REGENERATIVE POTENTIAL OF AN ECOTONAL FOREST IN THE UPPER URUGUAY REGION, SANTA CATARINA STATE/POTENCIAL REGENERATIVO DE UMA FLORESTA ECOTONAL NA REGIAO DO ALTO URUGUAI EM SANTA CATARINA

We aimed to evaluate the regenerative potential of the tree component in an ecotonal area between Araucaria and Deciduous forests, in the Upper Uruguay region, Santa Catarina state. For this, a floristicstructural description of the regenerative component was conducted for different size classes and the floristic similarity among classes and adult component was verified. Three classes were considered for the regenerative component: Class 1, plants from 0.2 up to 1 m high, Class 2, plants greater than 1 m up to 3 m high, and Class 3, plants greater than 3 m high, with cbh < 5.0 cm. Information about the adult component for the same sampling units were extract from the database of the Dendrology and Phytosociology Laboratory (LABDENRO), of Santa Catarina State University. All the regenerative species were classified into regeneration guilds (pioneers, light demanding climax, shade tolerant climax), based on literature review and on field observations. For the whole component and for each size class, the Shannon diversity (H') and Pielou Eveness (J) indexes, and the Class (RNC) and Total (RNT) Natural Regeneration Indexes were determined. The floristic similarities between components were obtained by Sorensen Index. A chi-square applied to a contingency table was conducted to verify the existence of association between the distribution of individuals belonging to different regeneration guilds and size classes. A total of 771 regenerative individuals were sampled, belonging to 52 species, whose H' and J were, respectively, 3.06 and 0.77. The species with the greatest RNT was Nectandra megapotamica (Spreng.) Mez. The similarity with the adult component varied between 0.46 for Class 3 and 0.62 for Class 1. In all size classes, there was the predominance of individuals of climax light demanding species. We conclude that the adult species component was mostly represented within the smaller plant size class, where the largest proportion of sampled individuals was found. Keywords: natural regeneration; floristic similarity; understory. Objetivou-se avaliar o potencial regenerativo do componente arboreo em uma area ecotonal entre Floresta Ombrofila Mista e Estacional Decidual, na regiao do Alto Uruguai, Santa Catarina. Para isso, foi realizada a caracterizacao floristico-estrutural do componente arboreo regenerante em diferentes classes de tamanho e verificada a similaridade floristica entre as classes e o componente adulto. Foram consideradas tres classes para o com