Pedoforms Microclimate and Seasonal Forest Structure in Médio Vale do Paraíba
Floresta e Ambiente
Pedoforms Microclimate and Seasonal Forest Structure in Médio Vale do Paraíba
Autor Correspondente: Marcos Gervasio Pereira | [email protected]
Palavras-chave: Atlantic forest; phytosociology; environmental variables; conservation
Resumos Cadastrados
Resumo Inglês:
In the Rio de Janeiro State, the Atlantic Forest is restricted to small fragments, responsible for the maintenance of environmental services. These fragments occur on steep slopes dominated by concave and convex pedoforms, capable of changing the local microclimate conditions. To preserve these communities, it is necessary to determine the level of influence of these pedoforms on forests structure and species distribution. Thus, we performed a phytosociological study and installed a set of four sensors to determine the monthly mean of air temperature and relative humidity in concave and concave pedoforms. The forest structure and the microclimate averages are compared by the Levene’s T-test. We observed differences between microclimatic average, importance value indexes (IVIs) and total height, indicating that microclime variations can influence the structure and composition of the tree community. However, these structure differences are punctual and insufficient to determine specific communities.
