VOLUMETRY AND TRUNK SHAPE OF Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze IN MIXED OMBROPHILOUS FOREST FRAGMENTS AT DIFFERENT ANTHROPIZATION LEVELS

The main objective of this study was to obtain information on the trunk shape and volumetry of the Araucaria angustifolia species in mature and secondary fragments, using non-destructive approaches in Mixed Ombrophilous Forest areas with different degrees of human intervention. The rigorous cubage was measured on 30 trees in each area using the Criterion RD 1000. The results revealed an form factor of 0.61 and 0.62 for the species in mature and secondary forests, respectively. The Spurr model obtained the best fit in both areas among the 4 fitted volumetric models, with errors of 18.7% and 22.2% in sequence. It was observed that growth for the longitudinal profile was more homogeneous in mature areas than in secondary areas. The Kozak tapering function produced satisfactory results for estimating the diameter, but not for determining the volume, requiring a larger sample. These results highlighted the dendrometric and morphological differences of the species in areas with different anthropization levels and recovery times, highlighting the importance of understanding these variations in forest surveys.