Impact of exotic tree species on the natural regeneration of an urban restinga forest

• Published in: Trees (Berlin, West) Vol. 37; no. 6; pp. 1643 - 1655
• Main Authors: Narcizo, Amanda Tavares, Braga, João Marcelo Alvarenga, Sartori, Richieri Antonio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-12-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abundance; Agriculture; Biodiversity; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Flora; Forestry; Forests; Indigenous species; Introduced plants; Introduced species; Invasions; Life Sciences; Original Article; Parameters; Plant Anatomy/Development; Plant communities; Plant Pathology; Plant Physiology; Plant Sciences; Plant species; Plants (botany); Seedlings; Species composition; Species richness; Syzygium cumini; Trees; Urban regeneration; Urbanization; Sandy coastal plains; Non-native species; Invasive alien plants; Brazilian Atlantic Forest
• ISSN: 0931-1890; 1432-2285
• DOI: 10.1007/s00468-023-02449-7

Key message
Exotic tree species
Syzygium cumini
and
Taliparti tiliaceum
affect
restinga
forest regeneration growing under them, in comparison to native species, mainly because they reduce saplings’ abundance.
Biological plant invasions are a considerable threat to native vegetation biodiversity, mainly when the invaded site consists in suppressed fragmented remnants surrounded by urbanization. Although this is the case of Brazilian
restinga
forests, knowledge on potential invasion events in these environments remains scarce. We herein identified differences between these communities by comparing natural regeneration on plots planted with exotic tree species
Syzygium cumini
and
Talipariti tiliaceum
to those planted with native trees on an urban
restinga
forest park in Rio de Janeiro city. We observed that natural regeneration communities were impacted by exotic trees, resulting in alterations to both their structure and floristic composition. Furthermore, the magnitude of this impact depended on the identity of the exotic tree in question. Somehow, plant community regeneration based on species
T. tiliaceum
was significantly different from that in native plots, at all parameters: species richness, mean abundance of individuals, mean plant height, total basal area, absolute density and abundance of seedlings.
S. cumini
, in its turn, seemed to have only significantly changed regeneration’s abundance parameters. Therefore, based on our findings,
S. cumini
and
T. tiliaceum
presented potential invasive impact to native flora. These species should be monitored and likely managed in other
restinga
forests, since prevention is the key action to preserve our native environments from biological invasions.