Urban agroforestry home gardens in southern Amazon: the agrobiodiversity guardians?

ABSTRACT

Agroforestry home gardens are an ancient practice in various parts of the world and play important economic, cultural and conservation roles for native agrobiodiversity. Thus, the main objective of this study was to carry out a survey of plant species in urban agroforestry homegardens in Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso state, in southern Amazon, as well as analyze whether they contribute to the conservation of agrobiodiversity. For this purpose, a floristic survey was carried out in 30 urban agroforestry home gardens in 17 neighborhoods, using the guided tour technique. This visit consisted of a walk in the home garden in the company of the maintainer, gathering information about the species. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted. For the in situ identification of plant species, individuals were registered by their popular names and a photographic record was made. The data were analyzed using the Shannon-Wiener index, equability, frequency, absolute and relative densities, importance value index and floristic similarity carried out through cluster analysis. For this, the Bray-Curtis similarity coefficient and the UPGMA methods were used. The calculations of variables and indexes were performed using the FITOPAC 2.1 program. The statistical analysis used was descriptive. Seventy-two (72) botanical families, 7,106 individuals and 243 species were found. The home garden has a density of 947.47 and a Shannon-Wiener index of 4.06. The home gardens showed low similarity. The average home garden area is 0.25 ha. There was a high diversity of botanical families, individuals and species per home garden, grouped into eight categories of use: fruit, vegetables, spices, grains, timber, medicinal, ornamental and shading. The most important use category is medicinal. The floristic composition of the 30 home gardens is heterogeneous. In Alta Floresta, where grazing and soy monoculture is prevalent, urban agroforestry home gardens are a way of conserving agrobiodiversity and also contribute to the local fauna.

Keywords:
Agroforestry systems; Floristic composition; Plant diversity