Yule Roberta Ferreira Nunes

• PhD
• Professor at Montes Claros State University

Mining tailings severely impact plant communities in a rainforest watershed Abstract The collapse of a mining tailings dam in 2015 drastically affected a large area of an already threatened Atlantic Forest along the Rio Doce in Brazil. We evaluated the interactions between edaphic and floristic factors in impacted and reference sites to understand...

Main conclusion Recalcitrant seeds of Mauritia flexuosa show evidence of thermal stress tolerance, while germination is stimulated by a thermal regime typical of the rainy season. Abstract Recalcitrant seeds (sensitive to desiccation) are highly vulnerable to environmental changes, but little is known about their resilience to thermal stress, whic...

The success of pollen–pistil interaction in Mauritia flexuosa (buriti), a palm adapted to the humid ecosystems, ‘veredas’, within the Cerrado, is influenced by intrinsic and environmental factors. Its supra‐annual flowering, dioecy, and adverse climate conditions pose challenges for fertilization, therefore information on floral biology is essentia...

The use of reference ecosystem inventories to guide ecological restoration is essential for monitoring the success of environmental recovery. The aim of this study was to carry out a floristic and edaphic inventory in old growth riparian forest remnants from the upper River Doce watershed, to provide subsidies for restoration programmes. The study...

Productivity and ecosystem carbon (C) storage are often positively associated with species and/or structural diversity; however, positive relationships in tropical forests and woodlands are not universal and the strength of this relationship may be affected by climate. Diversity-productivity relationships were evaluated in upland and seasonally flo...

Objetivo: Avaliar as mudanças temporais na composição e estrutura da comunidade vegetal nos diferentes habitats da vereda Almescla (Bonito de Minas, MG), no intervalo de cinco anos. Metodologia: Foi feita uma reamostragem da vegetação na vereda, após 5 anos, utilizando parcelas de diferentes tamanhos (estratos diferentes) em três zonas (floresta hi...

Objetivo: Avaliar o sucesso da restauração de trecho de floresta ciliar do rio Pandeiros (Januária, MG) após 10 anos de implantação. Metodologia: Na área, foram implantados diferentes modelos de restauração, utilizando plantio de mudas (espaçamentos 2 m × 2 m e 2 m × 4 m), com e sem semeadura direta. Avaliou-se a regeneração natural em quatro áreas...

Objetivo: Avaliar o comportamento fenológico de Protium spruceanum e verificar a influência de variáveis ambientais na fenologia, em uma vereda no norte de Minas Gerais. A avaliação foi realizada mensalmente, de novembro de 2016 a novembro de 2019. Métodos: Foram observados 21 indivíduos, avaliando a fenologia vegetativa (queda foliar e brotamento)...

Ecological interactions are fundamental to community structure and ecosystem functioning. Due to temporal variation in resource availability, it is important to understand how these interactions vary in different seasons. We investigated plant-pollinator interactions in a vereda formation to understand how interactions vary temporally, and how the...

Context The failure of the Fundão dam devastated a large area of the Atlantic Forest, causing damage to and loss of riparian forests. Considering all the ecological roles of a terrestrial and freshwater community, it is necessary to understand the functioning of riparian forests and their regenerative potential, which will be decisive in selecting...

This study investigates the impacts of mining tailings on soil decomposition processes in a riparian Atlantic Forest ecosystem, focusing on the Samarco dam disaster in Brazil. Understanding these impacts is vital for restoration and management of contaminated environments. We employed the Tea Bag Index method to measure soil decomposition rates ( k...

Aim Successional changes in functional diversity provide insights into community assembly by indicating how species are filtered into local communities based on their traits. Here, we assess successional changes in taxonomic and functional richness, evenness and redundancy along gradients of climate, soil pH and forest cover. Location Neotropics....

Mauritia flexuosa is an ecologically and economically important Amazonian palm. It has an expanded distribution to flooded ecosystems ("veredas") in the markedly seasonal Cerrado biome. The species' seeds are sensitive to desiccation, which limits the formation of soil seed banks, although there are indications that M. flexuosa can form seedling ba...

An environmental disaster caused by the rupture of a mining tailings dam has impacted a large area of the Rio Doce watershed in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, resulting in unprecedented damage at spatial and temporal scales. The Atlantic Forest is one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots. A long history of land use conversion has res...

Evaluating the diversity of multiple taxa is fundamental to understand community assembly and to assess the integrity and functionality of tropical secondary forests. In this study, we analyzed the natural regeneration of tropical dry forests (TDFs) in three regions of Brazil using Hill–Simpson diversity, abundance and β‐diversity of trees and five...

