Levantamento da herpetofauna da Reserva Ecológica Olho d’água das Onças, em uma área de Caatinga, no município de Picuí - PB.

Abstract

The Caatinga Biome has historically been considered an area poor in fauna and flora diversity, with few endemic species and, therefore, low priority for conservation. Due to this fact, the Caatinga areas were neglected for decades, resulting in the unbridled use of its natural resources, leading to a great loss of habitat, making the Caatinga a highly fragmented biome with only 7.4% of its territory occurring in areas protected. The little understanding about this Biome is the result of less effort compared to other Brazilian Biomes over many years, in the production of lists and inventories of species. In view of this, the present work aimed to carry out a survey of the herpetofauna of the Caatinga in the Ecological Reserve Olho D'água das Onças, municipality of Picuí, state of Paraíba. The work was carried out by recording the local herpetofauna for 3 days a month, with 3 daily departures, during the months of February to June (2021). For the capture and observation of the animals, an interception and fall trap (Pitfall) was used and through active search. The registered animals were classified according to their conservation through the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) and through the Ministry of the Environment (MMA). Parameters such as: dominance and diversity, frequency of occurrence, relative abundance and sample richness were used in order to know the proportion of the studied community. We found 31 species, distributed in 2 orders and 17 families. According to the data obtained for diversity richness, it was possible to conclude that the area's herpetofauna is quite diverse and all species are in a status of Least Concern (LC) in relation to their conservation. Therefore, the ecological reserve, when it becomes a natural heritage, will contribute to the protection and conservation of local biodiversity, also contributing to the expansion of protected areas in the Caatinga environments, guaranteeing the sustainable use of natural resources, contributing to the preservation, safe handling fauna and flora of the region, in addition to being used as a center for scientific studies.