Evaluation of resprout capacity pos disturbance in typical wood plants of campo rupestre grasslands

Abstract

Ecología Austral, 24:350-355 (2014)

Plants have developed efficient mechanisms for establishing themselves and remaining in the environment. One such mechanism is the sprouting ability some species present, many of them associated to fire prone environments such as the campo rupestre grasslands. In this paper, we evaluated the ability and morphology of plants to re-sprout after disturbance in two typical populations of the campo rupestre grassland at Serra do Cipó, testing the hypothesis that fire (disturbance agent) is a selective agent for those species, and that in response they have developed the re-sprouting-after-disturbance mechanism. For the study, we selected populations of Dalbergia miscolobium and Vochysia thyrsoidea who had lost biomass on the ground due to the recurrent intense burning at Serra do Cipó. The two species showed different resprouting strategies. D. miscolobium resprouted from the ground, from structures capable of storing starch (lignotubers) that favours this kind of biomass rebuilding. V. thyrsoidea, on the other hand, ensures protection of its gems through the thickening of the CAP. These gems are protected to sprout from the barck of trees, and are called epicornic gems. Besides showing the successful recovery of the photosynthetic organs from re-sprouting and the characteristics of the architecture construction of modules for each species, our data has allowed us to suggest that the success of regrowth and recovery of biomass on the ground is related to the amount of resources allocated for this function. Therefore, fire can act as a selective agent for species with efficient re-sprouting mechanisms at the campos rupestre grasslands, since the characteristics of that environment for regrowth, illustrated in this study, are similar to features shown in other species of distinct fire prone environments.