The most important condition of ecological restoration is the identification of reference ecosystems, which function as a guide for assertive practice with which biological integrity and ecosystem structure and function can be compared. For restoration and conservation projects to be effective in the current scenario of biodiversity and ecosystem s...

Unravelling the factors that influence plant-insect interactions remains a fundamental concern in terrestrial ecology. In the present study, we evaluated the impact of varying degrees of drying on cerrado areas adjacent to veredas on the species richness, abundance and composition of the insect herbivore fauna. Additionally, we examined differences...

Veredas are humid environments of significant importance for the Brazilian Cerrado. Understanding soil quality and ecological processes between the soil and vegetation in veredas can provide insights into ecosystem dynamics. This study was aimed to assess litter deposition and decomposition, as well as soil quality, including chemical, physical, an...

The germination and post-seminal development of Arecaceae are notably complex due to the microscopic dimensions of the embryonic axis, the occurrence of dormancy, and the diversity of reserve compounds. In-depth information on this subject is still limited, especially in terms of the basal sub-family Calamoideae. Mauritiella armata is widely distri...

Aims: Here, we characterized the vegetative and reproductive phenology of Mauritia flexuosa in an extra-Amazonian environment, in four veredas (humid environment) in the Brazilian semiarid Cerrado region. Our objectives were to identify whether the phenology of palms growing in the veredas follows the same pattern as populations in other localities...

Habitat loss and fragmentation have been impacting ecosystem services essential for human survival. The Brazilian Atlantic rainforest, a biodiversity hot-spot, has suffered from historical deforestation and, more recently, from an environmental disaster caused by the Fundão dam collapse that released ore tailings drastically affecting a large terri...

Vegetables oils are renewables sources of ready availability with vast commercial employability. The application of these oils, generally, requires refining procedures for the removal of substances that make it unfeasible, such as phosphatides, proteins and free fatty acids. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of acid and aqueous...

The recovery of soil conditions is crucial for successful ecosystem restoration and, hence, for achieving the goals of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Here, we assess how soils resist forest conversion and agricultural land use, and how soils recover during subsequent tropical forest succession on abandoned agricultural fields. Our overarch...

Studies on the composition, richness and diversity of plant species in tropical communities are essential for understanding relevant ecological processes and for developing appropriate conservation policies. Considering that areas subject to direct impacts due to dam breach may in the long‐term present changes in species composition and in soil par...

Three new triterpenes, 3,4-seco-3,11β-epoxyfriedel-4(23)-en-3β-ol (1), friedelan- 3α,11β‑diol (2), 7β,26-epoxyfriedelan-3a,7a-diol (3), a mixture of two new triterpenes 3a-hydroxyfriedelan-29-yl palmitate (4) and 3α-hydroxyfriedelan-29-yl stearate (5) and eleven known compounds were obtained from the hexane extract of Maytenus quadrangulata leaves....

In Cerrado humid areas, veredas are considered as hygrophilous communities, with an herbaceous/shrub stratum in open areas and an arboreal stratum in forest areas. We identified the sexual and reproductive systems of woody species, and the distribution of these systems among the different habitats and plants habits in this ecosystem. We investigate...

Forests that regrow naturally on abandoned fields are important for restoring biodiversity and ecosystem services, but can they also preserve the distinct regional tree floras? Using the floristic composition of 1215 early successional forests (≤20 years) in 75 human-modified landscapes across the Neotropic realm, we identified 14 distinct floristi...

A composição florística dos campos rupestres compreende um mosaico de espécies com adaptações distintas, exibindo alta diversidade e endemismo. Entretanto, as plantas dos campos rupestres possuem dependência às condições específicas do local e sua reprodução quase sempre é limitada, tornando difícil a regeneração natural após perturbações. O banco...

The restoration of degraded areas in mined land has not always achieved the desired success. Biological tools such as the use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are needed to increase and accelerate the restoration effectiveness of natural processes and ecosystem services in restored degraded areas. AMF can increase water and nutrient uptake by...

Mauritia flexuosa is a neotropical palm associated with marsh environments, having supra-annual fruiting and producing recalcitrant and dormant seeds. We sought to characterize the soil seed banks (SSB) of this species, determine the effects of edaphic and climatic factors on the dynamics of its SSB, and evaluate the influence of permanence in the...

Background In Cerrado humid areas, veredas are considered as hygrophilous communities, marked by the presence of the Mauritia flexuosa palm tree emerging in the wetter zones. Changes in veredas ecosystems due to drought and changes in the water table, which represent important areas for biodiversity maintenance in the Brazilian cerrado, can lead to...

