This study was conducted in the Cachoeira River Natural Reserve, in Antonina, Paraná state, Brazil. The main goal was to assess the litter production of secondary tropical rain forests in different sucessional stages (initial, medium and advanced stages). The litter fall was collected every 3 weeks during four years (2004 to 2007), in circular litter traps of 0.25m², distributed in 30 plots of 100m² of area. A total of 60 litter traps were installed in an area of 3000m². The litter fall collected at each retrieval date was dried, separated into fractions (leaves, twigs, reproductive organs and miscellaneous) and weighed. Leaves of some tree species were selected from the total litter for a specific study of their contribution to the total litter. The average annual litter production for the three years was 5201, 5399 and 5323 kg.ha-1.year-1, and the percentage contribution of the leaf fraction was 77, 75 and 68%, in the initial, medium and advanced sucessional stages, respectively. The leaf litter fraction produced in the initial stage was dominated by the species Tibouchina pulchra (jacatirão) (75%), but in the medium and advanced stages the dominance of only one tree species in leaf litter fraction did not occur. The production of twigs and reproductive organs did not differ statistically among the sucessional stages. The production of miscellaneous fraction was higher in the advanced stage and did not differ between the initial and medium stages. In general, the differences in litter production were little along the sucessional stage in the area of the study.
Nutrient cycling; natural regeneration; Atlantic Rain Forest
