Relevance of Seed Bank in the Process of Recovery of the Atlantic Forest in São Paulo – Brazil in the Four Seasons of the Year

摘要

One of the planet’s richest areas in biodiversity can be found in Brazilian territory: the Atlantic Forest, which is also an example of the most severe devastation cases. Spread in an area larger than 30.000 km and 30° degrees latitude, it is categorized as tropical rainforest. Due to the planting of monocultures such as sugarcane and coffee as well as the urban development, there are only 7.5% left of its original area which comprises 2% of all vegetation species and vertebrate animals in the planet. The region is also among the five most important hotspots of biodiversity which justifies the understanding of all natural regeneration processes through the knowledge provided by a soil seed bank. This work describes the contents of the bank by the identification of seedlings through the seasons of the year, thus contributing with information on the natural recovery of this biome.