Publicações

The Cerrado covers 22% of the land surface of Brazil and is mainly located in the Central Region. This biome is considered the richest savanna and also has high endemism. The vegetation is very varied in form, ranging from dense grassland, usually with sparse covering of shrubs and small trees, to almost closed woodland. The presence of certain species and physiognomy is strongly related with the soil chemical and physical features. The Cerrado soil is considered acid, mainly, because of the high concentration of aluminum, but in this case, some species present different tolerance levels. Miconia albicans, considered an aluminum-accumulating species develops an abundant population in the Alic soil region. In the same way that tolerant species occur in high aluminum concentration, others occur only where it is lower and the fertility is greater, like Magonia pubescens. Besides pedological features, the physiognomic variation and the species distributions can be related with the fire frequency, too. Many species have morphological adaptations like xylopodium and thick cork bark that provide larger protection during the fire action. The relation Cerrado-fire is focused in many studies, because some species require high temperature to break dormancy, to germinate and to flower. In spite of the several environmental conditions influences, the pedological features and the fire frequency are decisive in the physiognomic diversity and in the species distribution.