Observations on the vegetation of northeastern Mato Grosso: I. The woody vegetation types of the Xavantina-Cachimbo Expedition Area

1973 ◽  
Vol 266 (880) ◽  
pp. 449-492 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Water Table ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Dry Forest ◽  
Woody Vegetation ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
Gallery Forest ◽  
Forest Types ◽  
Mato Grosso ◽  
Amazonian Forest ◽  
Base Camp

The Xavantina-Cachimbo Expedition worked during 1967-9 in a 20 km square around a base camp (12° 49' N, 51° 46' W), ca . 260 km north of Xavantina (NE Mato Grosso) and near Xavantina itself. The vegetation is of special interest because the base camp is situated near the junction of the savanna region of Central Brazil and the Amazonian forest. It is a pattern of savanna (cerrado), savanna woodland (cerradão), forest and treeless grassland (campo) with often remarkably abrupt boundaries between the different communities. Until 1967 the area had been very little affected by man. The climate is characterized by high temperature throughout the year, an annual rainfall of about 1200 to 1400 mm, and a more or less rainless dry season from June to September inclusive. During the dry season the cerrado, campo and some forms of cerradao vegetation are subject to fire, but are not burned every year. The forest, except the Deciduous Seasonal forest, is not normally burned. The rocks consist of sandstones overlying shale and mudstones. The sandstone weathers to form widespread dystrophic soils of low nutrient content, whilst the finer textured rocks, exposed in some deeper valleys, produce somewhat richer mesotrophic soils. The woody vegetation types of dystrophic soils are classified into three types of Evergreen Seasonal forest (‘Swampy Gallery' forest,‘Valley' forest and ‘Dry' forest), cerradão and cerrado. The Swampy Gallery forest is found along streams where the water table is close to the surface even in the dry season and is often bordered on one or both sides by strips of campo. In composition it resembles an impoverished Amazonian rain forest. The top-storey is dominated by Qualea ingens and Q. wittrockii , growing sometimes to 40 m, and the undergrowth includes numerous dicotyledons, Scitamineae, grasses and other monocotyledons. At a slightly higher level in stream valleys there is another type of tall forest, Valley forest, in which characteristic trees (all growing to about 40 m) are Apuleia molaris, Copaifera langsdorfii, Hymenaea stilbocarpa and Ormosia sp. (Tento). Much the most extensive type of Evergreen Seasonal forest is the Dry forest which represents the southern fringe of the Amazonian forest and covers a vast area stretching away northwards from the base camp area. This is a mixed community in which the trees seldom grow to more than 20 m. The most abundant species of the upper storey in the area studied are C haetocarpus echinocarpus, Licania blackii, L. kunthiana, Saco glottis guianensis and Xylopia amazonica . The transition from Dry forest to cerrado is sometimes abrupt, but elsewhere there is an ecotone in which Hirtella glandulosa cerradão forms a recognizable nodum, occupying a zone up to 4 km wide. Characteristic species in this are Emmotum nitens, Sclerolobium paniculatum and Vochysia haenkeana , as well as H. glandulosa . The boundary between cerrado and Dry forest appears to be dynamic and there are some indications that the forest has recently invaded the cerrado. The present boundary does not seem to be primarily dependent on climate or burning but shows some relation to soil conditions, though apart from a higher clay content in the latter the cerrado and forest soils are much alike. Cerrado has a lower degree of crown cover than cerradão; it is a type of open savanna with grassy undergrowth and is extremely variable in floristic composition and no clearly defined associations could be recognized. The boundary between cerrado and campo in valleys is sharp and appears to be determined by the height of the water table in the wet season. The mesotrophic soils are occupied by Deciduous Seasonal forest, the only woody community in the area in which the top storey becomes leafless in the dry season. The fioristic composition of this community is very different from that of the other forest types and characteristic top-storey species include Cedrela fissilis, Piptadenia macrocarpa, Platypodium elegans and Sterculia striata , with Acacia polyphylla and Bauhinia cupulata as a second storey. Bamboos and the palm Acrocomia sp. are features of the undergrowth. Floristically this community is similar to forest types found on calcareous rocks in Goiás and Minas Gerais. It is fringed by a characteristic cerradão, termed Magonia pubescens / Callisthene fasciculaia cerradão.

scholarly journals Liana species composition differs, in spite of trait similarities, in two adjacent forest types in Central Brazil

2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 1215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Carolina Souza Brito ◽  
Alexandre Ferraro ◽  
Robyn J. Burnham ◽  
Ângela Lúcia Bagnatori Sartori ◽  
Vivian Almeida Assunção
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Floristic Composition ◽  
Dry Forest ◽  
Forest Fragments ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
Forest Types ◽  
Climbing Plants ◽  
Dispersal Syndromes