Our research focused on the reproductive phenology of Mauritiella armata, a key veredas species in southeastern Brazil, and aspects of its floral and fruit morphology and sexual system. We observed the reproductive phenological patterns of M. armata for 36 months, and examined the relationships between phenophases and environmental variables to des...

The objective of this work was to characterize the ontogenesis of Protium spruceanum secretory ducts, to evaluate the effects of seasonality on that process, and to characterize the chemical nature of the resin. Morphometric, anatomical, micromorphometric, histochemical, and ultrastructural evaluations of shoot apexes and chemical analyses of the r...

In this study, we evaluated variation in vegetative and reproductive phenological events of four phylogenetically related plant species subjected to a seasonal environment. To this aim, we sampled 15 individuals of each plant species every fortnight for one year, between January and December of 2017. To assess when a given phenophase occurred mo...

Mauritia flexuosa Linnaeus filius (buriti or aguage; Arecaceae) is a palm used by traditional medicine in Brazil to treat dysentery and diarrhea. Our group showed that the soluble dichloromethane (CH2Cl2) fraction from EtOH extract from M. flexuosa stems inhibited the growth of methicillin‐susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) and methicillin‐re...

The mosquitoes Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) are important vectors of several arboviruses, and are relevant public health problems. Conventional control, using chemical larvicides have selected resistant Culicidae populations and caused negative effects on the environment and human health. However, the use of plant e...

Staphylococcus spp. represents the main mastitis agents in ruminants and contaminants of milk due to their expressive capacity to make biofilms. The aims in this study was evaluate evaluated the antimicrobial activity of Mauritia flexuosa L. extracts against Staphylococcus spp. adhered to a stainless steel surface. Two isolates from cows with clini...

Resilient secondary tropical forests? Although deforestation is rampant across the tropics, forest has a strong capacity to regrow on abandoned lands. These “secondary” forests may increasingly play important roles in biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, and landscape restoration. Poorter et al . analyzed the patterns of recovery i...

Significance Tropical forests disappear rapidly through deforestation but also have the potential to regrow naturally through a process called secondary succession. To advance successional theory, it is essential to understand how these secondary forests and their assembly vary across broad spatial scales. We do so by synthesizing continental-scale...

Rhipicephalus microplus is responsible for considerable economic losses in tropical and subtropical regions. Plant compounds have been utilized as alternative to conventional acaricids. The objective in this study was to evaluate the effects of fixed oils extracted from seeds of Mauritia flexuosa and Mauritiella armata, palm trees typical of the Br...

In this study we evaluated the potential of Mauritia flexuosa leaves in the egg hatching and larval development inhibition and for reduction of egg count of this nematode in sheep feces. The leaves of this palm were collected and dehydrated for the production of aqueous and ethanolic extracts with and without tannins. Gas chromatography analysis in...

Variations in the concentrations of plant secondary metabolites can occur due to the phenological stages of the plants, combined with environmental variations. Plants rich in tannins are used in folk medicine for different purposes. Xylopia emarginata Mart. (Anonaceae)-“Pindaíba” has been used to treat skin edema, bronchitis and malaria. We evaluat...

O objetivo desse trabalho foi avaliar a ação carrapaticida in vitro do extrato etanólico (EE) de folhas de Xylopia emarginata Mart. com diferentes teores de taninos sobre larvas de R. microplus. Para isso, as folhas de X. emarginata foram coletas mensalmente durante o período de 12 meses para avaliar a produção de taninos através da técnica de solv...

As áreas úmidas do tipo veredas contribuem na manutenção da biodiversidade do Cerrado, na regulação dos regimes fluviais e no estoque de carbono. Estes ambientes são considerados como APPs, no entanto, no Norte de Minas Gerais, vem sendo alterados em função das ações antrópicas. O monitoramento ambiental por meio do sensoriamento remoto é uma ferra...

We analyze here how much carbon is being accumulated annually by secondary tropical dry forests (TDFs) and how structure, composition, time since abandonment, and climate can influence the dynamics of forest carbon accumulation. The study was carried out in Santa Rosa National Park in Guanacaste province, Costa Rica and Mata Seca State Park in Mina...

Many factors can influence the structures and distributions of plant communities. Plant diversity of swamp forests reflect responses to water stress conditions. We evaluated the floristic diversity, structure, and composition of the regenerating shrub-tree species of six swamp forests in veredas ecosystems (northern Minas Gerais, Brazil), and the f...

