Diagnóstico Quantitativo e Qualitativo da Arborização das Praças de Aracaju, SE

Abstract

Aracaju is a city that was planned with geometric precision and simplicity. Since its settlement, it has gone through constant changes in its urban environment. Due to these changes, fewer green areas remain in the urban environment. Well-planned urban afforestation is very important, once trees provide benefits to the city in ecological (climate and pollution), biological (physical health of human beings) and psychological (mental health of population) processes. However, the absence of afforestation planning and the use of inappropriate species are the main obstacles to achieving these benefits. This study was carried out to evaluate the floristic composition of twenty-two main squares in Aracaju-SE, as a way to know the current status and allow some interventions to improve the technical adequacy of urban green space. The floristic survey was conducted by means of a Census, from September 2006 until July 2007, in each square making the recognition and identification of all trees present using traditional methods and herborization. The identification of species was done with the help of literature. We identified 1,290 individuals belonging to 20 families, 46 genera and 64 species; 9 species could not be identified. 58% of the identified species are exotic in the Brazilian territory and 42% are native species. The squares show similarity between them, with Jaccard coefficient ranging from 0.00 to 0.66, and the Almirante Tamandaré and Graccho Cardoso Squares had the greatest similarity (66%).