Demography of the endangered tree species Ocotea porosa (Lauraceae) along a gradient of forest disturbance in southern Brazil

Ocotea porosa (Ness) Barroso (Lauraceae), a typical tree of the southern Atlantic Forest in Brazil, was heavily exploited for timber in the last century. With the aim of examining the status of the remaining populations, we surveyed five forest fragments in the state of Paraná, in southern Brazil, and evaluated whether disturbances caused by selective logging and fragmentation were related to population structure of O. porosa. We assessed demographic aspects related to tree density, size hierarchy and individual allometry, correlating those parameters with fragment structure variables (fragme...