Resumo

VALERO, José et al. Identificación botánica y producción de frutos en un bosque deciduo del asentamiento Las Peñitas, al sur del estado Aragua, Venezuela. Zootecnia Trop. [online]. 2005, vol.23, n.2, pp.121-139. ISSN 0798-7269.

Herbarium specimen were collected in order to identify the woody species present in a deciduous forest, as well as their frequency, density and the degree of diversity of the forest. The studied forest was divided in four different areas: no intervened forest, forest no recently intervened, forest partially intervened recently, and forest completely intervened recently, and in each area 3 experimental plots of 100 m x 5 m were set along topography gradients. The frequency and density were determined by the number of individuals of each species in the plot, and the degree of diversity was assumed by the Simpson and Shannon’s indexes. There were 32 different botanical species, predominating the Leguminoseae family with 37% and 14 other families that represented 63%. Differences were found in the quantity and frequency of the species among the physiognomic areas, as well as differences among species in the same area. The area with higher species density was the no intervened forest (2780 plants/ha). The degree of diversity evaluated by the Simpson and Shannon´s indexes was higher (P<0.05) for the not intervened forest (15.1 and 4.01, respectively). Although all these communities have the potential for animal feeding, the no intervened forest seems to have the best potential for this purpose because of better botanical indicators.

Palavras-chave : deciduous forest; fruit production; botanical characterization; frequency; diversity.