Dinâmica populacional de Euterpe edulis Martius em Floresta Ombrófila Densa no sul da Bahia

Abstract

Euterpe edulis is a very important palm tree from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest due to its ecological and economic role. However, due to the indiscriminate overexploitation its populations has been reducing greatly. This study aimed to characterize the conservation status of a E. edulis population in a fragment of Atlantic Forest at Southern Bahia. We monitored this population along 5 running years in a 0.8 hectare. Environmental variables were also collected to test which factors could affect plant development and projection matrices analysis were performed to estimate the population growth rate and sensibility. The results showed that population s density is lower if compared with others studies. We verified a decrease in the seedling s recruitment over years, which were attributed to fragmentation side-effects, such as microclimate changes and / or reproductive isolation or inbreeding depression. We also observed that the low rate of transition from stages 1 to 2, represents a bottleneck for the population growth. These results emphasize the urgency of more long-term studies on the population ecology and genetic of E. edulis and also management strategies to promote the sustainability of such natural populations.