ENVIRONMENT EFFECTS ON WOOD DENSITY OF VEGETATION TYPES IN MINAS GERAIS STATE - BRAZIL

The objective was to verify the general behavior of wood density of native tree species in forest types in Minas Gerais state. The trees scaling data were obtained from the Forest Inventory of Minas Gerais State. Were used data from 1988 trees distributed in different forest formations. From each tree, five discs of wood were removed, at the 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% of the total height. The wood basic density of each disk was determined according to NBR 7190/1997. The ombrophylous forest, semideciduous forest, savanna woodland, typical savanna and deciduous forest presented average wood density of 0.502, 0.561, 0.585, 0.612 and 0.675 g.cm(-3), respectively, all statistically different. It was found a clear and consistent relation between wood density and environment characteristics that affect the different vegetation types in Minas Gerais State. The forest formations present environmental conditions so typical that they affect the floristic composition and also the cambial and physiological activity of plants, causing particular wood densities to forests formations.