Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: JAQUELINE SILVA MOURA

Uma banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : JAQUELINE SILVA MOURA
DATE: 31/01/2023
TIME: 09:00
LOCAL: Google Meet
TITLE:

ECOLOGICAL INTERACTIONS AND ABIOTIC CHARACTERISTIC INFLUENCE THE SUCCESS OF CAATINGA FOREST RESTORATION.

KEY WORDS:

Restoration; Technical advances; Biotic interactions; Limiting factor.

PAGES: 97
BIG AREA: Ciências Biológicas
AREA: Ecologia
SUMMARY:

Several ecological processes can influence the structure and dynamics of communities to be restored, among them, abiotic interactions such as facilitation, competition and mycorrhizal symbiosis, as well as abiotic factors such as water, however, little is known how these interactions can contribute to produce more vigorous seedlings and how they interact in the field to influence seedling performance during restoration. To answer these questions, this dissertation is divided into two chapters, in the first, we tested how co-species tree soil containing Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungus (AMF) spores can improve seedling production of 7 potential tree species for ecological restoration of the Caatinga. The results showed that AMFs positively influenced the growth of most tree species, however the species responded differently to the growth parameters.We also found that the trees that presented the highest richness of AMFs were also the ones that presented the best performance in development and presented little similar AMF species, demonstrating that the positive effect on the plants was more dependent on richness than composition. These results highlight that the use of native AMFs may be an efficient and low-cost approach to increase seedling performance and consequently the overall success rates of dryland ecosystem restoration.In the second chapter, we tested in an in situ experiment, how facilitating herbaceous and tree plants, Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and limiting abiotic factor (water), influence the survival and performance of seven tree species (target species). To this end, we implemented an experiment with factorial combinations of presence and absence of the following treatments replicated 5 times each: mycorrhiza (symbiosis); tree facilitator (facilitation); competitive herbaceous (competition); and water (abiotic limiting factor). Multifactorial anovas demonstrated that the limiting factor is able to modulate facilitation and competition interactions during restoration. The addition of water at the time of planting contributed to facilitating and competitive herbaceous plants having a positive influence on growth measures of the target species, however the benefits were neutralized when the two groups of plants co-occurred. We also evidenced that in the absence of water, facilitating and/or herbaceous plants compete for resources more intensely, suppressing the growth of the target species. Thus, for best results, restoration projects must reconcile the management of competitive facilitators or herbaceous plants with the addition of water; if irrigation during transplanting is not possible, the use of only the target plant is the most indicated. We found that the outcome of the interactions may be dependent not only on resource availability but also on the tolerance and competitive ability of the target species, thus future studies should investigate which combinations of techniques are best suited for the various target species. Finally, we found that management of mycorrhizal fungi with facilitators can provide greater benefits for some species in the presence of water, however, the absence of water implies greater competition for resources, in which case it is recommended to use only the facilitator species for greater benefits. In summary, this work contributes to the advancement of new techniques that can substantially increase the success of restoration in Caatinga and semi-arid areas, besides advancing the theoretical part in relation to plant-plant and plant-micorrhizal interactions in this system.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Externo ao Programa - 1755051 - BRUNO TOMIO GOTO - nullPresidente - 1677189 - GISLENE MARIA DA SILVA GANADE
Externa à Instituição - MILENA CORDEIRO DE AMORIM LOPES