Efecto de diferentes condiciones de cobertura de copa en la regeneración de especies leñosas del matorral espinoso tamaulipeco

The Tamaulipas thorn scrub has been strongly affected by the change in land use to carry out different activities, so it currently hassecondary vegetation areas with different structure and canopy cover. In the present study, the density, specific richness, Shannon'strue diversity index and Importance Value Index (IVI) of natural regeneration were evaluated, according to three conditions ofcrown cover of the upper stratum (mature scrub). The three canopy coverage conditions were classified according to the percentageof canopy area covered within each site. 12 sites of 100 mwere established for each condition, where the crown area of trees andshrubs was measured. To evaluate natural regeneration, 5 sites of 1 mwere established within each site of the mature scrub. Todetermine significant differences between the parameters, a one-factor analysis of variance was performed, as well as the similarityusing the Bray-Curtis model. 22 species were recorded, Fabaceae being the best represented family. 5 species were located withpreference for some crown cover condition. Croton incanus, is the species with the highest IVI. The values of density, specificrichness and Shannon index did not show significant differences according to the 3 established coverage conditions.