Open AccessA floristic and structural survey of the natural regeneration of shrubby and arboreal species of the understory of an established homogeneous plantation of Mimosa scabrella Bentham was corried out viewing, the reclamation of a mined area, in Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Nineteen plots of 50 m2 (5 m × 10 m) were used and the shrubby and arboreal individuals measuring equal or above 30 cm were sampled and 1,946 individuals belonging to 63 botanic families were found. Soil samples were collected at a depth of 0 to 20 cm, in each of the 19 plots, and the contents of sand, silt,clay, organic matters, pH nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium were analysed. The influence of the soil variables upon the density of the sampled species was analysed using the Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA). A significative correlation was verified among these variables at a level of 5% of probability using the Monte Carlo test. The species Miconia sellowiana, Miconia pepericarpa, Cestrum amictum, Alchornea triplinervia, Cordia superba and Casearia sylvestris presented a close to indifferent behaviour in relation to the soil variables studied, and these species largely surpassed the other species in relation to the floristic and the strutured parameters. This behaviour reinforces the indication of the species, made by NAPPO (1999), as having a potential for use in mixed and enrichment plantation in condition similar to those of the studied area. The identification and mensuration of the enviromental variables and of the history of the area are important pieces for the understanding of the process of population dynamics, and particularly, for degraded area getting to the reclamation phase.
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