Variação biométrica de diásporos de buriti (Mauritia flexuosa L.f. – Arecaceae) em veredas em diferentes estágios de conservação

Abstract

‘Veredas’ (palm swamps) are phytophysiognomies of the ‘Cerrado’ biome, where the palm tree Mauritia flexuosa Lf. - buriti predominates on the tree layer; this species is considered the key resource for manyanimals, that use it as shelter and source of food, and also by the man who uses their leaves and fruits asraw material and food. Although, they occur in environments protected by the environmental legislation,human actions have affected the populations of ‘buritis’, by means of the decrease of individuals causedby deforestation, siltation and drainage of these areas. The objective of this study was to evaluate themorphometric parameters of fruits and seeds of Mauritia flexuosa from six different ‘veredas’ at differentconservation stages, located in the Environmental Protection Area of ‘Pandeiros’ River (north of Minas Geraisstate). In total, 1,800 fruits and seeds were sampled, they were measured in length, width and thickness and, after that, they were weighed. To detect differences in morphometric measurements of fruits and seeds among the sampling areas, the analysis of variance was done. There were differences in morphometric measurements between the studied areas, in which 87.5% of the highest averages occurred in areas with the slightest anthropic interventions. This fact is possibly related to the impacts occurred, besides the genetic variations that may fall upon the individuals.