The influence of soil on vegetation structure and plant diversity in different tropical savannic and forest habitats

Abstract

Soil plays an important role in the formation and heterogeneity of habitats and thus can cause changes in vegetation structure and plant diversity. The differentiation between Cerrado/ savanna and forest is well known, but the relationship between soil and habitats from savannic or forest formations still needs to be better understood, particularly in tropical ecotonal areas. We studied the association between attributes of plant communities, namely structure and diversity, and physicochemical characteristics of soils in the Caatinga domain at the transition to Cerrado in Brazil.