Temporal change in species and functional plant traits in the moist grassland on the Sete Cidades National Park, Piaui, Brazil/Mudanca temporal nas especies e atributos funcionais de plantas em campo limpo umido de Cerrado no Parque Nacional de Sete Cidades, Piaui, Brasil

The present study investigated the dynamic on a short-time scale in the vegetation in moist grassland of the Sete Cidades National Park, Piaui. Changes in structural, floristic and functional traits in the community were assessed by species richness, diversity and similarity indices between those periods, as well as by hierarchical classification and ordination. The functional groups of chamaephytes and therophytes II were associated with wetter sites, while the groups of non-tussock hemicriptophytes I, tussock hemicriptophytes and geophytes were associated to the drier ones. The researchers found a non-accelerated dynamics, at least on a short-time scale, represented by some descriptors in the community, such as the close similarity between the inventories and ordering of sampling transects in moist grassland. Therefore, besides considering the partition of the temporal niche as a mechanism for the co-existence of species, the heterogeneity of space dictated by environmental filters seems to determine the stability of the this grassland communities over time.