THE UNDERSTANDiNG oF THE DyNAMiCS oF PLANT CoMMUNiTiES is based on measurements of rates of mortality and recruitment. These population parameters are essential to the study and prediction of responses of vegetation to global changes (Phillips and Gentry 1994; Pimm and Sugden 1994) and short-term climatic change (Condit et al. 1992), as well as patterns in species richness (Phillips et al. 1994). The issue takes on special significance because of its implications for community conservation and management (Primack and Hall 1992). Long-term monitoring of plant populations has been undertaken in various tropical forests around the world (Swaine, Lieberman, and Putz 1987; Hartshorn 1990; Phillips and Gentry 1994; Phillips et al. 1994). For savannas, the dynamics of plant communities protected from fire have been monitored, and data presented (Brookman-Amissah et al. 1980; San José and Fariñas 1983; Devineau et al. 1984; Bowman and Panton 1995). In contrast, although the Cerrado Biome is the second largest in South America, there are very few long-term studies using permanent plots to observe recruitment, growth, and mortality of woody plants in this vegetation type. Silberbauer-Gottsberger and Eiten (1987) recorded three years of cerrado change in ten quadrats of 100 m2 each. Currently the Cerrado Biome is suffering strong anthropogenic change associated with deforestation, high fire incidence, and invasion by alien species (chapter 5). Even protected reserves in central Brazil have only a few dozen hectares that have been free from disturbance of this kind for more than 20 years. Studies of parameters such as annual mortality and recruitment rates in areas protected from human impact are needed to determine their natural dynamics.