In the Parana basin, the Serra de Maracaju juxtaposes the Seasonal Dry Forest and the cerradão (a phytophysiognomy of Cerrado), two distinct vegetation types that differ in canopy height, tree density, and composition of the understory. In the same way, these differences may be reflected in the composition of climbing plant species found in these two forest types. Thus, in this study we compared the climbing species in two forest fragments of Serra de Maracaju to understand: (1) Are species richness and floristic composition of climbing plants similar in cerradão and seasonal deciduous forest?, (2) What degree of floristic compositional difference exists between the two vegetation types?, (3) Do the two vegetation types differ significantly in climbing mechanisms, life forms, and dispersal syndromes represented among climbing species? For this, we established and sampled four plots per forest type over 24 months. Species were identified and each one classified, based on three discrete traits. Proportional differences were analyzed using chi-square tests. Our results showed that species richness and floristic composition of climbing plants in the cerradão and the seasonal deciduous forest were not similar. Climber species richness in cerradão was 37 while in the seasonal deciduous forest it was 31; they share only 13 species. Four families, Dioscoreaceae, Fabaceae, Malpighiaceae, and Sapindaceae, included over 60% of the climbing species. The morphological traits most common in both forest types were herbaceous life form, apical twining mechanism, and wind dispersal. Dioscoreaceae was found to be the dominant family, but is the first time to be reported for this condition in Brazil. Bignoniaceae and Passifloraceae ocurred only in the cerradão, and Asteraceae and Combretaceae in the seasonal deciduous forest; some species were found exclusively in a type of forest. Floristic composition of the cerradão and seasonal deciduous forest fragments were substantially different, in spite of physical proximity. However, their climbing species are not statistically distinct in morphological characteristics, possibly due to uniform climatic conditions and the similarity of species because of a shared ancestry (similar families).

OBSERVATIONS ON THE VEGETATION OF NORTHEASTERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL. IV. AN ANALYSIS OF THE CERRADO–AMAZONIAN FOREST ECOTONE

2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 323-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. S. MARIMON ◽  
E. DE S. LIMA ◽  
T. G. DUARTE ◽  
L. C. CHIEREGATTO ◽  
J. A. RATTER
Keyword(s):  
Woody Species ◽  
Sensu Stricto ◽  
Dry Forest ◽  
Conservation Areas ◽  
Important Species ◽  
Mato Grosso ◽  
Amazonian Forest ◽  
Forest Clearing ◽  
Type Of Transition ◽  
Made In

A study was made of the transition between the cerrado and Amazonian forest biomes on the Serra do Roncador in the northeast of Mato Grosso State, Brazil. The transition was sampled by recording the species and circumference at breast height (cbh) of all woody species ≥ 15 cm cbh on five 20 × 10 m plots in each of the following four communities: ecotonal vegetation (Cerradão areas 1 and 2), and forest (Forest areas 1 and 2); while in the Cerrado sensu stricto a more rapid method had to be used because of time constraints. A total of 138 species was recorded and the results were analysed using Sørensen and Morisita Indices, TWINSPAN and DCA. In addition, comparisons were made with data from studies undertaken in 1968 in the same area by the Xavantina-Cachimbo Expedition. No species was common to all communities sampled but a seral succession of important species occurs along the transition. The Sørensen and Morisita Indices demonstrate this, with the Cerrado s.s. and Forest 2 at the two extremes showing no species in common (zero similarity) and Cerradão 1 and 2 giving the very high figures of Sørensen 0.64 and Morisita 0.84. The ecotonal cerradão is a very characteristic Dystrophic facies cerradão with Hirtella glandulosa, Emmotum nitens, Sclerolobium paniculatum and Vochysia haenkeana as its typical indicator species. The ecotone studied in the present work represents the comparatively abrupt transition from cerrado to the peripheral form of Amazonian forest (dry forest, mata seca) on flat terrain with a uniform very dystrophic soil. Other workers have suggested that this type of transition may be restricted to the headwaters of the Xingu basin, but one of the present authors has seen similar vegetation at localities in Maranhão, Rondônia, and on the Mato Grosso–Rondônia border. Comparison of the present vegetation with the survey made in 1968 shows that in this area the advancing face of the Amazonian forest has extended about 7 km southwards into the cerrado. However, in the majority of places this process has been obscured by forest clearing for agriculture. The study draws attention to the urgent need for the establishment of conservation areas in this extremely threatened and very little studied ecotone.

