Aspectos dendroecológicos e dendroclimatológicos de Calophyllum brasiliense Cambess. (Calophyllaceae) ocorrendo em diferentes tipologias de áreas úmidas no Brasil

Abstract

Brazil is a country of continental proportions which has 20% of its territory covered by wetland systems, distributed over all its biomes. These systems are extremely valuable, since they shelter and provide genetic resources and a huge biodiversity of flood-tolerant organisms. Wetlands also have a crucial function on the balance of the hydrological cycles and the global climate. However, any change in the hydrological cycle may strongly affect these ecosystems, since the hydrological regime is the controlling factor of the ecosystem’s biological processes. Wetlands are under great pressure due to economic development and urbanization, involving hydroelectric power plant constructions, mining and agricultural expansion. Climate change scenarios suggest temperature rise and alterations on the precipitation seasonality and amount, which can seriously affect these systems. The elaboration of conservation and management strategies for these ecosystems demands a better understanding of the hydrological and ecological processes, as well as an understanding about climate change impacts in these areas. Thus, this study aimed to contribute to the knowledge on tree growth dynamics of the Neotropical species Calophyllum brasiliense Cambess (Calophyllaceae) associated to wetlands, and found in all the Brazilian biomes. Based on tree-ring analysis it was possible to model growth of this species in diameter and volume in wetlands distributed along the Amazonian, Cerrado, Pantanal and Coastal Atlantic Forest biomes, to define criteria for forest management such as the felling cycle and minimumlogging diameters to improve practices of natural resource management of this economic important tree species. Furthermore, this study evaluated how large-scale climate phenomenon, such as El Niño-South Oscillation (ENSO) and the Tropical Atlantic meridional mode, and local climate variables such as precipitation, temperature and hydrology, affect tree growth of C. brasiliense in geographical extremes. The tree-ring analysis showed that the species presents a wide variation of diameter increment rates, which must be considered when establishing strategies for management and conservation. Moreover, estimated maximum age of C. brasiliense was almost 500 years in the nutrient-poor blackwater floodplains in Central Amazonia (igapó), however, despite the large geographical occurrence the species is not adequate for the reconstruction of climate and hydrological patterns since the majority of the individuals are not long-lived. Sea surface temperature anomalies, both in the Equatorial Pacific and in the Tropical Atlantic, have different impacts on C. brasiliense growth depending on where the species was found.