns of seed recruitment, is an important determinant of population dynamics, especially for orchids with seeds that must be exposed to appropriate mycorrhizal fungi. We compared the distribution and abundance of target mycorrhizal fungi detected in the soil using DNA‐based molecular techniques and germination in seed packets of Goodyera pubescens, Liparis liliifolia and Tipularia discolor. We further examined Tulasnella spp. associated with G. pubescens to determine whether areas with abundant host fungi resulted from multiple genets of the same species or from a single widespread fungal genet. We found that target fungi were more likely to be detected using soil DNA assays than by seed germination. Based on soil DNA, fungi were more widespread than suggested by seed germination, which most often reflected the presence of abundant mycorrhizal fungi in the soil. Fungi were more likely to be abundant close to established orchids. Established plants of G. pubescens that were < 50 cm apart associated with a single abundant fungal genet, while those > 50 cm apart associated with multiple fungal genets. Synthesis. This study demonstrates the importance of using multiple methods to detect the distribution and abundance of target fungi and suggests that fungal ‘hot spots’ may be keys to the dynamics of orchid populations.

Leguminosae in an altitudinal gradient in the Atlantic Forest of Serra do Mar State Park, São Paulo, Brazil

Studies on floristic and structural variations of forests in relation to altitude have contributed to the knowledge of patterns and causes of spatial distribution of plants in the Atlantic Forest. Geographical variables such as latitude, longitude and altitude result in different vegetation types, which limits newly established are not consensus. In the north coast of São Paulo state altitudes vary from the Restinga Forest, near the sea level, to the vegetation at the top of Cuscuzeiro Mountain at 1,279 m altitude. In order to evaluate the richness, taxonomic diversity, floristic similarity and the potential indicator of Leguminosae in the characterization of different vegetation types of Atlantic Forest on the northern coast of São Paulo, a matrix with the presence and absence of 142 species, in 15 different altitudinal belts was built. The greatest species richness was observed in the Restinga Forest (0-10 m), with 84 species, and in Montane Forest (500-1,200 m), with 69 species. The altitudinal belt with the highest number of tree species was 10-50 m, with 34 species. In the higher altitudes that number was significantly lower with six species of 1,100-1,200 m, and no species above this quota. The cluster analysis (Jaccard index) showed dissimilarity of the belts 0-10 m and 1,100-1,200 m in relation to the intermediate belts. The Lowland Forest and Submontane share the largest number of species (25). Some species characterize certain formations or have their preferred environment located at a specific elevation, as is the case of Abarema brachystachya and Inga subnuda (0-20 m), Inga lanceifolia, Inga mendoncaei and Ormosia minor (800-1,200 m). Distinguished for occupying all the phytophysiognomies: Abarema langsdorffii and Senna macranthera. Leguminosae, although well adapted to the first colonization and exploration of diverse environment, was poorly represented above 1,100 m altitude.