Florística e fitossociologia de veredas em diferentes estágios de conservação na APA do Rio Pandeiros, norte de Minas Gerais

Abstract

The veredas (palm swampy) is an important subsystem representative of the Cerrado in Brazil, resulting from the agglomeration of a set of herbaceous and shrub species, and among them the palm Mauritia flexuosa Lf. These environments participate in the control of the flow of the groundwater, playing a key role in the hydro-logical equilibrium of water courses. Despite the important meaning for the savannah, there is little research about the veredas. Thus, this study aimed to determine the effects of human action in the composition and diversity of the tree community into two veredas areas at different conservation stages. To this, a sample of 1 ha was done, being 0.5 ha in area of degraded vereda and 0.5 ha in a preserved area, totaling 100 plots of 100 m2In these plots, all shrubs-tree individuals with DBH ? 5 cm were sampled. Strongly differences were observed on the floristic composition and diversity between the studied areas. In the degraded area, we found 253 individuals of 17 species, while in the preserved vereda we found 644 individuals, distributed in 31 species. The results show that the predatory action may be the factor in reducing the richness and diversityin these environments.