Recovery of the structure and diversity of woody vegetation after agricultural use in a neotropical ecotone

In recent years, neotropical forest cover has suffered significant losses and changes due to agricultural expansion, putting many natural areas of the Brazilian Cerrado and Caatinga at risk. Our study aimed to investigate how land use affects the structure, taxonomic diversity, and spatial structure of individual diversity and size in tree communities (regeneration times) with different regeneration times in the Cerrado-Caatinga ecotone. We sampled vegetation 10 and 25 years after agricultural land use, and vegetation with no history of management. The greatest variation in vegetation structure (abundance, basal area, and regrowth) occurred in regenerating communities. In contrast, unmanaged communities showed greater differentiation in the spatial structure of individual sizes. Taxonomic and spatial diversity was greater in regenerating communities (10FP) and in those without a history of management, with the latter presenting greater diversity. Therefore, we demonstrate that land use in Cerrado-Caatinga ecotone areas affects the recovery of structure, as well as taxonomic and spatial diversity, demonstrating that these communities do not follow the same regeneration pattern. Some communities and sites exhibited slower recovery trajectories, which may have been influenced by the intensity of previous land use and intraspecific competition.