Human impact on the abundance of useful species in a protected area of the Brazilian Cerrado by people perception and biological data

Abstract

Studies about relationships between people and landscapes have shown that local communities can affect the abundance of plant species useful to humans, which raises the question of how landscape management processes might modify the abundance of useful plant species in a forested area. We addressed this issue based on people perception and biological evidence. This study was undertaken in the Araripe National Forest, a protected area of sustainable use of natural resources in Brazil. Our results showed that the studied landscape experienced modifications in abundance of species caused by management processes. For instance, phytosociological data for the managed areas showed a greater abundance of the more salient useful species compared with useful species that have lower local importance. The comparison of historical and current aerial images of the landscape indicated that plant density had increased in forested managed areas where agricultural practices were stopped. Despite this, local perceptions indicated that the abundance of most of the useful plant species in the managed areas had decreased over time.