Arboreal species of multiple use and its importance in the conservation of biodi-versity in the urban green areas of Palmas, Tocantins

Abstract

The city of Palmas-TO was designed to be an ecological capital, conciliating the human occupation with the preservation of natural resources. Each of its blocks has a specific layout, pre-determining the areas that can be built and those that are not uplifting. However, the forest resources of these non-uplifting spaces suffer anthropogenic pressures, putting their conservation and maintenance at risk. In this sense, we carried out the quantitative inventory of the afforestation of the Palmas city’s residential blocks green areas of in order to identify the occurrence of species of multiple uses, to know its potential, to value its use by the population and to promote their conservation. The survey was carried out in the non-uplifting areas of 33 residential blocks of Palmas. In total, 182 forest species were identified, of which 54.4% were native to the Brazilian savanna. More than 79% of the species presented some type of medicinal use, 66.5% are attractive to the fauna of vertebrates and invertebrates and 40.7% of them are edible. It is observed that the non-uplifting areas of the residential blocks of Palmas are of significant importance in the preservation of these resources, guaranteeing the supply of food for humans and animals, as well as diverse active principles with potential for medicinal use.