This study was carried out in a fragment called "Reserva da Biologia", which belongs to the Universidade
Federal de Viçosa, in Minas Gerais State, Brazil (20°35'-28°50'S e 42°45'-43°00'W), where 10 plots of 5 x 5
m plots, 1m away from each other, were set up. A controlled burning was performed on the plots, following
the wind-driven fire technique, according to the slope orientation. The objective was to characterize the soil
seed of the tree community before and after fire, in order to verify the effects of such discontinuance on
both population density and floristic composition. In the centre of each plot, one 40 x 25 cm soil sampling
was collected, from the leaf litter downward 5cm deep. One day after the soil sampling the plots underwent
controlled burning. New soil samplings were done immediately after burning, following the previous
methodology. It was counted 528 and 429 seedlings emerging from the soil seed bank before and after the
fire, respectively. Such plants were of 23 species and 14 botanical families, from which Melastomataceae,
Asteraceae and Urticaceae stood out. There was no meaningful reduction in the species richness or in the
density of individuals of the populations between both samplings. The floristic similarity was 34 %.
Miconia cinnamomifolia
and
Leandra purpurascens
were the most frequent/abundant species. Pioneer species stood
out making up 44 and 40 % of the species found in the area before and after fire, respectively.
