Resumo

MEDINA-GUILLEN, R. et al. The structure and diversity of a rosetophyllous desert scrubland rehabilitated with aereator roller, Coahuila, México. Polibotánica [online]. 2017, n.44, pp.95-107. ISSN 1405-2768.  https://doi.org/10.18387/polibotanica.44.7.

We assessed the changes generated in the structure and diversity of rosetophyllous desert scrubland vegetation applying habitat rehabilitation techniques with aerator roller in the years 2004, 2008 and 2011 and an area burned naturally. In 5 treatments: control (MDRt), aerator roller applied in 2004 (RA04), 2008 (RA08), 2011 (RA11) and burned area 2011 (IN11) diversity and similarity were evaluated among sites using the Shannon and Sørensen index. t diversity tests were conducted and importance value index of species (IVI) was determined. 21 tree and shrub species belonging to 11 families were recorded, highlighting: Cactaceae, Fabaceae and Asteraceae. Shannon index showed that the treatment IN11 presented higher richness (H' = 1.903), while RA11 treatment had the lowest index (H' = 1.30). According to Sørensen index the highest similarity was between the IN11 and MDRt treatments with 0.75 and the most dissimilar was between MDRt and RA04 with 0.38. Kruskall-Wallis showed no significant difference between treatments respect to IVI (p = 0.859). The aerator roller treatment increased in short-term the species richness and substantially decreased the coverage of species of Cactaceae and increased coverage of Larrea tridentata. In contrast, fire treatment substantially reduced the coverage of Larrea tridentata and promoted the presence and coverage of species of the Fabaceae family.

Palavras-chave : aerator roller; rosetophyllous scrubland; fire; Shannon index; t tests; plant diversity; vegetation structure.