Tropical forests have been increasingly modified by human activities and the forest recovery through succession has caused an increase in the amount of secondary forests in the landscape. Little is known about changes in the richness and composition of non-woody species throughout the succession in tropical forests; therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of forest succession on a community of herbs in the order Zingiberales. Zingiberales and soil were sampled and data on vegetation structure, including bamboo abundance, canopy opening, and basal area were collected from nine 80 × 90 m plots installed on the Catuaba Experimental Farm, Acre, representing three successional stages: early secondary forest, late secondary forest, and mature forest. Early secondary forest areas were experimentally deforested, burned, and sprayed with herbicide in the dry season of 2001 and the late secondary forest areas suffered deforestation followed by burning for agricultural cultivation between 1985 and 1986. A total of 3,831 individuals and 26 species distributed in nine genera and five families was registered. Both soil characteristics and vegetation structure variables showed significant differences among the successional stages. The richness of Zingiberales was lower in the early secondary forest areas and did not differ among the other successional stages. Canopy opening was the variable that best explained the variation in the richness of Zingiberales among the areas. The composition of Zingiberales differed among the successional stages, with the late secondary forest and mature forest stages being most similar. The soil characteristics, canopy opening, bamboo abundance and basal area were the variables that best explained a variation in the composition of Zingiberales. In the areas of initial secondary forest the group of dominant species was composed of Renealmia breviscapa, Calathea altissima and Heliconia rostrata, in the areas of late secondary forest by Chamaecostus lanceolatus Calathea polytricha, Calathea sp.1 and in the areas of mature forest by Heliconia acuminata, Calathea mansonis and Phenakospermum guyannense. These results show that the disturbance caused by cutting, burning, and herbicide application alters the community of Zingiberales. These data also highlight the importance of late secondary and mature forests in maintaining and recovering biodiversity.

热带森林已因人类活动而得到越来越多的改造，并且通过演替进行的森林恢复已导致景观中次生森林的数量增加。对于整个热带森林中非木本物种的丰富度和组成的变化知之甚少；因此，这项工作的目的是评估林地演替对姜类植物群落的影响。对金枪鱼和土壤进行了采样，并从位于英亩的卡图巴实验农场的9个80×90 m地块中收集了包括三个竹子演替阶段的9个80×90 m地块的植被结构数据，包括竹子丰度，树冠开口和基础面积。森林和成熟的森林。早期的次生林区经过实验性砍伐，烧毁，在2001年的干旱季节喷洒了除草剂，次生林区遭到砍伐，随后在1985年至1986年之间进行了焚烧，用于农业种植。登记了9属5个科的3,831头个体和26种树种。土壤特征和植被结构变量在演替阶段之间均表现出显着差异。在早期的次生林区，金枪鱼的丰富度较低，并且在其他演替阶段之间没有差异。冠层的开放是最能解释金枪鱼地区丰富度变化的变量。金枪鱼的组成在演替阶段之间有所不同，次生林和成熟林的阶段最为相似。土壤特性，冠层开口，竹子的丰度和基部面积是最能解释金枪鱼成分变化的变量。在原始次生林地区，优势种的组成是短毛肾念珠菌，Calathea altissima和Heliconia rostrata，在Chamaecostus lanceolatus Calathea polytricha，Calathea sp.1的晚期次生林区和Heliconia acuminata，Calathea mansonis和Phenakospermum guyannense的成熟林区。这些结果表明，砍伐，焚烧和除草剂的使用造成的干扰改变了金斯贝莱斯的群落。这些数据还强调了后期次生林和成熟林在维持和恢复生物多样性方面的重要性。