CHARACTERIZATION OF THE LITTERFALL PRODUCTION AND SEED RAIN IN A RESERVE OF SEASONAL SEMIDECIDUOUS FOREST, PARANA STATE

This study aimed to analyze litterfall production and seed rain of a fragment of seasonal semideciduous forest from western of Parana state with 242 ha, which is known as Santa Maria Farm's Private Nature Reserve. The material was collected from June/2011 to May/2012, in nine plots of 20 x 20 m, using four traps of 0,5 x 0,5 m in each plot. The litter was sorted and weighed, and the seed rain was evaluated as the wealth, life form, successional category and dispersal syndrome of the species found. The annual litterfall production was 11.886 kg ha(-1), being August and September the months of the largest production. The leaf fraction was the most representative with 58,52% of the total. In the seed rain were collected 18.300 seeds, distributed in 79 morphospecies, which 51 were identified to species level, eight at the genus level and six at the family level. Mikania sp., Cecropia pachystachya, Pisonia aculeata, Gouania ulmifolia and Dendropanax cuneatus, were the species with the highest relative densities. The months with the highest abundance of seeds were September (19%), October (20%), November (27%) and March (15%). The life form predominant was tree with 76,27% of the species, followed by climbers with 20,34% and herbaceous with 3,39% only. Among the tree species, 37 % were represented by successional category of pioneer, while the early and late secondary categories accounted for 22% each and the climax 20%. The zoochory predominated among dispersal syndromes (52,54%), while anemochory and autocory occurred in 38,98% and 8,47%, respectively. The results were similar to those found in other works performed in late seasonal semideciduous forest. Furthermore, through this study about litterfall production and seed rain, the forest fragment can be considered an area of mature forest and with high regeneration potential.