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Introduction
Plant ecologist, trying to understand how Tropical Open Ecosystem work to conserve and restore them.
Current institution
Publications
Publications (47)
Open ecosystems are disappearing worldwide, requiring urgent restoration efforts. However, limited knowledge of their structure and composition hinders the assessment of restoration success. We aimed to establish reference values for plant community attributes in undisturbed native grasslands to guide restoration. In an unprecedented data collectio...
In savannas, fire triggers physical and chemical changes in the soil, releasing nutrients and other substances predicted to stimulate seed germination and plant growth. However, these effects and how changes along the soil profile can shape species regeneration niches after fire disturbances are still poorly understood. Here, we aimed to investigat...
The use of propagules collected in ecotonal regions for restoration purposes is challenging because of the mix of species from different vegetation types and reproductive phenological variability. We used a database of the Xingu Seed Network in Brazil, which contains data on 139 native tree species for 8 years (2011–2018) in the Cerrado–Amazonia tr...
During a biodiversity monitoring of woody and herbaceous plants in 2023, we observed the formation of new individuals through cloning in Velloziaceae species. Based on recorded evidence and scientific literature, we discussed the importance of cloning in maintaining the high dominance of these species in seasonal open ecosystems. In addition, we ho...
Fire is a natural component in tropical open ecosystems. Therefore, species are adapted to and thrive in post-fire conditions. In these fire-prone ecosystems smoke is one of the fire products that can stimulate seed germination. Here, we evaluated if and how smoke influences the germination of 44 Cerrado ground layer species, including grasses, for...
Plant-ant interaction in savanna ecosystems is an iconic example of species mutualism. In Cerrado, Brazilian savanna, it is common to find this type of interaction mediated by the offer of extrafloral rewards. This study described a new plant-ant interaction for the tree Alibertia edulis (Rubiaceae) and the ant species Camponotus rufipes and elucid...
Fire-stimulated flowering has long been a subject of investigation in tropical grasslands and savannas. Still, speedy blooming (i.e. flowering in <24 h after fire) had only been recently described for a single species of Cyperaceae common in Cerrado open ecosystems. Here, we described two new species displaying
this unique feature of producing flow...
Tropical grasslands have been systematically neglected worldwide in maps, conservation policies, and ecological studies. After eradicating invasive pine trees from a Cerrado reserve in southeastern Brazil, an unprecedented grassy ecosystem arose in recent satellite images. In the field, we confirmed the first record of wet grasslands with termite m...
Many degraded ecosystems need active restoration to conserve biodiversity and re‐establish ecosystem function, both highlighted targets of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and the proposed EU Nature restoration law. Soil translocation, where both plant propagules and their associated soil biota are co‐introduced, has increasingly been propose...
Ecological restoration of tropical open ecosystems remains challenging for both science and practice. Over the last decade, innovative techniques have been developed, but whether they have been successful or not remains to be demonstrated. Assessing the outcomes of these initiatives is crucial to drive the following steps to improve tropical grassl...
Frost effects on savanna plant communities have been considered as analogous to those from fire, both changing community structure and filtering species composition. However, while frost impacts have been well-studied for the woody component of savannas, it is still poorly explored for the ground-layer community. Here, we investigated effects of fr...
The Cerrado, the most biodiverse savanna, has been losing its natural areas through conversion to agricultural land. In the Santa Barbara Ecological Station (SBES), more than 136.4 ha of open Cerrado vegetation were converted into pine plantations in the 1960s-1970s. Nonetheless, nowadays techniques such as clear-cutting pine trees and burning of t...
Wetlands are ecosystems at the interface between terrestrial and aquatic environments, subject to flooding by shallow waters or with temporarily to permanently waterlogged soils and specialized biota. Despite their great importance at global and local scales, these ecosystems have not been effectively protected in Brazil. The Cerrado wetlands are p...
Although livestock have been historically associated with land conversion and biodiversity loss, well‐managed cattle grazing has been reported to contribute to conservation of open ecosystems. Knowing the balance between positive and negative effects of livestock (presence or exclusion) on different ecosystems is, therefore, crucial to support mana...
Aim
Woody‐plant encroachment is a reality in many savannas worldwide, leading savannas to become replaced by forest ecosystems. As tree density and cover increase, increased shade and litter deposition may suppress the savanna's community of low‐lying plants. By using field manipulation, we tested shading and litter effects, alone and in combinatio...
Forest encroachment into savannas is a widespread phenomenon, the rate of which may depend on soil conditions, species composition or changes in stand structure. As savanna specialist trees are replaced by generalist species, rates of stand development may increase. Because generalists can persist in forests, they are likely to grow more quickly an...
Although cerrado trees have evolved with fire for millions of years, it is not well-understood which tree attributes are more important to survive fire in the Brazilian savanna. To address this issue, we used pre- and post-fire data on 367 cerrado trees (113 native species) planted in an arboretum in south-east Brazil and then left unburnt until 20...
Woody encroachment into grassy biomes is a global phenomenon, often resulting in a nearly complete turnover of species, with savanna specialists being replaced by forest‐adapted species. Understanding the mechanisms involved in this change is important for devising strategies for managing savannas.
We examined how isolated trees favour woody encroa...
Planting tree monocultures in Brazilian savannas is a common practice for wood production. However, afforestation and fire suppression have caused significant ecological changes and biodiversity loss in the Cerrado region. Restoring these modified systems to their pre-plantation states remains a considerable challenge. In this study, we compared th...
Open grassy vegetation and forests share riparian zones across the Neotropical savannas, characterizing alternative stable states. However, factors determining the occurrence and maintenance of each vegetation type are yet to be elucidated. To disentangle the role of environmental factors (soil properties and groundwater depth) constraining tree co...
