Abstract

FERNANDEZ-PEREZ, Laura; RAMIREZ-MARCIAL, Neptalí  and  GONZALEZ-ESPINOSA, Mario. Reforestation with Cupressus lusitanica and its influence on the diversity of pine-oak forest in the Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. Bot. sci [online]. 2013, vol.91, n.2, pp.207-216. ISSN 2007-4476.

The widespread use of Cupressus lusitanica to recover degraded forest areas may reduce species richness and diversity of montane forests. Woody composition and structure in a reforested area with C. lusitanica were compared with fragments of Pinus-Quercus forest and secondary pine-oak forests in the Highlands of Chiapas. The three forest types differ significantly (P ≤ 0.01) in coverage, richness and diversity of woody species. The highest basal area of large trees occurred in the Pinus-Quercus forest (38.7 m²ha^-1), followed by secondary forest (16.5 m²ha^-1) and the Cupressus reforested forest (12.7 m²ha^-1). Although the lowest tree richness (P ≤ 0.05) was recorded in the latter forest (16 species), compared with Pinus-Quercus forest (18) and secondary forest (30 species), diversity of trees (> 10 cm diameter at breast height) was greater under Cupressus reforested site (P ≤ 0.05). According to the analysis of non-metric multidimensional scaling major soil variables that explained the differences between the plots were the phosphorus and clay content (P < 0.05). It is concluded that reforestation after 28 years has been effective to retrieve site cover and allowed the presence of several species in the surrounding forests not reforested, although it has not yet reached the values of basal area.

Keywords : Mexican Cypress; plant succession; reforestation; seedlings.

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