Morphofunctional ecology of 15 seedlings from an Atlantic Rainforest of Sergipe, Brazil

Abstract

Atlantic Rainforest of Sergipe State is now fragmented and reduced to only 9% of its original cover. The knowledge of seedlings’ morphofunctional ecology in this ecosystem is essential to taxonomic, forestry and ecological purposes, since the ability to recognize seedlings on field is required to understand the natural regeneration and plant succession dynamics. In this study, the germination and seedlings morphology of 15 species of aSergiperemanescentForestwere described and illustrated. Besides, relationship among seed biometry, seedling morphology and ecological traits were analyzed. From the total of species analyzed 40% was classified as phanerocotylar epigeal with foliaceous cotyledons, 26.7% as cryptocotylar hypogeal with reserve storage cotyledons, 26.7% as phanerocotylar epigeal with reserve storage cotyledons and 6.6% as phanerocotylar hypogeal with reserve storage cotyledons. The relationships among seed biometry, seedling morpho-functional type and species ecological attributes found in species analyzed are similar to those obtained in other tropical forests. This result suggests that the morphology of seedlings is strongly driven by species regeneration niche.