Tree mortality in a riparian forest at Rio Paraguai, Pantanal, Brazil, after an extreme flooding

Abstract

A study was conducted in a riparian forest (Rio Paraguai, Brazil) to verify the vegetation mortality after an exceptional flooding in 1995. Individuals with diameter at breast height > 5 cm were sampled in 108 (10×10m) plots in 1994, and re-sampled in 1996. The total mortality rate was 4.1% per year. The mortality increased with the increasing of topographic positions, at community level, suggesting that places where the flooding is less frequent are more affected by extreme floods.