Reproductive phenology of an herbaceous-subshrub layer of a Savannah (Campo Sujo) in the Cerrado Biosphere Reserve I, Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyse the phenological events in the herbaceous and subshrub layer in relation to rainfall and the dispersion syndromes of the species at a Campo Sujo community in the Água Limpa Farm (FAL), Brasília-DF. Campo Sujo is a grassland Savannah with a few scattered shrubs and small trees. The climate is Aw by Köppen classification with a mean annual precipitation of 1500 mm. Herbaceus species with three to ten individuals were monitored totalling 519 individuals of 61 species. The individuals were observed quarterly from October 1999 to February 2001. An accidental fire happened in the area two months before the beginning of this study and stimulated flowering and fruiting of the studied species. Flowering at the community level was distributed all over the study period with a concentration of flowering species in the rainy season. The pattern of fruiting was similar to the flowering, with most species maturing their diaspore from the middle to the end of the rainy season. The correlation between anemochoric species producing mature fruits and precipitation was significant and inverse. Anemochoric and autochoric species are dominant at the herbaceous-subshrub layer of the Campo Sujo and they determine the phenological pattern of the community.