Phytosociology of the arboreous stratum in a Montane Semideciduous Seasonal forest – “Mata da Agronomia”, Viçosa-MG

Abstract

The area of the stdy is located in the municipality of viçosa, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, in the geographical coordinates 20 46’ 30.2’’S and 42 52’ 18.4’’W. The objective of this work was to determine the phytosociologic structure and the ecologic groups of the arboreous vegetation of a fragment of Montane Semideciduous Seasonal Forest called “Mata da Agronomia”. For the phytosociologic study the quarter-point-centered method was used. The species sampled were classified acconding to their ecologic group (pioneers, initial secondaries, late secondaries and indifferent). The diversity index found was of 3,728. The greatest Importance Value was represented by Piptadenia gonoacantha with 20,76%, followed by Vernonia diffusa with 8,12% and Anadenanthera colubrina with 5,43%. The family Fabaceae showed the greatest Importance Value with 39,43% followed by Asteraceae with 10,08% and Euphorbiaceae with 3,81%. Among the ecologic groups, taking into account the Importance Value, the pioneers totalized 51,97% followed by the initial secondaries with 39,93%, late secondaries with 5,58%, indifferents with 0,79%, and the non identified with 0,79%. The presence of pioneers with a high Importance Value and low values for the late secondaries allow the conclusion that the area is in a medium secondary succession stadium.