Análise da eficiência de protocolo de indicadores de funcionalidade ecológica como ferramenta para o monitoramento de áreas de restauração em floresta estacional semi-decidual

Abstract

The monitoring of areas in process of restoration is a permanent challenge to be studied. Ecological integrity should assess whether the characteristics of the restored area, its size, its layout in the landscape, floristic composition and structure allow the ecological processes that can persist in the long term to function. Therefore, indicators must contain several measurable parameters such as replicability, sensibility to changes over time and easy to apply and interpret. This work intends to discuss and analyze multicriteria protocol developed with the aim of identifying efficient indicators to evaluate the establishment of ecological processes essential for the self-sustainability of the restoration. In order to do so, we analyzed indicators that reflect the stability and resilience of the area related to diversity (diversity, equitability, richness) and community structure (height, diameter, bifurcation, stratification) and functional diversity (epiphytes, herbaceous and regenerating soil cover, % of species by ecological group, height and % of cover area with litter). The reliability to maintain productivity in the long term was evaluated by: (A) management and protection (presence of termites / ants and vines), (b) anthropic impact (presence of grazing, trails and paths and exotic species), and (c) incidence of light in the soil and 1 m from this. The protocol was applied in two reference areas (fragment of Seasonal Forest at the initial stage of regeneration and one restoration at 6 years) and in 10 restoration models with two years of age, with variation in the proportion of pioneers and non-pioneers and in different densities. The main problem of the protocol of indicators was its application and interpretation in the field, requiring training for its use. The indicators were selected from the analysis of main components and, among them, 61% were redundant or with low sensitivity for the conditions evaluated. The most sensitive indicators for the differences between the areas were soil cover with herbaceous-regenerants and litter, light incidence in the soil and the proportion of non-pioneers. The main characteristic of this protocol used in this work is the ease of its application, but it needs the previous taxonomic knowledge of the species used and their respective ecological functions.