Uso e conhecimento das espécies lenhosas em uma comunidade indígena na Savana de Roraima

Abstract

The availability of plant resources and their incorporation into traditional communities’ everyday life characterizes the specificities of each social group to perceive resource potential and develop use and conservation strategies for species. The aim of this study was to determine the availability of plant resources in different vegetation types of northern Roraima, and their perception in relation to gender and age groups in an indigenous Makuxi community. To develop this ethnobotanical research, some questions were made: 1) Which vegetation type provide useful species availability to the indigenous community Darora? 2) Age and gender can influence the knowledge of native woody species in different vegetation types? 3) The higher local availability of species have greater importance in the use value (UV) independently of the vegetation type? 4) Do extensive use of species and local availability present homogeneous knowledge between genders and age groups? For this last question there was semi-structured interview about knowledge and use of woody species with 60 participants (36 men and 24 women) from 38 families between 18 and 84 years old. The interviews were carried out between November 2014 to November 2015. Ethnobotanical indexes were calculated in order to recognize the main species and botanical knowledge differences among genders and age groups. The species ́s uses were grouped in categories of Food, Construction, Medicinal, Fuel, Handicraft and Technology. For ecological analysis of the species, a phytosociological survey was conducted, where eight plots were installed (0.25 ha each) with different community center distances, being four in the typical area of Savanna (non-forest - Lavrado), and four in forest areas: two in the Takutu river Alluvial Forest, one in Buritizal (Mauritia flexuosa palm swamp), and one in a Forest Island. Each plot was divided into 10 sub-plots of 25 m x 10 m each. In plots of Lavrado (non-forest), there were measured individuals with basal diameter ≥ 2 cm from 2 cm of the soil level (DSH 2 cm ≥ 2 cm), and the forest plots, all individuals with diameter ≥ 10 cm to breast height (1.3 m). For each vegetation type the phytosociological parameters were calculated. There were recorded 69 species and 2100 use citations, which men cited 67 species and 1446 citations and women cited 52 species and 654 citations, and the species with the largest community UV were the Mauritia flexuosa, Copaifera pubiflora, Byrsonima crassifolia and B. coccolobifolia. It can be concluded that the respondents over 40 have more knowledge than the younger, of these, the older men were considered the most knowledgeable about the number of species and citations, and the stem was part of the most used plant community. The ecological appearance was confirmed in Lavrado and Buritizal environments, ixand the Food and Fuel categories in Lavrado environment in Buritizal environment categories Food, Handicraft and Construction, and Forest Island environment with the Medical and Technology categories. Finally, knowledge of the mirixi (nanches) species, which showed high use and local availability, is widely shared between men and women independently of age.