Forest Recovery in Newly Abandoned Pastures in Southern Brazil: Implications for the Atlantic Rain Forest Resilience

Replacing the Brazilian Atlantic Forest by pastures has caused a strong impact on this biome. Hence, to evaluate the forest recovery after removing disturbance is a key factor to conserve biodiversity. In this study we analyzed changes in forest structure in five abandoned pastures in southern Brazil, aiming to verify the direction and rate of structural and functional changes in the early succession. The abandoned pastures (by periods of 8, 14, 48, 50 and 96 months) were colonized mainly by trees, animal-dispersed and pioneer species. The data showed that the forest structure was quickly changed with an increase in tree abundance, stem volume and species richness. It indicates that in low fragmented landscapes, such as the northern littoral of Parana State, the resilience of the Atlantic Forest is relatively high and assisted regeneration may be an option to biodiversity conservation strategies.