Presentation Biogeography in the Neotropics Symposia

1. Vegetation structure in a topographic gradient of a
mountain forest, Northeastern Brazil
Ivan Jeferson Sampaio Diogo - IFPB, Brazil
Karin dos Santos - Natural History Museum, Sweden
Flavio Antonio Maës dos Santos - UNICAMP, Brazil
Itayguara Ribeiro da Costa – UFC, Brazil

2. Introduction
Paleoclimatic fluctuation
Carnaval-Moritz, 2008; Carnaval, 2009; Antonelli & Sanmartín, 2011
Eocene – 23Ma
Pleistocene and Holocene – 1,6Ma
We aimed to examine the floristic
composition, diversity and
phytosociological structure of
woody plant of the mountain forest
at different topographic areas.

3. Material & Methods
- 200m-
Top
100m
200m
Maranguape
10m
50m
Tree

4. Results
Dry areas
Humid areas

5. Discussion
Leeward are more diverse and rich than windward and top;
Only 20 species from 144 are shared among the topographic areas;
The huge environmental and climatic heterogeneity (temperature
and precipitation) observed in the Maranguape mountain can
explain the high diversity;
Leeward is closer to Caatinga areas, when Windward and Top close
to another mountain forests.