The seed rain as an environmental indicator of areas in the ecological restoration process of Mato Grosso do Sul state

Abstract

The seed rain (SR) is characterized by the arrival of propagules to the soil, caused by dispersion mechanisms and is essential to the natural regeneration dynamics of forests. The objective was to evaluate SR as an indicator of three restoration areas in the municipalities of Mato Grosso do Sul state, Ivinhema 12 years (IV-12), Jateí 13 years (JA-13) e Caarapó 16 years of planting (CA-16).  Fifteen 0.64 m² collectors were randomly installed in each area and the material collected monthly from May 2015 to January 2016. The Shannon index (H’) and Pielou Equability (J’) were calculated and the seeds classified as dispersion syndrome, habit and successional class of tree species seeds. A total of 47,124 propagules were identified. For CA-16, 27.033 seeds, 29 families, 39 genera and 41 species were sampled. The JA-13 obtained 8,056 seeds, 22 families, 32 genera and 33 species. The area IV-12 resulted in 12,035 seeds, 13 families, 21 genera and 22 species. From the 61 species found, 88.5% are arboreal. Referring to the dispersion syndrome, most are zoochoric, with emphasis on IV-12 with 93.7%, being 40.9% allochthonous and from animals. Concerning to the successional class, the pioneers were prominent, mainly for the IV-12 (91.7%). The SR can be considered a good indicator for assessing the environmental integrity of areas in restoration by providing subsidies for understanding the maintenance of ecological processes, since in the evaluated areas, most of the seeds were zoochoric species, with expressive contribution of allochthonous species, demonstrating the existence of a dispersal fauna facilitating the forest succession.