FLORA OF SAVANNAH THREATENED IN THE TAPAJÓS RIVER BASIN, AMAZON: ETHNOBOTANY AS A CONSERVATION TOOL

Riverside communities in the Tapajós Basin have vast traditional knowledge about uses of local flora. Such traditional knowledge transmitted from generation to generation is threatened by anthropic pressure on such ecosystems in the Amazon. The Juá Environmental Preservation Area (APA Juá) is one such area. The objective of this work was to characterize the traditional knowledge of a women and last group living on APA Juá, Santarém city, Pará state, through an Ethnobotanical study. From interviews with a semi - structured questionnaire, guided visit and herborization of the mentioned plant species, the method was configured, for later treatment of ethnobotanical variables by non - parametric analysis. Thirty - six ethnospecies useful for families were identified, distributed in 23 families and 34 genera. The species with the highest relative frequency of citations were Jurú (C. icaco), Piranga (M. apiranga) and Muruci (B. crassifolia.). Açaí (E. oleracea) was the specie with the highest Value of Use, suggesting the importance of conservation of it for sub existence and reproduction of these families over time. Among the medicinal plants, the boldo (P. barbatus), the lemon grass (L. alba), the guava (P. guajava) and the mint (M. villosa) stand out. Ethnobotanical research demonstrates that it is a good tool for popularizing and valuing traditional knowledge of riverside communities, but it is mainly used as a tool for socioenvironmental denunciation of savannas degradation in the Tapajós Basin.