Sustainable Forestry (2021) Volume 4 Issue 1 doi:10.24294/sf.v4i1.1603 54 Original Research Article Time of tree diversity recomposition along plant succession in the for- ests of the Chanchamayo Valley, Junín, Peru Flavio Quintero Cardozo 1 , Belvi Margui Cáceres Rodríguez 2 , Carlos Augusto Reynel Rodríguez 1* , Robin Fer- nandez-Hilario 1,3 , Akira Armando Wong Sato 1,3 , Jorge Mario Chávez Salas 1 , Sonia Cesarina Palacios Ramos 1 1 Herbario Forestal MOL, Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina. Av. La Molina s/n, La Molina, Lima, Perú. E-mail: reynel@lamolina.edu.pe 2 Servicio Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre (SERFOR). Av. Javier Prado Oeste N°2442, Urb. Orrantia, Magdalena del Mar, Lima, Perú. 3 División de Ecología Vegetal - CORBIDI, Calle Santa Rita 105 Of. 2, Urb. Huertos de San Antonio Monterrico, Surco, Lima, Perú. ABSTRACT A topic of current interest in forestry science concerns the regeneration of degraded forests and areas. Within this topic, an important aspect refers to the time that different forests take to recover their original levels of diversity and other characteristics that are key to resume their functioning as ecosystems. The present work focuses on the premon- tane rainforests of the central Peruvian rainforest, in the Chanchamayo valley, Junín, between 1,000 and 1,500 masl. A total of 19 Gentry Transects of 2 × 500 m, including all woody plants ≥2.5 cm diameter at breast height were estab- lished in areas of mature forests, and forests of different ages after clear-cutting without burning. Five forest ages were considered, 510, 20, 30, 40 and ≥50 years. The alpha-diversity and composition of the tree flora under each of these conditions was compared and analyzed. It was observed that, from 40 years of age, Fisher’s alpha-diversity index be- comes quite similar to that characterizing mature forests; from 30 years of age, the taxonomic composition by species reached a similarity of 69–73%, like those occurring in mature forests. The characteristic botanical families, genera and species at each of the ages were compared, specifying that as the age of the forest increases, there are fewer shared spe- cies with a high number of individuals. Early forests, up to 20 years of age, are characterized by the presence of Pipe- raceae; after 30 years of age, they are characterized by the Moraceae family. Keywords: Premontane Forests; Secondary Forests; Forest Dynamics; Tree diversity; Gentry Transects ARTICLE INFO Received: 26 March 2021 Accepted: 10 May 2021 Available online: 21 May 2021 COPYRIGHT Copyright © 2021 Flavio Quintero Cardozo, et al. EnPress Publisher LLC. This work is li- censed under the Creative Commons At- tribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/ 4.0/ 1. Introduction In recent years, work has been carried out to better understand the floristic composition of the central Peruvian rainforest and how it char- acterizes the different forest types existing in the area [1-3] . Currently, the initiative of establishing permanent plots under standard methodologies in tropical forest areas has opened the door to successive remeasure- ments over time, facilitating a vision of forest dynamics. Research teams such as the Amazonian Forest Inventory Network (RAINFOR) are currently leading works that cover geographically wide areas, al- lowing a better understanding of flora composition, taxa distribution patterns and forest dynamics. In the Department of Junín, most of the floristic studies have been carried out in the Chanchamayo Province [4-9] , but despite these efforts, this is still one of the Amazonian departments with the lowest levels of botanical collections and knowledge [10] . In addition, in Chanchamayo