How long does the Atlantic Rain Forest take to recover after a disturbance? Changes in species composition and ecological features during secondary succession

We evaluated floristic and ecological changes in plant communities after disturbance in Southern Atlantic Rain Forests, in the Brazilian states of Rio cle Janeiro, Sio Paulo, Parang and Santa Catarina. We compiled data for 410 tree species from 18 forests ranging from 4 to 120 years after disturbance, and classified them by dispersal mode (animal vs. non-animal), successional group (pioneer vs. non-pioneer), vertical position (understorey vs. nonunderstorey) and geographic distribution (Atlantic Forest vs. widespread). We found that both geographical location and time since disturbance affect species distribution and P-diversity. Regression analyses showed significant, positive and strong relations (0.26 <= r(2) <= 0.63; P < 0.05) between fragment age and species richness, proportion of animal dispersed species, of non-pioneer species, of understorey species and with restricted distribution. Applying our data to values found in literature we predict that a forest needs about one to three hundred years to reach the proportion of animal-dispersed species (80c,/o of the species), the proportion of non-pioneer species (90%) and of understorey species (50%) found in mature forests. on the other hand much more time is necessary (between one and four thousand years) to reach the enclemism levels (40% of the species) that exist in mature forests. our findings indicate that disturbance results in significant changes in species composition (decrease in endemic species) and ecological guilds (decrease in zoochory and in non-pioneer and understorey species), but forests can gradually recover over time spans of hundreds of years. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.