Assessing Plant Resource Utilization across Wet and Dry Landscapes in Northeast Brazil

Abstract

The present study aimed to assess the potential impact of total species richness on the functional redundancy, utility, and versatility of plant species. For this purpose, two study areas were delineated, a wet forest and a dry forest, where phytosociological surveys were conducted. The results indicate parity in terms of the proportion of useful species between the areas. In line with our initial expectations, our findings revealed greater versatility among species in the less rich area; thus, more uses were attributed to a single species. We found no significant relationship between utilitarian redundancy and the analyzed environments in any of the plant use categories. Based on the evidence gathered, we believe that resource selection by human communities might ultimately be conditioned by local species availability rather than by underlying utilitarian potential.