Spatial distribution of caatinga plants in the environment of a thermelectric
The vegetation of the Caatinga of the Brazilian semiarid of the xerophilous type is usually found between shallow and poorly permeable soils, which is constantly affected by irregular deforestation. In this context, the objective of this work was to identify the floristic species of a thermoelectric plant located in the semi - arid Paraibano region, in addition to diagnosing the ecological integrity of the arboreal remnants of this area. The Phytosociological Survey of this study was carried out in an area with 20.1ha, with sampling in six plots. The processing of phytosociological data was carried out using Mata Nativa 4.0 software. The identification of floristic species was evaluated through the basal area, density, frequency, dominance, cover value and importance value. For the analysis of the data, the similarity between the species was compared by the Jaccard index, the floristic similarity matrix was used for cluster analysis and dendrogram generation. The floristic species inventoried, totaled 280 individuals and the family that had the largest representative was the Euphorbiaceae. It was observed that the studied area is in process of ecological succession, due to the physical pressures of the residents of the surroundings, with exploitation of natural resources of uncontrolled form causing, deforestation, burnings, among others. It is verified that floristic inventories are of great importance to monitor biodiversity, as well as to draw up, goals of efficient environmental management and serve as a tool aimed at the conservation of the Caatinga species.