Temporal evaluation of the Conservation Priority Index for medicinal plants

ABSTRACT We investigated, through a temporal comparison, the extraction of non-timber forest resources by quantitatively analyzing the Conservation Priority Index (CPI). The study focused on the Fulni-ô Indigenous Territory, in the municipality of Águas Belas, PE (Northeast Brazil), which is characterized by caatinga vegetation (seasonal dry forest). Information on the availability of the exploited resources and the reported use of the species were obtained from vegetation sampling and semi-structured interviews, respectively. Our results demonstrated a reduction in species richness overtime, which may be due to continued resource extraction in the area, and that some species with low densities were even more affected. The species reported as being at high risk in the current study apparently did not differ from their status in the previous study, which supports the idea that these species are most evident in this situation more for their high potential of use than for their high densities. When we associate these events together with the disappearance of some rare species, we can conclude that the CPI was not efficient in predicting changes, and that the combination of variables used with the biological variables of the species needs to be adjusted.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Souza,André dos Santos, Albuquerque,Ulysses Paulino, Nascimento,André Luiz Borba do, Santoro,Flávia Rosa, Torres-Avilez,Wendy Marisol, Lucena,Reinaldo Farias Paiva de, Monteiro,Júlio Marcelino
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	Sociedade Botânica do Brasil 2017
Online Access:	http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-33062017000200169
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