Aim. In savannas, a grass dominated ground layer is key to ecosystem function via grass-fire feedbacks that maintain open ecosystems. With woody encroachment, tree density increases, thereby decreasing light in the ground layer and potentially altering ecosystem function. We investigated how light availability can filter individual grass species di...
Disentangling species strategies that confer resilience to natural disturbances is key to conserving and restoring savanna ecosystems. Fire is a recurrent disturbance in savannas, and savanna vegetation is highly adapted to and often dependent on fire. However, although the woody component of tropical savannas is well studied, we still do not under...
Invasion by exotic grasses is a severe threat to neotropical grasslands conservation and a major challenge for their restoration. To restore fire prone cerrado grasslands in southeastern Brazil, which have been massively invaded by the African grass Urochloa decumbens , we tested prescribed fire, herbicides and hoeing, by themselves or in different...
O manual reúne resultados de pesquisas do Instituto Florestal em parceria com outras instituição visando diagnosticar e compreender os processos de invasão de Pinus spp. e buscar soluções para o problema por meio de experimentação de técnicas de controle da invasão e restauração dos ecossistemas por ela prejudicados.
Question
We aimed to evaluate the performance of native tree species in the restoration of savanna vegetation by direct seeding, to assess whether weed control and intercropping with native grasses can contribute to the success of this method and to determine whether species performance can be explained by functional traits.
Location
Cerrado biome...
Although savannas are fire-adapted ecosystems, prescribing fire for biodiversity conservation remains controversial at least in some regions where savannas occur. Faced with uncertainty, many decision makers and even scientists are still reluctant to prescribe fire for conservation purposes in fire-prone ecosystems, invoking the precautionary princ...
Question
Assessing the natural regeneration potential of degraded savannas is a crucial step in restoration planning, since that assessment will define the need for and costs of active intervention. Predicting natural regeneration, however, depends on the mechanistic understanding of ecosystem resilience. Here, we searched for the factors modulatin...
Competition for soil water is one of the major processes that drive the assembly of plant communities, particularly in
regions subjected to long dry seasons. The relationship between plant density and soil water competition has strong,
but poorly understood, practical implications for population dynamics, restoration and conservation. We planted
se...
Background: Fire has been reported to trigger the production of flowers and fruits in many fire-prone ecosystems around the world. However, for tropical savannas, little is known about the effects of fire on flower production at community and species scale, especially for the ground-layer.
Aims: We assessed the role of fire as a trigger to short-te...
Neotropical grasslands have undergone intensive degradation by land conversion or biological invasion, but their restoration is still challenging. Here, we integrated two approaches to i) assessing the resilience of pristine dry and wet cerrado grasslands after removal of plants and topsoil and ii) evaluating the effectiveness of different treatmen...
The ability of vegetation to ameliorate or exacerbate environmental extremes can generate feedbacks that mediate the distribution of biomes. It has been suggested that feedbacks between vegetation and frost damage may be important for maintaining savanna, particularly at the edge of the tropics.
We quantified frost damage and air temperature across...
Active restoration strategies have been recommended to recover Neotropical savannas in abandoned lands, but no studies have investigated the trajectories and speeds of spontaneous recovery for these systems. Research into the dynamics of degraded savannas is urgently needed to guide restoration decision making.
We analysed the dynamics of secondary...
Tropical savannas have been increasingly viewed as an opportunity for carbon sequestration through fire suppression and afforestation, but insufficient attention has been given to the consequences for biodiversity. To evaluate the biodiversity costs of increasing carbon sequestration, we quantified changes in ecosystem carbon stocks and the associa...
As fitofisionomias campestres e as plantas do estrato herbáceo-arbustivo têm sido pouco estudadas em todo o mundo e, pelo seu desconhecimento, poucos esforços têm sido empreendidos em sua conservação. Visando contribuir para preencher esta lacuna, efetuamos a caracterização florística e do espectro biológico das fisionomias campo sujo e campo limpo...
Tropical grassy biomes have been widely neglected for conservation and, after unplanned land use conversion, ecological restoration becomes urgent. The majority of interventions have been based on the misapplication of forest restoration techniques, because there are no validated techniques to restore the species-rich ground layer. In search for in...
The transition between ontogenetic stages, from juvenile to reproductive adult, is an important moment in the life history of individuals in a plant population, since the persistence of their genes depends on it. The size of an individual is recognized as a predictor for this transition, but little is known about what determines the minimum size to...
Few studies address the ecology of herbs of Cerrado grasslands, which are ecosystems where the long dry season, high temperatures, insolation, fire and invasive grasses greatly influencing germination and the establishment of plants. We assessed germination of 13 species of Poaceae from Cerrado grasslands under nursery conditions or in germination...
The knowledge on the phenological patterns for a broad group of species is an important tool to elucidate the function and structure of plant communities. Aiming to describe the phenological rhythms of Cerrado species being cultivated and to verify if they follow the patterns observed in the native communities, we recorded, every two weeks along fo...
Knowing the attributes of the most suitable species to overcome the obstacles in different environmental conditions is an important tool for ecological restoration. To evaluate the comparative performance of native Cerrado species being cultivated at an arboretum (Assis State Forest, Assis, SP, Brazil), we categorized 106 species by the following a...
RESUMO – O cultivo de plantas nativas seja para a exploração econômica, para restauração ecológica ou qualquer outra finalidade, depende, antes de tudo, da possibilidade de propagação das espécies. A produção de mudas é o meio usual de propagação de plantas, considerando-se fundamental a germinação das sementes. Tachigali vulgaris é uma espécie arb...
Gender and science or gender and knowledge production have been issues of much discussion around the world. In order to examine women's participation in Botanical Science and to verify if some kind of gender bias exists in knowledge production in this area, we analyzed proceedings of three botanical congresses across a period of 21 years. Over this...
