ORIGINAL ARTICLE ‘‘Cerrado’’ restoration by direct seeding: field establishment and initial growth of 75 trees, shrubs and grass species Keiko Fueta Pellizzaro 1,2 • Alba O. O. Cordeiro 3 • Monique Alves 1 • Camila P. Motta 1 • Gustavo M. Rezende 1 • Raissa R. P. Silva 4 • Jose ´ Felipe Ribeiro 5 • Alexandre B. Sampaio 6 • Daniel L. M. Vieira 1,7 • Isabel B. Schmidt 1 Received: 11 October 2016 / Accepted: 14 February 2017 / Published online: 4 March 2017 Ó Botanical Society of Sao Paulo 2017 Abstract The coexistence of grasses, herbs, shrubs and trees characterizes savannas; therefore, to restore such ecosystems one should consider re-introducing all these growth forms. Currently, little is known about field establishment of most ‘‘Cerrado’’ (Brazilian savanna) species that could be used for restoration purposes. Most knowledge on restoration is focused on planting seedlings of tree species from forest physiognomies. Alternatively, direct seeding can be an appropriate method to re-introduce plants of different life forms to restore savannas. We evaluated the initial establishment success under field conditions of 75 ‘‘Cerrado’’ native species (50 trees, 13 shrubs, and 12 grasses) in direct seeding experiments in four sites in Central Brazil for 2.5 years. For that, we tagged and measured tree and larger shrub species and estimated ground cover by small shrub and grass species. Sixty-two species became established (42 trees, 11 shrubs and 9 grasses) under field conditions. Thirty-eight of the 48 tagged species had relatively high emergence rates ( [ 10%) and 41 had high seedling survival ( [ 60%) in the first year. Among grasses and small shrub species, Andropogon fastigiatus Sw., Aristida riparia Trin., Schizachyrium san- guineum (Retz.) Alston, Lepidaploa aurea (Mart. ex DC.) H.Rob., Stylosanthes capitata Vogel, S. macrocephala M.B.Ferreira & Sousa Costa, Achyrocline satureioides (Lam.) DC. and Trachypogon spicatus (L.f.) Kuntze had the greatest initial establishment success (up to 30% soil cover). The data on harvesting period, processing mode and field establishment for these 75 species can be readily used in restoration efforts in the ‘‘Cerrado’’. Keywords Direct sowing Á Ecological restoration Á Grassland restoration Á Herbaceous layer Á Neotropical savanna Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s40415-017-0371-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. & Keiko Fueta Pellizzaro keiko.pellizzaro@icmbio.gov.br; keikofueta@gmail.com 1 Programa de Po ´s-Graduac ¸a ˜o em Ecologia, Universidade de Brası ´lia - UnB, Instituto de Biologia, Campus Darcy Ribeiro, Brası ´lia, Distrito Federal 70919-970, Brasil 2 Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservac ¸a ˜o da Biodiversidade - ICMBio, Reserva Biolo ´gica da Contagem, Rod. DF 003 Via EPIA km 8,5, Brası ´lia, Distrito Federal 70635-800, Brasil 3 Programa de Po ´s-Graduac ¸a ˜o em Bota ˆnica, Universidade de Brası ´lia - UnB, Instituto de Biologia, Campus Darcy Ribeiro, Brası ´lia, Distrito Federal 70919-970, Brasil 4 Programa de Po ´s graduac ¸a ˜o em Cie ˆncias Florestais, UnB - Fac. de Tecnologia - Secretaria de Po ´s-Graduac ¸a ˜o em Cie ˆncias Florestais, Campus Universita ´rio Darcy Ribeiro, Brası ´lia, Distrito Federal 70910-900, Brasil 5 Embrapa Cerrados, Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecua ´ria - Embrapa, Rodovia BR-020, Km 18 Caixa Postal: 08223, Planaltina, DF 73310-970, Brasil 6 Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservac ¸a ˜o da Biodiversidade do Cerrado e Caatinga, CECAT/ICMBio, EQSW 103/104, Bloco ‘‘C’’, Setor Sudoeste, Brası ´lia, DF 70670-350, Brasil 7 Embrapa Recursos Gene ´ticos e Biotecnologia - CENARGEN, Parque Estac ¸a ˜o Biolo ´gica, PqEB, Av. W5 Norte (final) Caixa Postal 02372, Brasilia, DF 70770-917, Brasil 123 Braz. J. Bot (2017) 40(3):681–693 DOI 10.1007/s40415-017-0371-6