Inventory of the urban trees of the city of Rio Tinto/PB

Abstract

The process of urban development has caused progressive changes in natural landscapes, with consequent damage to biodiversity, causing the destruction, fragmentation and isolation of natural habitats. The urban afforestation provides several aesthetic, ecological and economic benefits to the populations. The inventory is one of the fundamental tools for the planning and diagnosis of afforestation, and aims to know the arboreal heritage of a locality, providing information on the conditions in which the individuals are and the priorities of interventions. Therefore, the objective of this work is to carry out the inventory of the urban arborization of the city of Rio Tinto/PB, so that it can be used as a tool in its environmental planning. The data were collected from November 2016 to July 2018 through the tree inventory. The parameterized information was: popular name, species, family, origin and phenological events. They were covered 47 km, comprising all the streets, avenues and squares of the city. We cataloged 931 individuals, distributed in 28 species, belonging to 12 families. Most individuals are of exotic origin. It is concluded that currently the Rio Tinto/PB afforestation is considered homogeneous. It proposes the gradual replacement of exotic individuals by natives with ecological characteristics compatible with the urban environment. It is hoped that this database may be the starting point for the development of new, more timely works within the forestation of the city of Rio Tinto /PB.