scholarly journals Optical and SAR Remote Sensing Synergism for Mapping Vegetation Types in the Endangered Cerrado/Amazon Ecotone of Nova Mutum—Mato Grosso

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flávia de Souza Mendes ◽  
Daniel Baron ◽  
Gerhard Gerold ◽  
Veraldo Liesenberg ◽  
Stefan Erasmi
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Rainy Season ◽  
Secondary Forest ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
Alos Palsar ◽  
Mato Grosso ◽  
Radar Images ◽  
Sentinel 2A

Mapping vegetation types through remote sensing images has proved to be effective, especially in large biomes, such as the Brazilian Cerrado, which plays an important role in the context of management and conservation at the agricultural frontier of the Amazon. We tested several combinations of optical and radar images to identify the four dominant vegetation types that are prevalent in the Cerrado area (i.e., cerrado denso, cerradão, gallery forest, and secondary forest). We extracted features from both sources of data such as intensity, grey level co-occurrence matrix, coherence, and polarimetric decompositions using Sentinel 2A, Sentinel 1A, ALOS-PALSAR 2 dual/full polarimetric, and TanDEM-X images during the dry and rainy season of 2017. In order to normalize the analysis of these features, we used principal component analysis and subsequently applied the Random Forest algorithm to evaluate the classification of vegetation types. During the dry season, the overall accuracy ranged from 48 to 83%, and during the dry and rainy seasons it ranged from 41 up to 82%. The classification using Sentinel 2A images during the dry season resulted in the highest overall accuracy and kappa values, followed by the classification that used images from all sensors during the dry and rainy season. Optical images during the dry season were sufficient to map the different types of vegetation in our study area.

scholarly journals The lowland seasonally dry subtropical forests in central Argentina: vegetation types and a call for conservation

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 87-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastián R. Zeballos ◽  
Melisa A. Giorgis ◽  
Marcelo R. Cabido ◽  
Alicia T.R. Acosta ◽  
María del Rosario Iglesias ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Cover ◽  
Dry Forest ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Woody Vegetation ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
Forest Patches ◽  
Seasonally Dry ◽  
Central Argentina ◽  
Precipitation Seasonality

Aims: The native woody vegetation from the Espinal phytogeographic province in central Argentina, found in subtropical-warm temperate climates, represents part of the southernmost seasonally dry forest in South America. Although this vegetation has been studied for over a century, a complete phytosociological survey is still needed. This lack of knowledge makes its spatial delimitation and the establishment of efficient conservation strategies particularly difficult. The main goals of this study were to classify these forests and assess their current forest cover and to better define the extent of the Espinal phytogeographic province in Córdoba region, central Argentina. Study area: Espinal Phytogeographic Province in Córdoba region, central Argentina (ca. 101,500 km2). Methods: We sampled 122 stands following the principles of the Zürich-Montpellier School of phytosociology; relevés were classified through the ISOPAM hierarchical analysis. The extent of the Espinal phytogeographic province was established by overlaying previous vegetation maps, and a map showing the current distribution of forest patches was constructed based on a supervised classification of Landsat images. Results: Four woody vegetation types of seasonally dry subtropical forest were identified based on the fidelity and the abundance of diagnostic species: (1) Aspidosperma quebracho-blanco forest; (2) Zanthoxylum coco forest; (3) Geoffroea decorticans forest; and (4) Prosopis caldenia forest. These vegetation types were segregated along gradients of temperature and precipitation seasonality and soil-texture and sodium content. The remaining forest patches represent 3.43% of the extent of the Espinal province in Córdoba region of which only 1.05% is represented in protected areas. Conclusions: We present a classification of the Espinal forest based on a complete floristic survey. Despite the dramatic forest loss reported, our results show that some forest patches representative of the Espinal are still likely to be found in the area. However, urgent measures should be taken to establish new protected natural areas in order to preserve the last remaining forest patches. Taxonomic reference: Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares del Cono Sur (Zuloaga et al. 2008) and its online update (http://www.darwin.edu.ar). Abbreviations: ISOMAP = isometric feature mapping; ISOPAM = isometric partitioning around medoids.

scholarly journals A reconstruction of the recent fire regimes of Majete Wildlife Reserve, Malawi, using remote sensing

Fire Ecology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Willem A. Nieman ◽  
Brian W. van Wilgen ◽  
Alison J. Leslie
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
Local Evidence ◽  
Hot Dry Season ◽  
Wildlife Reserve

