Contribuição do saber local na identificação de plantas medicinais prioritárias para a conservação in situ na floresta nacional do Araripe, nordeste do Brasil

Abstract

This study performed an ethnobotanical diagnosis on management and conservation strategies used by a rural community located in the vicinity of Araripe National Forest. Thus, this study aimed to identify the local therapeutic repertory, as well as the medicinal species with priority for management and in situ conservation through informants perception and conservation priority index. The study was conducted in Macaúba community, belonging to the Barbalha municipality, Ceará, Brazil. Access to local knowledge occurred through the use of free list, semi structured interview and participatory workshop. Using free list and semi structured interviews, socioeconomic data and information about medicinal plants known and used by the community were collected. The 10 most salient native tree species were identified through free list analysis. In the participatory workshop, local specialists classified these species according to their availability and collection intensity as: high available vs low collection intensity; high available vs high collection intensity; low available vs low collection intensity; and low available vs high collection intensity. Analyzing local knowledge in relation to genus, age and professional activity, it was noticed that farmers men know more medicinal plants than those non-farmers (Z(U) = 2,6100; p = 0,0045) and that there is no difference in knowledge among farmers women and non-farmers (Z(U) = 0,1707; p = 0,8645). Despite its low value, correlation between the number of cited plants and age was significantly (rs= 0,3300, t = 3,9089, p = 0,0001): older people know more medicinal plants than younger. Considering informants perception, the most salient native tree species(Myracrodruon urundeuva Allemão; Himatanthus drasticus (Mart.) Plumel; Hymenea stigonocarpa Mart. ex Hayne; Stryphnodendron coriaceum Benth.; Caryocar coriaceum Wittm.; Eschweilera blanchetiana (O. Berg) Miers; Bowdichia virgilioides Kunth; Astronium fraxinifolium Schott; Hancornia speciosa Gomes e Copaifera langsdorffii Desf.) were indicated for conservationists strategies. The same informants appoint H. speciosa as the most important species for conservation, because of its low environmental availability and high exploitation rate. These results highlight that community's local knowledge needs to be associated to scientific knowledge in order to establish conservationist strategies for the used species.