Most seeds store reserves, which mobilization after germination is complex and diversified among plant species. Information on the reserve mobilization in recalcitrant seeds (i.e., intolerant to desiccation) is scarce. The aim of this work was to characterize the dynamics of reserve mobilization and the degradation pattern of the endo-spermic cell...

Elevation creates a variety of physical conditions in a relatively short distance, which makes mountains suitable for studying the effects of climate change on biodiversity. We investigated the importance of climate and vegetation for the distribution of butterflies from 800 to 1400 m elevation. We sampled butterflies, and woody and rosette plants...

Elevation creates a variety of physical conditions in a relatively short distance, which makes mountains suitable for studying the effects of climate change on biodiversity. We investigated the importance of climate and vegetation for the distribution of butterfl ies from 800 to 1400 m elevation. We sampled butterfl ies, and woody and rosette plant...

Several plant-related factors can influence the diversity of gall-inducing species communities. In the present study we performed an inventory of gall-inducing arthropods and we tested if the plant species richness and the abundance of super-host plants (Copaifera oblongifolia) influenced positively in the diversity of gall-inducing arthropod speci...

Mauritia flexuosa palms inhabit wetland environments in the dry, seasonal Brazilian savanna (Cerrado) and produce mucilaginous secretions in the stem and petiole that have a medicinal value. The present study sought to characterize the chemical natures of those secretions and to describe the anatomical structures involved in their synthesis. Chemic...

Esse trabalho buscou verificar a influência do tamanho dos diásporos e de tratamentos de escarificação sobre a taxa de emergência e crescimento inicial de Pterodon emarginatus Vog. (Fabaceae) após um ano de armazenamento. Diásporos da espécie foram medidos, pesados e separados em três classes de tamanho, com amplitude determinada pela largura do fr...

Rhipicephalus microplus is the ectoparasite responsible for large economic losses in cattle herds. The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro action of leaf extracts of Protium spruceanum on resistant strains of this tick. Ethanolic extracts (EE) and ethyl acetate extracts (EAE) of P. spruceanum leaves were used against engorged females...

The cotyledonary petiole (CP) completely envelops the embryo axis during embryogenesis in Arecaceae. There is little information available, however, on the roles of that structure in seed germination and initial seedling development—crucial plant life cycle phases. The study therefore sought to evaluate the roles of CP in the germination and post-s...

Tropical forests are converted at an alarming rate for agricultural use and pastureland, but also regrow naturally through secondary succession. For successful forest restoration, it is essential to understand the mechanisms of secondary succession. These mechanisms may vary across forest types, but analyses across broad spatial scales are lacking....

Campo rupestre is a megadiverse vegetation mosaic dominating one of the world’s geologically oldest tropical mountains. The campo rupestre hosts nearly 15% of Brazil’s flora, with 40% of endemism in an area smaller than 1% of the national territory. Here, we summarize and explain the rationale underlying the long-term ecological research at Serra d...

The soil seed bank is an important natural regeneration strategy for plant communities and can determine floristic composition after disturbances. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the seed bank richness and abundance at different soil depths and under different light conditions in a dry forest. Litter and soil samples were collected at...

This study analyzed the floristic, structural variations and their relationships with soil variables in two stretches of riparian vegetation in an ecotonal region between savanna and semiarid zones. We following the hypothesis of despite the proximity between the sampled areas, soil conditions are distinct and lead to changes in structure and compo...

Old-growth tropical forests harbor an immense diversity of tree species but are rapidly being cleared, while secondary forests that regrow on abandoned agricultural lands increase in extent. We assess how tree species richness and composition recover during secondary succession across gradients in environmental conditions and anthropogenic disturba...

The nutrient demands of regrowing tropical forests are partly satisfied by nitrogen-fixing legume trees, but our understanding of the abundance of those species is biased towards wet tropical regions. Here we show how the abundance of Leguminosae is affected by both recovery from disturbance and large-scale rainfall gradients through a synthesis of...

Myracrodruon urundeuva, better known in Brazil as “Aroeira”, is an arboreal species highly used for its commercial and pharmacological value. Despite the high commercial value in the timber market, this species lacks studies analyzing the recovery time and growth in different stages of succession in the Brazilian tropical dry forests. The main obje...

Este trabalho teve como objetivo verificar a influência de fatores ambientais nas variações estruturais da regeneração de dois fragmentos de mata seca em Montes Claros (MG). Foram alocadas 26 parcelas de 25 m2, amostrando-se árvores regenerantes (DAS > 1 cm e DAP < 5 cm) e variáveis ambientais (propriedades químicas, texturais e de umidade do solo,...

