Effects of cutting regimes in the dry and wet season on survival and sprouting of woody species from the semi-arid caatinga of northeast Brazil Joselma Maria de Figueiro ˆa a , Frans G.C. Pareyn a, * , Elcida de Lima Arau ´jo b , Claudia Eugenio da Silva a , Vene ´zio Felipe dos Santos c , David F. Cutler d , Amelia Baracat d , Peter Gasson d, ** a Associac ¸a ˜o Plantas do Nordeste (APNE), Av. Gal. San Martin, 1371 Bloco 7 Sala 5, Bongi 50.761-000 Recife, PE, Brazil b Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Av. Dom Manoel de Medeiros s/n Dois Irma ˜os Recife, CEP 50.050.090, PE, Brazil c Empresa Pernambucana de Pesquisa Agropecua ´ria (IPA), Av. Gal San Martin, 1371 Bloco 7 Sala 5, Bongi 50.761-000 Recife, PE, Brazil d Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB, United Kingdom Received 22 December 2004; received in revised form 4 April 2006; accepted 6 April 2006 Abstract The cutting of plants for wood and charcoal production is a frequent practice in the largest biome of the semi-arid region of Brazil, known as caatinga. The capacity of cut trees to regenerate has not until now been considered in the management of caatinga trees. This research evaluates the capacity for survival and sprouting of four caatinga species exposed to different types of cutting. The research was undertaken in three areas of the caatinga with populations of Caesalpinia pyramidalis, Croton sonderianus, Mimosa tenuiflora and Mimosa ophthalmocentra. In the wet and dry seasons individual trees were either coppiced, pollarded, crown-thinned, or left as controls. The different types of cutting did not affect strongly the survival of the trees, but did influence their capacity for sprouting, the degree of which depended on species and treatment. Coppicing in the rainy season was the least recommendable treatment for managing Mimosa since it resulted in relatively high mortality. Management plans for the caatinga should consider these observations. # 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Tropical dry forest; Natural forest management; Coppice shoots 1. Introduction The northeast of Brazil is one of the most densely populated semi-arid regions in the world. Mean income ‘‘per capita’’ is very low and the population depends directly on the vegetation for several necessities (Figueiro ˆa et al., 2005). The major vegetation in this region, known as ‘‘caatinga’’, is deciduous, as trees lose their leaves during the dry season that varies from 5 to 9 months and is heterogeneous in relation to its flora, physiognomy and soil (Arau ´jo and Tabarelli, 2002; Arau ´jo and Ferraz, 2003; Sampaio, 2003; Prado, 2003). The phenological rhythm, growth and regeneration capacity of the plants reflect the influence and availability of water in different habitats of this biome (Sampaio et al., 1998; Carvalho et al., 2001; Pereira et al., 2001; Barbosa et al., 2003; Figueiro ˆa et al., 2004), as recorded for other dry forests in the world (Droppelmann and Berliner, 2000; McLaren and McDonald, 2003a, 2003b; Tewari et al., 2004). Annually, millions of hectares of native vegetation in dry forests are cut for wood and charcoal production and extensive cattle raising (Zakia et al., 1990; Kauffman et al., 1993; Silva et al., 1998; Cutler, 1998; Koopmans, 2005; McCray et al., 2005; Figueiro ˆ a et al., 2005). Many of these forests show a high potential for recuperation by regeneration through sprouting (Negreros-Castillo and Hall, 2000; Rydberg, 2000; McLaren and McDonald, 2003; Luoga et al., 2004). However, this www.elsevier.com/locate/foreco Forest Ecology and Management 229 (2006) 294–303 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +55 81 3446 1486; fax: +55 81 3446 1486. ** Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 208 332 5330/5310. E-mail addresses: pne@netpe.com.br, franspar@rocketmail.com (Frans G.C. Pareyn), elcida@ufrpe.br (E.d.L. Arau ´jo), p.gasson@kew.org (P. Gasson). 0378-1127/$ – see front matter # 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2006.04.008