Spatial distribution of tree species in Cerrado stricto sensu fragments at the Central Brazil – GO

Abstract

The Cerrado biome has a mosaic of vegetation, with characteristic physiognomies for each area (forests, savannas and herbaceous formations), resultants of the interaction among the biotic and abiotic parameters responsible for the communities structuring. The present study had for objective to identify and to describe the pattern of spatial distribution of Caryocar brasiliense Camb., Qualea grandiflora Mart. e Curatella americana L. in Cerrado stricto sensu fragments at the southeast region of the Goiás estate. The data were obtained by the method of distance known as “T-Square” and used three statistical tests conditioned by the reason among distances: T-Square index (C), index of Dispersion (I) and the Hines’s test (ht); to detect the individual’s density and the spatial pattern. The three species presented aggregated spatial structure (C. brasiliense: C = 0.69; I = 3.60 and ht = 1.68; Q. grandiflora: C = 0.73; I = 3.89 and ht = 1.71; C. americana: C = 0.72; I = 2.25 and ht = 1.50), with density of 119-182 ind./ha, 80-147 ind./ha and 79-129 ind./ha, respectively. Similar results were found for C. brasiliense in Brasília-DF, besides several other species arboreal-shrub of Cerrado sensu stricto and of Venezuelan Llanos, indicating similarities between the structuring processes and dynamics population that happen in savannas formations. Keywords: population ecology, population dynamic, Brazilian savanna, T-Square method, aggregated distribution.