NATURAL REGENERATION OF TREE SPECIES IN A CLOUD FOREST IN SANTA CATARINA, BRAZIL

ABSTRACT This paper aims at characterizing the tree species natural regeneration and evaluating the relation of this stratum to both the adult component and the environmental variables in a fragment of a cloud forest in Santa Catarina, Brazil. In each of 25 20 × 20 m plots, where the adult component and environmental variables have previously been evaluated, subplots of different sizes varying according to plants' height were then allocated as follows: Class 1 - plants with a height varying from 0.15 cm up to 1 m, being evaluated within 5 m2; Class 2 - plants with a height varying from 1 up to 3 m, being evaluated within 10 m2; Class 3 - plants with a height greater than 3 m and DBH smaller than 5 cm, being evaluated within 20 m2. Data have been analyzed with regard to the determination of diversity (Shannon index), evenness (Pielou), Natural Regeneration Index (NRI), similarity with the adult component (Jaccard and Bray-Curtis), floristic-structural organization (Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling - NMDS) and their relation to environmental variables. A total of 518 individuals distributed in 28 species were sampled. The low values of Shannon index (2.51 nat/ind) and evenness (0.75) suggest low diversity and elevated ecological dominance. The highest NRI has been found in the species Symphyopappus itatiayensis (Hieron.) R.M.King & H.Rob (19.36%). The similarity with the adult component were of 0.45 (Jaccard) and 0.24 (Bray-Curtis), demonstrating a low overall similarity (