Recursos vegetais em uma área de proteção ambiental no município de São João do Tigre - Paraíba, Brasil

Abstract

The ethnobotany exposes as a main study characteristic of a straight contact with the traditional populations, bringing back all the possible knowledge about the relation of affinity between the man and the using of plants of a particular community. Aimed to conduct the survey and the way of the manipulation of plants used at the city of São João do Tigre at Paraiba state where is located the APA das Onças, the biggest conservation unit of the state, situated at the field of caatinga, with a dry and hot weather and a vegetation adapted to very dry regions. The methodology applied is based in semi-structured interviews with 130 informers from different residences, representing 10% of the totals of families of the community. They were asked about social and cultural aspects and the using of the plants for medicinal purposes. 97 species, gathered in 45 families with the ones with more representativeness were:Fabaceae(12),Asteraceae(6),Euphorbiaceae(6),Lamiaceae(6),Anacardiaceae(5) and Cactaceae(3). The informers were between 17 and 96 years old, noting that the oldest ones have got more knowledge about the subject. The index of diversity and equitability for the species mentioned showed high values indicating a high diversity of species used by the community. The data collected show us the potential of using of the regional Cariri vegetation and reinforce the importance of the biodiversity over the communities, allowing the start of management of the local vegetation, suggesting manners to enlarge the productivity of these resources through a sustainable way. The communities don’t use only the native species but also exotics ones and in a big quantity, showing through this that a loss in the traditional culture is happening nowadays.