ADVANCED NATURAL REGENERATION IN A CAATINGA REMAINDER WITH DIFFERENT DESCRIPTIONS OF USE IN THE AGRESTE OF PERNAMBUCO, BRAZIL

The objective of this work was to compare a natural regeneration of two areas with Caatinga vegetation with different histories of use in the Agreste of Pernambuco. These studies were carried out in two areas: Area I, native forest, with no historical evidences of deforestation for agriculture purposes; and Area II, which was previously occupied with the cultivation of forage cactus and was abandoned about 30 years ago at the stage of secondary succession. For data collection, it was used a total of 24 plots of 5 x 5 in dimensions, 12 plots in each area, and considering the plants with circumference at breast height (CBH) of 1.30 m from ground (CAP) < 6.0 cm and height >= 1.0 in as individuals in natural regeneration. It was identified in the structure survey of regenerating individuals structural survey in both areas, 581 plants of 14 botanical families, 26 genus and 30 species. The total densities obtained in this study were 11,200 and 8,116 individuals.ha-I in Area land II, respectively. The species with the greatest densities of natural regeneration in Area I were the following: Croton argyrophyllus, Senegalia bahiensis, Croton blanchetianus and Coutarea hexandra and in the Area II: Senegalia bahiensis Poincianella pyramidalis, Zanthoxyllum sp, Croton blanchetianus and Croton argyrophyllus.