Abstract Background Fire is an important process that shapes the structure and functioning of African savanna ecosystems, and managers of savanna protected areas use fire to achieve ecosystem goals. Developing appropriate fire management policies should be based on an understanding of the determinants, features, and effects of prevailing fire regimes, but this information is rarely available. In this study, we report on the use of remote sensing to develop a spatially explicit dataset on past fire regimes in Majete Wildlife Reserve, Malawi, between 2001 and 2019. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images were used to evaluate the recent fire regime for two distinct vegetation types in Majete Wildlife Reserve, namely savanna and miombo. Additionally, a comparison was made between MODIS and Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) images by separately evaluating selected aspects of the fire regime between 2012 and 2019. Results Mean fire return intervals were four and six years for miombo and savanna vegetation, respectively, but the distribution of fire return intervals was skewed, with a large proportion of the area burning annually or biennially, and a smaller proportion experiencing much longer fire return intervals. Variation in inter-annual rainfall also resulted in longer fire return intervals during cycles of below-average rainfall. Fires were concentrated in the hot-dry season despite a management intent to restrict burning to the cool-dry season. Mean fire intensities were generally low, but many individual fires had intensities of 14 to 18 times higher than the mean, especially in the hot-dry season. The VIIRS sensors detected many fires that were overlooked by the MODIS sensors, as images were collected at a finer scale. Conclusions Remote sensing has provided a useful basis for reconstructing the recent fire regime of Majete Wildlife Reserve, and has highlighted a current mismatch between intended fire management goals and actual trends. Managers should re-evaluate fire policies based on our findings, setting clearly defined targets for the different vegetation types and introducing flexibility to accommodate natural variation in rainfall cycles. Local evidence of the links between fires and ecological outcomes will require further research to improve fire planning.

scholarly journals Sudden death associated with Niedenzuella stannea (Malpighiaceae) in cattle in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil: importance and epidemiological aspects

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (7) ◽  
pp. 662-666
Author(s):  
Flávio H.B. Caldeira ◽  
Geovanny B.G. Dias ◽  
Felipe P. de Arruda ◽  
Valdecy de M. Lourenço ◽  
Kalinne S. Bezerra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sudden Death ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
The State ◽  
Acute Disease ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Control Methods ◽  
Mato Grosso ◽  
Araguaia River ◽  
Young Leaves ◽  
Plant Control

ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to investigate the importance of an acute disease that was characterized by sudden death associated with exercise that affected cattle in the region of the Araguaia River, especially in the municipality of Torixoréu, southeastern Mato Grosso, Brazil. Between August and September 2013, eighty farms in the municipality were visited and the pastures of these farms were inspected. Epidemiological questionnaires were completed from 65 farms. A plant identified as Niedenzuella stannea (N. stannea) of the Malpighiaceae family was attributed to the cause of sudden death in cattle, what causes major economic losses. Sudden death reports have occurred since 1970, when livestock was introduced into the region, and sudden death reports still occur. Outbreaks were reported to occur from May to October, but mainly during the dry season between June and August. N. stannea was identified at 41 farms and was always found in near to rivers. The most effective plant control methods included plowing the pastures and fields followed by manual application of Tordon® (Picloram and 2.4D). The administration of 5g/kg of young leaves which were collected from a farm with a sudden death history in cattle also caused sudden death in a sheep. Thus, it is concluded that the sudden death of cattle in the region of the Araguaia River is caused by the consumption of N. stannea.

scholarly journals Diet seasonality and food overlap of the fish assemblage in a pantanal pond

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 567-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gisele Caroline Novakowski ◽  
Norma Segatti Hahn ◽  
Rosemara Fugi
Keyword(s):  
Fish Assemblage ◽  
Food Resource ◽  
Fish Fauna ◽  
Diet Breadth ◽  
Food Resources ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Trophic Guilds ◽  
Trophic Specialization ◽  
Mato Grosso ◽  
Mean Values

We assessed the trophic structure of the fish fauna in Sinhá Mariana pond, Mato Grosso State, from March 2000 to February 2001. The aim was to determine the feeding patterns of the fish species during the rainy and dry seasons. The diets of 26 species (1,294 stomach contents) were determined by the volumetric method. Insects and fish were the most important food resources: insects were the dominant food of 23% and 27% of the species, respectively, in the rainy and dry season, and fish was the dominant item for 31% of the species in both seasons. Cluster analysis (Euclidean Distance) identified seven trophic guilds in the rainy season (detritivores, herbivores, insectivores, lepidophages, omnivores, piscivores and planktivores), and five trophic guilds in the dry season (detritivores, insectivores, lepidophages, omnivores and piscivores). The smallest mean values of diet breadth were observed for the specialist guilds (detritivores, lepidophages and piscivores), in both seasons. The widest means for diet breadth were observed for the omnivores, regardless of the season. In general, there was no seasonal variation in feeding overlap among the species studied. At the community level, diet overlap values between species were low (< 0.4) for 80% of the pairs in each season, suggesting wide partitioning of the food resource. The fish assemblage showed a tendency toward trophic specialization, regardless of the season, although several species changed their diets. We might consider two non-excludent hypothesis: that there is no pattern on the use of seasonal food resources and/or probably there are several patterns, because each one is based on characteristics of the studied site and the taxonomic composition of the resident species.

