| Summary: | Understanding the evolutionary dynamics of forest islands in the landscape can inform conservation strategies for peatland ecosystems in tropical mountains and specify how different elements interact in landscape formation. We studied a peatland ecosystem at the headwaters of the Preto River, on a plateau surface known as Chapadão do Couto, in the Rio Preto State Park (São Gonçalo do Rio Preto, MG) at an altitude of 1,600 m. We analyzed two forest islands with predominantly semideciduous seasonal forest, one entirely within the peatland and the other at the transition to mesic grassland. The purpose was to investigate variations in the amount and fractioning of litter in each forest fragment at different times of the year, to show responses of the forest to the different conditions of insertion in the peatland and how this affects the dynamics of functional balance of the ecosystem. Four sampling of litter were made within the forest islands (Jun./2018 to Feb./2019) by the aid of 1 m2 collectors made of shade cloth, at a height of 50 cm. We observed a dynamic of interactions with distinct patterns among the forest islands, and also verified variations in the litter with respect to intensity and quantity of deposition, dynamics of deciduousness, this more associated with soil moisture conditions than the temperature at the surface and other features of the soil organic matter
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