Can intensive management accelerate the restoration of Brazil's Atlantic forests?

Only 7% of the once extensive forest along the eastern coast of Brazil remains, and much of that is degraded and threatened by agricultural expansion and urbanization. We wondered if methods similar to those developed to establish fast-growing Eucalyptus plantations might also work to enhance survival and growth of rainforest species on degraded pastures composed of highly competitive C4 grasses. An 8-factor experiment was laid out to contrast the value of different intensities of cultivation, application of fertilizer and weed control on the growth and survival of a mixture of 20 rainforest species planted at two densities: 3 m × 1 m, and 3 m × 2 m. Intensive management increased seedling survival from 90% to 98%, stemwood production and leaf area index (LAI) by ∼4-fold, and stemwood production per unit of light absorbed by 30%. Annual growth in stem biomass was closely related to LAI alone (r2 = 0.93, p < 0.0001), and the regression improved further in combination with canopy nitrogen content (r2 = 0.99, p < 0.0001). Intensive management resulted in a nearly closed forest canopy in less than 4 years, and offers a practical means to establish functional forests on abandoned agricultural land.