Evaluation of conservation status of plants in Brazil's Atlantic forest: An ethnoecological approach with Quilombola communities in Serra do Mar State Park.

The Atlantic Forest is considered the fourth most important biodiversity hotspot. Although almost 96% of its original area has been devastated, a large part of its remaining conserved area is inhabited by traditional communities. This research focused on two Quilombola communities who reside within the Núcleo Picinguaba of the Serra do Mar State Park, State of São Paulo, Brazil.

Local ecological knowledge and its relationship with biodiversity conservation among two Quilombola groups living in the Atlantic Rainforest, Brazil.

Information on the knowledge, uses, and abundance of natural resources in local communities can provide insight on conservation status and conservation strategies in these locations. The aim of this research was to evaluate the uses, knowledge and conservation status of plants in two Quilombolas (descendants of slaves of African origin) communities in the Atlantic rainforest of Brazil, São Sebastião da Boa Vista (SSBV) and São Bento (SB). We used a combination of ethnobotanical and ecological survey methods to ask: 1) What ethnobotanical knowledge do the communities hold? 2) What native species are most valuable to them? 3) What is the conservation status of the native species used? Thirteen local experts described the names and uses of 212 species in SSBV (105 native species) and 221 in SB (96 native species).