Adaptação de um índice de integridade biótica para análise da sustentabilidade em florestas urbanas

Facing the complexity of urban forest fragments’ monitoring and planning, the use of indexes is a fast alternative to obtain measurable information in the field and parameters for the evaluation of its conservation. This study aimed to adapt a biotic integrity index to Seasonal Semideciduous Forests, and to test its efficiency in evaluating urban forest fragments integrity. The index is composed of: litter coverage, standing dead trees, exotic grasses, other exotic species, lianas, gaps, orchids, palm trees, late and/or threatened species in the canopy and in the understory, to which integrity scales (one to five points) were assigned and their sum results in a final rating of the fragment ́s integrity. This index was applied to 23 forest fragments in the city of Sorocaba/SP, 15 of them were rated as low integrity fragments and eight as regular integrity, including the remnants in the city’s most intact urban matrix. The results obtained were considered satisfactory, since they generated differentiations in the classification of the integrity of the areas that are consistent with the one observed in the field. Most of the studied fragments present threats to their sustainability, evidencing that most of those areas lack management and conservation efforts in order to keep their ecological functions.