Identificação de espécies vegetais de floresta remanescente em área de mineração na Amazônia Oriental.

Abstract

The association of scientific names to plants, from common names, has resorted to many errors in the validation of many species in forest environments. Little associated morphological data and no consistent knowledge of plant morphology has been the main cause of the high number of errors. With this, the use of molecular techniques has been used as complementary tools in the process of specific identification of several plant taxa. The present study aimed to register plant species, based on morphological and molecular analyses, to ensure successful monitoring of plant species in post-mining recovery areas in the Southeast of the state of Pará, Eastern Amazon. The foliar samples of the trees were obtained in the area owned by the company Mineração Paragominas S.A., located approximately 70 km from the municipality of Paragominas, southeast of the state of Pará. In the field, samples were collected and processed, which were taken to the laboratory and subjected to dehydration for drying. Subsequently, based on morphological analyses, identification was carried out by comparison with the herbarium collection of Embrapa Amazônia Oriental and validation of scientific names. Leaf samples, collected in the field and preserved in silica, underwent molecular analysis, from the extraction of DNA from plant samples (CTAB - Cetyl trimethylammonium bromide), quantification, amplification (PCR), purification and sequencing. All trees were identified, in the field, by identifying what was associated with their respective common name. The identification of plant specimens was carried out down to the species level, using the two identification methods proposed in this research. According to the botanical identification, five genera distributed in four families were identified: Croton sp. (Maravuvuia) belonging to the Euphorbiaceae family; Ecclinusa sp. (Abiu-seringarana) and Pouteria sp. (Abiu), both belonging to the Sapotaceae; Vismia sp. (Pau-de-lacre) belonging to the Hypericaceae family, and Zanthoxylum sp. (Tamanqueira) of the Rutaceae family. Regarding the DNA analysis, all samples were significant in the amplification process (PCR) and sequencing, of which, all specimens were identified at the species level, they are: Croton matourensis Aubl., Ecclinusa guianensis Eyma, Pouteria venosa subsp. amazonica T.D. Penn., Zanthoxylum rhoifolium Lam, Vismia glaziovii Hieron and Vismia gracilis Hieron, in which all species corresponded with the botanical analysis at the genus level. Given these results, it is concluded that the methodologies used are efficient for the taxonomic identification of plants known by their common names in the remaining forests of mining in the Eastern Amazon. With this, it is suggested that the traditional analysis of identification of plant species be complemented with moleculares tools, thus reducing errors in the identification of plant specimens from the Amazon rainforest.