Etnobotânica e a biodiversidade de macrófitas aquáticas em comunidades no Alto Solimões, Amazonas, Brasil

Abstract

Aquatic macrophytes they are vascular plants, whose active photosynthetic parts are permanently or for a few months of the year, partially submerged or even floating, and may even occupy areas from swampy areas to those completely flooded. In view of the various benefits presented by them, it is noted that research on these plants is being carried out in all regions of the country, with some of them directed towards floristic surveys, others on ecological aspects and some referring to wetlands. Especially in the North region, more and more researchers are publishing works of great scientific importance on aquatic macrophytes, thus helping science with relevant information on floristic surveys, the various uses of these plants and even new occurrences of species. In this context, the present work aimed to study and analyze studies carried out in Brazil and in the northern region, about aquatic macrophytes, being they floristic surveys and about different uses of these plants, in order to obtain sufficient basis for the main objective, which was to understand the ethnobotanical relationship and biodiversity of aquatic macrophytes as bioindicators of pollution in the municipality of Tabatinga, Alto Solimões, Amazonas. The surveys were carried out in the riverside communities of Limeira and Teresina I, seeking to determine the richness of species of aquatic macrophytes existing in these communities and what their relationships with current environmental variables in order to subsequently understand and analyze what knowledge and uses this population has. Tradition does about these plants. There was a richness of 51 species of aquatic macrophytes distributed among 43 genera, 26 families, with emphasis on Poaceae and Cyperaceae as the most frequent. Species richness was always higher during the dry period in both communities, a period that contributed to the increase of 26 species in the communities. The biological forms varied according to the investigated periods, with the emerged free floating forms (23.68%) and grassy emergent forms (21%) being the most frequent in the flood and the amphibious form (45.83) the predominant form in the dry season. For the investigation of traditional knowledge, interviews were carried out and the application of semi-structured questionnaires with the riverside populations of two communities of Alto Solimões in order to understand the perception and use of aquatic macrophytes by their residents. It was observed that most residents know aquatic macrophytes in both locations and use them to feed fish and other animals, to treat wounds, tumors, asthma, headaches, human food and for handicrafts. The results obtained in the present study suggest that each community has an ecosystem of similar aquatic plants, with the specificity of the abiotic conditions of the water being the main structuring factor of each ecosystem. And in relation to traditional knowledge, it is concluded that the investigated riverside populations expressed great knowledge about plants that was not acquired in schools, but in family experiences and that was passed down through generations, so that some uses of plants, such as the making of handicrafts, are being lost.