The Mauritia flexuosa palm tree is widely distributed in South America, and is associated with flooded environments. It dominates the arboreal stratum in the highly threatened marsh ecosystems called “veredas” in the Cerrado biome (neotropical savanna), and its oleaginous fruits are important for the maintenance of the regional fauna and as a sourc...

This study monitored the survival of saplings planted according to different recovery models in a riparian forest of the Pandeiros river (Januária, MG). The models consisted of planting the saplings in lines of 2 or 4 m with presence (T2S and T4S, respectively) or absence of direct seeding (T2 and T4, respectively). We planted 16,259 saplings of 17...

The objective of this study was to determine the species richness and abundance of the seed bank and the influence of soil attributes along an elevation gradient (800–1400 m a.s.l.). We examined the floristic similarity among areas and determined the regional diversity along this gradient in Serra do Cipó (Minas Gerais, Brazil). A total of 1975 ind...

We describe changes in forest structure and floristic composition of three successional stages for Mata Seca State Park, in Minas Gerais, Brazil, through the measurement of all trees greater than 5 cm of diameter at breast height (DBH) of 18 permanent plots (6 per stage) for early, intermediate, and late successional stages of a tropical dry forest...

the tropical dry forests of Brazil are classified as the most threatened and disturbed ecosystems in the country. We estimate the diameter growth in three successional stages in the Mata Seca State Park, in Minas Gerais, Brazil, through annual measurement of all individuals with more than 5 cm of diameter at breast height in 18 permanent plots (6 p...

Rupestrian grasslands comprise a mosaic of plant communities that dominate high elevations formation associated with quartzite soil in Eastern Brazil. This study evaluated changes in floristic composition, structure, diversity, and life forms spectra along an altitudinal gradient in the rupestrian grasslands in south-eastern Espinhaço Mountains Ran...

Seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTFs) comprise a globally significant biome for biodiversity and conservation. Geographically, Brazilian SDTFs are primarily located within the country’s semiarid region (the Caatinga domain) in north-eastern Brazil. However, poorly studied and disjunct SDTF enclaves can occur within other regions, inside other Bra...

Seed predation is a natural phenomenon that can occur either before or after dispersal and can significantly reduce the economic value and reproductive potential of plants. The babassu palm (Attalea vitrivir, Arecaceae) is important to rural communities that extract oil from its fruits for a wide variety of uses. We evaluated the predation and germ...

Aims Understanding succession in tropical forest is an important aspect of vegetation science, but to date, successional processes in seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTFs) have received much less attention than evergreen humid tropical forests. We aim to fill this knowledge gap. Methods We investigated vegetation succession in SDTF areas consist...

This study tested the influence of mechanical and thermal scarification methods on emergence and establishment of Guazuma ulmifolia seedlings. Seeds were subjected to pre-germination treatments of (1) mechanical scarification (sandpaper), and (2) thermal scarification (hot water), in addition to the control treatment (3) from which the seeds were l...

As montanhas podem abrigar grande variedade de habitats separados por poucos metros de altitude. Essa característica torna esses ambientes verdadeiros laboratórios naturais para a avaliação dos efeitos das mudanças climáticas sobre os seres vivos. Um estudo realizado na cordilheira do Espinhaço, localizada entre Bahia e Minas Gerais, monitora a dis...

We evaluated the physiological and cytological aspects of the embryos of the palm tree Mauritia flexuosa, whose seeds show a rare association of recalcitrance and dormancy. Seeds were subjected to dehydration, or stored with stabilized water contents for 420 days. Seed viability and germination, as well as the anatomy, cytochemistry and ultrastruct...

This study aimed to document variation in the composition and structure of regenerating woody vegetation along an altitudinal gradient of a rupestrian grassland and to describe the relationship between species and characteristics of the soil. All woody plants with a diameter at ground height of ≤1 cm were collected in seven sampling sites at altitu...

Regrowth of tropical secondary forests following complete or nearly complete removal of forest vegetation actively stores carbon in aboveground biomass, partially counterbalancing carbon emissions from deforestation, forest degradation, burning of fossil fuels, and other anthropogenic sources. We estimate the age and spatial extent of lowland secon...

The high biodiversity of tropical forest streams depends on the strong input of organic matter, yet the leaf litter decomposition dynamics in these streams are not well understood. We assessed how seasonal litterfall affects leaf litter breakdown, density and biomass of aquatic invertebrates, and the microbial biomass and sporulation of aquatic hyp...

Due to clear variations in a relatively small area, mountains represent natural laboratories for evolutionary and ecological studies. In a large degree, these variations are driven by changes in climate and soil that occur along altitudinal gradients and influence the ecology, evolution and geography of species. In spite of being old and eroded, th...