Effects of land use and management on the structure and recruitment of an endemic palm tree (Attalea pindobassu Bondar) from the Brazilian semi-arid

Abstract

Attalea pindobassu is a palm tree endemic to the northern of the Espinhaço chain, found in the Caatinga domain, and it is a key non-timber forest product (NTFP) resource for the livelihood and income of people in the Brazilian semi-arid. We assessed the influence of environmental (soil features) and anthropogenic factors (type of land use and harvest intensity) on the natural regeneration and population structure of A. pindobassu, identifying the relative importance of these factors in the abundance of life stages. We sampled populations in 14 sites distributed in 63 plots, totaling 9.6 ha. Our sampling ranged from well-preserved sites, in natural areas (30 x 0.045 ha plots), to highly disturbed pastures in the agroecosystems (33 x 0.25 ha plots), covering an extensive area of the species distribution. Differences in the plot size occurred due to the conditions of land use, the density of individuals, and the spatial distribution in the sampled areas. We considered five life stages (seedling, sapling, juvenile, immature adult, and reproductive adults), in which seedling and sapling were fitted as regenerants. Recruitment failure occurs mostly in sites in agricultural and intensive pasture areas, in which habitats with a low rate of chronic anthropogenic disturbance showed a higher density of regenerants. In these habitats, marked by recruitment bottlenecks, populations are likely to become locally extinct. The fruit harvesting levels did not affect the density of regenerants. The social and economic importance of this species is an ecological asset that can foster the development of public policies, further promoting multiple sustainable uses of habitat remnants to ensure the application of the conservation strategy of under use.