Ecologia e etnoecologia de recursos florestais de uso alimentício no nordeste do Brasil

Abstract

Harvesting communities possibly know and use a considerable amount of native species, moreover, studies show that socioeconomic variables significantly influence this knowledge and use. Because the harvesting live in direct contact with the natural resources, they have significant knowledge about different environmental aspects related to the species that have greater cultural and economic importance. The present work has as main objectives: 1) to assess the socioeconomic characteristics interfere with the knowledge and use of native food plants; 2) record which are the most important criteria for classifying a food species as preferred; and 3) assess whether the local ecological knowledge on the occurrence of phenological phases of the preferred species is correlated with the phenological data obtained in the three vegetation types of the Cerrado. This study was conducted in harvesting communities living around the Araripe National Forest (FLONA-APODI), first National Forest Sustainable Use of Brazil, located in the southern region of Ceara, northeastern Brazil. People living around the National Forest have a close relationship with the natural resources on the premises, drawing them both to use and to trade. The data set we used in this study were obtained through ethnobiological and ecological methodologies, which are free listings, semi-structured interviews, planning species and participatory workshops, vegetation structure and phenological monitoring of two years preferred native food species. The main results of this study were: 1) although there is no standard as the influence of socioeconomic variables, we found that, for the communities that have as their main collection site to FLONA, age influenced the knowledge and use. 2) We note the high importance of the medical use linked to food use, suggesting a food-medicine continuum between these two categories; and 3) In harvesting communities, the local ecological knowledge on the occurrence of phenological phases in preferred species is influenced by local people access to the resource collection This study allows us to conclude that, harvesting communities living in the vicinity of a Unit Conservation, although contact with different industrial resources, have significant knowledge about the native food resources in the region in which they live, and these, in most cases, are not only used as food but also in other categories of uses, mainly as a medicine. In addition, people who manage and depend majority way of arising of the National Forest resources to supply their basic needs, have a trusted phenological knowledge to what occurs in the three vegetation types to preferred food species.