ABSTRACT(Medicinal plants used in the "caiçara" community of Praia do Sono, Paraty, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). Th e "caiçara" community of Praia do Sono retains some of the habits and traditions from ancient generations. Th is may be due to the diffi culties of accessibility to that area. Th is paper aims to investigate the knowledge about the medicinal plants in this community. Twelve specialist informants were selected and interviewed (six men and six women). Eighty-nine species were cited, belonging to 43 botanical families. Lamiaceae and Asteraceae are the most representative ones. Th erapeutic indications were decoded and grouped in 13 categories of diseases. Th is classifi cation follows the ICD-10 adopted by WHO. Information regarding the plant tissue used, their uses and the collection sites were indicated. Ten species showed great versatility of uses, with IR>1. Of the 13 species that have CUPc values over 50%, Cecropia pachystachya Trec.; Davilla rugosa Poiret and Trema micrantha (L.) Blume are native to the Atlantic Forest. Th ese results can be used as a motivation for further studies in the area and also can provide the basis for future studies on chemical constituents and pharmacological proprieties of the plants cited.

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BackgroundDuring a LIFE research project aiming at the implementation of the conservation of the habitats and restoration of coastal wetland areas of Praia da Vitória (Terceira, Azores, Portugal), there was the opportunity undertake a systematic record of several groups of arthropods in three wetland areas: Paul da Praia da Vitória (PPV), Paul do Belo Jardim (PBJ) and Paul da Pedreira do Cabo da Praia (PPCP). The objective of the study was to perform a rapid biodiversity assessment, comparing the three sites in two different years, before and after the implementation of several conservation measures. This project also contributed to improve the knowledge of Azorean arthropod diversity at both local and regional scales, including new taxa for Terceira island and new records for Azores. Taking into consideration those aims, a set of standardised sampling methods were performed, inspired by the COBRA protocol originally developed for spiders.New informationA total of 15,810 specimens belonging to 216 arthropod species and subspecies were collected. Beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera) and spiders (Araneae) dominated, with 81 and 51 taxa, respectively. Two beetle families dominated, Staphylinidae and Curculionidae with, respectively, 22 and 17 species and subspecies. Exotic species were also dominant (132 species and subspecies), the Azorean endemics being restricted to only eight taxa. The remaining 76 species and subspecies are native non-endemic. Two rare endemic species were found with relatively sustainable populations, the Azores Cone-head Conocephalus chavesi (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae) and the true weevil Drouetius oceanicus oceanicus (Coleoptera, Curculionidae). A total of six species are novel for the Azores, five exotic (Bledius unicornis, Carpelimus zealandicus, Oenopia doublieri, Sitona hispidulus, Trichiusa immigrata) and one possibly native (Pyrrhocoris apterus). An additional 15 taxa are novel for Terceira island, ten exotic (Cheiracanthium mildei, Cylindroiulus latestriatus, Eumodicogryllus bordigalensis, Nemobius sylvestris, Pissodes castaneus, Psyllipsocus ramburi, Trachyzelotes lyonneti, Trigonnidium cicindeloides, Tychius cuprifer, Zelotes tenuis) and five native (Aegialia arenaria, Oxypoda lurida, Platycleis sabulosa, Plinthisus brevipennis, Tachyura diabrachys).

The number of publications about the Caiçaras population is growing, which shows that researchers are interested in these natives. This study aimed to survey the flora used by local specialists of the Praia do Sono Caiçara community, and recorded how these taxa were used, with the goal of understanding traditional management systems that help to conserve natural ecosystems. Twelve informants were selected and interviewed. The applied grouping analysis, together with the chi-squared test, underlined that the analysed ethnobotanical knowledge showed a heterogeneous distribution in relation to the gender of the interviewee. A total of 190 taxa were cited and were classified into nine usage categories. The Shannon-Wiener index (H') value obtained in this study was the second highest in comparison to other Brazilian coastal communities. This work showed that the local specialists of this Caiçara community maintain a wide knowledge of, and affinity to, the plant resources that surround them. This knowledge is not only important, but fundamental to discussions about the application of sustainable use and management strategies for this area of conservation value.

During the LIFE-CWR project "Ecological Restoration and Conservation of Praia da Vitória Coastal Wet Green Infrastructures", there was the opportunity to undertake a systematic record of bryophytes at Paul da Praia da Vitória (PPV), Paul do Belo Jardim (PBJ) and Paul da Pedreira do Cabo da Praia (PPCP), three coastal wetland areas of Praia da Vitória (Terceira, Azores, Portugal). The objective of the study was to perform a biodiversity assessment, comparing the three sites at two different moments, before and after the implementation of several conservation measures. This project also contributed to improve the knowledge of Azorean bryophyte diversity at both local and regional scales, including the recording of two new taxa for the Azores and three new taxa for Terceira Island. This paper reports the results of the first extensive survey of bryophyes of the three coastal wetland areas of Praia da Vitória (Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal). The identification of a total of 504 samples, 240 collected in 2013 and 2016 (before the LIFE-CWR intervention) and 265 in 2017 and 2018 (after the intervention), resulted in a list of 58 species of bryophytes (one hornwort, eight liverworts and 48 mosses). These include two new records for the Azores (Bryumklinggraeffii, Ptychostomumbornholmense), three new records for Terceira Island (Bryumtenuisetum, Dicranellahowei, Trichostomumcrispulum) and at least 15 new records for the municipality of Praia da Vitória (e.g., Cephaloziellahampeana). Some species that had not been recorded on the island since 1937 (e.g., Fissidenscrispus) were collected during this study, as well as a Macaronesian endemic liverwort (Radulawichurae), an Iberian-Macaronesian liverwort (Frullaniaazorica) and a moss species with European distribution (Ptychomitriumnigrescens). From the recorded species, only one moss (Leptophascumleptophyllum), of subtropical origin, is considered invasive in Europe.