scholarly journals First occurrence of Quadrigyrus nickoli (Acanthocephala) in the ornamental fishHyphessobrycon eques

2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Yudi Fujimoto ◽  
Edilene Santos Almeida ◽  
Daniel Guerreiro Diniz ◽  
Jorge Costa Eiras ◽  
Mauricio Laterça Martins
Keyword(s):  
Rainy Season ◽  
Paratenic Host ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Amazon Region ◽  
Seasonal Occurrence ◽  
Mato Grosso ◽  
First Occurrence

The objective of this work was to report the first seasonal occurrence of the acanthocephalan Quadrigyrus nickoliSchmidt & Hugghins, 1973(Quadrigyridae), in the “Mato Grosso”Hyphessobrycon eques (Characidae) (Steindachner, 1882), collected from the Chumucuí River, state of Pará, Brazil. The fish were collected between July 2006 (rainy season) and June 2007 (dry season) and were examined for parasites using pattern techniques. A total of 75 parasites were found in the stomach and intestine. Among 83 fish examined (50 in the dry season and 33 in the rainy season), 22 were parasitized by cystacanths of Q. nickoli. The importance of H. eques as a paratenic host for Q. nickoli is discussed. This is the first study on the biology of and infection by Q. nickoli occurring in the eastern Amazon region.

scholarly journals Development of a Global Fire Weather Database

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1407-1423 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. Field ◽  
A. C. Spessa ◽  
N. A. Aziz ◽  
A. Camia ◽  
A. Cantin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Prediction Models ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Fire Weather Index ◽  
Mato Grosso ◽  
Global Database

Abstract. The Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System is the mostly widely used fire danger rating system in the world. We have developed a global database of daily FWI System calculations, beginning in 1980, called the Global Fire WEather Database (GFWED) gridded to a spatial resolution of 0.5° latitude by 2/3° longitude. Input weather data were obtained from the NASA Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA), and two different estimates of daily precipitation from rain gauges over land. FWI System Drought Code calculations from the gridded data sets were compared to calculations from individual weather station data for a representative set of 48 stations in North, Central and South America, Europe, Russia, Southeast Asia and Australia. Agreement between gridded calculations and the station-based calculations tended to be most different at low latitudes for strictly MERRA-based calculations. Strong biases could be seen in either direction: MERRA DC over the Mato Grosso in Brazil reached unrealistically high values exceeding DC = 1500 during the dry season but was too low over Southeast Asia during the dry season. These biases are consistent with those previously identified in MERRA's precipitation, and they reinforce the need to consider alternative sources of precipitation data. GFWED can be used for analyzing historical relationships between fire weather and fire activity at continental and global scales, in identifying large-scale atmosphere–ocean controls on fire weather, and calibration of FWI-based fire prediction models.

scholarly journals Fruiting phenology and consumption by birds in Ficus calyptroceras (Miq.) Miq. (Moraceae)

2002 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. RAGUSA-NETTO
Keyword(s):  
Food Resource ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Dry Forest ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Frugivorous Birds ◽  
Fruiting Phenology ◽  
Dry Seasons ◽  
Seed Dispersers ◽  
Wet And Dry Seasons

Figs are a remarkable food resource to frugivores, mainly in periods of general fruit scarcity. Ficus calyptroceras Miq. (Moraceae) is the only fig species in a type of dry forest in western Brazil. In this study I examined the fruiting pattern as well as fig consumption by birds in F. calyptroceras. Although rainfall was highly seasonal, fruiting was aseasonal, since the monthly proportion of fruiting trees ranged from 4% to 14% (N = 50 trees). I recorded 22 bird species feeding on figs. In the wet season 20 bird species ate figs, while in the dry season 13 did. Parrots were the most important consumers. This group removed 72% and 40% of the figs consumed in the wet and dry seasons, respectively. No bird species increases fig consumption from dry to wet season. However, a group of bird species assumed as seed dispersers largely increases fig consumption from wet to dry season, suggesting the importance of this resource in the period of fruit scarcity. The results of this study points out the remarkable role that F. calyptroceras plays to frugivorous birds, in such a dry forest, since its fruits were widely consumed and were available all year round.

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