Conectando pesquisa e gestão: o que já se sabe sobre a área de proteção ambiental Bonfim-Guaraíra e como esse conhecimento pode ser aplicado?

Abstract

The Área de Proteção Ambiental Bonfim-Guaraíra (APABG) is a protected area (PA) for Sustainable Use, managed by the state of Rio Grande do Norte (RN). Located on the southern coast of RN, its extension habours marine-coastal and continental ecosystems, where in the latter, a mosaic of ecoregions characteristic of the Atlantic Forest is found, a domain considered one of the most diverse biodiversity hotspots on the planet, making its management of extremely important, however, challenging. This study aimed to survey the research that has already been carried out within this PA, characterizing what has already been discovered in terms of scientific knowledge and identifying gaps to be filled in future studies, with a view to helping the management. In addition to the database of publications provided by the head of APABG (21 articles), the searches carried out through the Web of Science, we obtained 120 studies, while the survey carried out in the Lattes plataform returned 154 publications, resulting in a total of 295 publications that were carried out between 1994 and 2022. Most of the publications focused on the field of Ecology with the main focus on vertebrates and marine taxa, meanwhile, freshwater habitat organisms and invertebrates have been less investigated. In addition, despite plants are the most studied terrestrial organisms, the field of Botany and Zoology were underrepresented, which is worrying because the portion of the Atlantic Forest in the northeast located in RN is the most unknown in terms of biodiversity. Among the studies interested on the investigation of human communities, we noted few efforts in studying ethnic-traditional and fishing communities, which represents a problem, because these populations carry out fishing activities for their subsistence. In addition, despite the high representativeness of geoenvironmental units in beach strips, little is known about coastal ecosystems of high environmental fragility, such as mangroves and estuaries, which are the cradle of a large portion of marine biodiversity. The results produced here provide an overview about what we already know for this PA and contribute as instruments to assist in the decisions taken by managers and research institutions, aiming to promote the conservation and sustainability of APABG.