Abstract

ZAMORA-CRESCENCIO, Pedro et al. Wood vegetation at Oxpemul archeological site, Calakmul municipality, Campeche, Mexico. Polibotánica [online]. 2012, n.33, pp.131-150. ISSN 1405-2768.

We studied the semi evergreen tropical forest species composition and structure, in the archaeological site of Oxpemul, located at the Calakmul Biosphera Reserve, Campeche. We surveyed 48 10 x 10 m2 (4 800 m2) plots, in which we measured all individuals DBH ≥ 2 cm. The description of the vegetation structure was based on species importance values. Species diversity was measured with the Shannon-Wiener (H') Index. We recorded a total of 3 013 woody individuals belonging to 91 species, 67 genera and 35 families. Fabaceae was the family with the largest number of species (13). Brosimum alicastrum was the most important specie according to its relative dominance, followed by Melicoccus oliviformis, Eugenia sp., Pilocarpus racemosus y Drypetes lateriflora. The basal area of the northern group was 47.71 m²/ha and 52.83 m²/ha in the south group. The Shannon-Wiener Index registered in the northern group was 3.33 and 3.26 in the southern group. We concluded that the tree species richness of the two groups studied is similar. Brosimum alicastrum is the most common tree species on the prehispanic structures (rocky substrata) showing grouping and a higher number of individuals in both groups.

Keywords : composition; floristic; vegetation structure; archaeological groups; Oxpemul.