Restauração ecológica de cerrado sensu stricto: comparação de diferentes técnicas e sua relação com a água no solo

Abstract

Despite growing recognition of the Cerrado importance, our understanding of how to conserve and restore non-forest ecosystems in the tropics remains limited. In this study we aimed to evaluate, over three consecutive years the potential of different techniques for cerrado sensu stricto ecological restoration in relation to legislation for ecological restoration projects evaluation as reference standard and their influence on the structure and composition of soil seed bank and on soil physical and chemical attributes in an abandoned pasture area invaded by invasive exotic grasses with low natural regeneration of native species. Our results indicate that seedling planting using herbaceous, shrub, tree and liana species were only able to meet legal reference standards for soil coverage by native vegetation, presenting an approximate cost to that of forest restoration projects, highlighting its potential for large scale implementation. The limited and directed supply of nutrients to the planted seedlings did not generate changes in soil physical and chemical evaluated attributes. Despite the decrease in soil permeability resulting from experiment implementation and operations carried out, the restoration techniques obtained higher hydraulic conductivity results than control plots, indicating that cerrado sensu stricto restoration generates positive impacts on soil permeability. The differentiation with other evaluated treatments regarding emerged seedling density and diversity from soil seed bank shows that seedling planting was capable of generating positive impacts on the potential for natural regeneration of degraded cerrado sensu stricto ecosystems with low resilience. Our study indicates that seedling planting can provide superior results in a shorter time for cerrado sensu stricto restoration compared to assisted natural regeneration or abandonment (passive restoration).