Relationship between woody vegetation and edaphic variables in natural forest formations of Paraguay

Abstract

Correlating vegetation data with environmental variables enables results that allow making inferences about the biological components present in these communities and thus contributing to their recovery. In this context, the objective of this study was to evaluate whether there is a correlation between soil variables, to determine whether these variables influence woody vegetation and which variables best explain this relationship. The study was carried out based on data obtained from the National Forest Inventory of Paraguay in 2015 in 5 forest strata: Dry Forest of the Chaco (BSCH), Sub-humid Flooded Forest of the Paraguay River (BSHIRP), Palmar Forest (BP), Sub-humid Forest of the Cerrado (BSHC) and Humid Forest of the Eastern Region (BHRO), totaling 36 ha sampled. Physical and chemical parameters of the soil and data of total height and diameter at 1.30 m in height (d1.30) of all living shrub-arboreal individuals with d1.30 ≥ 5 cm were used. For the sampled forest strata, the different soil variables influence the presence of the sampled species. Among soil variables, a strong positive correlation was observed between organic material and organic carbon, as well as silt and clay. In the BSCH, BSHC and BHRO strata, it was possible to attribute relationships between species and edaphic variables, where the edaphic variables that best explained these relationships were clay, sand, silt, organic material and organic carbon.