Local varieties of Araucaria angustifolia ( Bertol . ) Kuntze ( Pinales : Araucariaceae ) in southern Brazil : A brief discussion about landscape domestication

Araucaria is an emblematic species of Mixed Ombrophilous Forest (MOF). The pinhão (the seed of araucaria) commerce is economically important to regional groups, which inluences the use and management of this species. Historically, araucaria populations were manipulated by humans, who identify local varieties, characterizing the possible domestication of the species and local landscape. Thus, the goals of this study were


Introduction
Forest cover in Brazil is continuously decreasing (KANIESKI et al., 2010).Among the six recognized biomes in Brazil, only 7.5% of the natural extent of the Atlantic Forest remains (RIBEIRO et al., 2009).This biome exhibits high endemism rates, exceptional habitat loss and is classiied as a "hotspot" (MYERS et al., 2000) and a global biodiversity priority (BROOKS et al., 2006).The Atlantic Forest is the richest of Brazil's phytogeographic domains, with more than 16,000 species and 46% endemism (MYERS et al., 2000).In the southern Atlantic Forest region, in the states of Paraná (PR), Santa Catarina (SC) and Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Mixed Ombrophilous Forest (MOF) (IBGE, 2012) is a representative phytophisiognomy that covers 40, 30 and 25% of the area, respectively (CARVALHO, 1994).Species in this region are adapted to lower temperatures and regular frosts during winter (RODERJAN et al., 2002) and are distributed at elevations between 500 and 1,200 meters (DUARTE et al., 2012).The MOF biome occurs naturally in the humid subtropical region of Brazil (IBGE, 2012) and is exclusive to the Western Hemisphere (THOMAS, 2012).
Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.)Kuntze, known as araucaria or Paraná pine, is the most representative MOF plant species.It is characterized by its cylindrical trunk with branches that ramify at the apex, forming the most representative characteristic of the species, a typical chandelier or umbel canopy (CARVALHO, 1994).The species produces appreciated and nutritious nut-like seeds, known popularly as pinhões (REIS et al., 2014;MACHADO MELLO;PERONI, 2015).Due to unsustainable exploitation in the beginning of the 20th century (REIS et al., 2014), combined with agricultural expansion and urbanization (RIBEIRO et al., 2009;WREGE et al., 2016), the distribution area of araucaria was extremely reduced.The current forest cover of remnant araucaria populations is estimated to be between 5% (GUERRA et al., 2002) and 12% of the original extent (RIBEIRO et al., 2009), which is similar to the extent of MOF described above.Araucaria angustifolia is classiied as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature -IUCN Red List (THOMAS, 2012).
Conservation units (CU) are the main conservation strategy for araucaria.This strategy, particularly integral protection conservation units, excludes human populations from CU areas and does not take into account the historical or prehistorical aspects of human occupation and resource domestication (CLEMENT;JUNQUEIRA, 2010;REIS et al., 2014).In addition, historical interaction, mainly during the pre-Columbian era, with different traditional and indigenous people may have gradually transformed MOF landscapes during a domestication process (REIS et al., 2014).This relation can maintain or alter biodiversity and/or transform the landscape, resulting in a biocultural interaction (REIS et al., 2014).The idea of "natural" untouched ecosystems for conservation purposes ignores the presence of humans during the transformation of landscapes over centuries, such as in the Amazon rainforest over thousands of years (BALÉE, 2010;CLEMENT;JUNQUEIRA, 2010;LEVIS et al., 2017).
The area of occurrence of araucaria can be analyzed and discussed in terms of the interaction between landscape transformation by local communities and  2015;ADAN et al., 2016).Pinhão seeds are identiied by their morphology, size, color, seed maturation, taste or even ripening period (ZECHINI et al., 2012;ADAN et al., 2016).Local names are used to describe the pinhões according to their local characteristics, resulting in the classiication of araucaria into ethnoecological varieties by local communities (REITZ; KLEIN, 1966;MATTOS, 1994;ADAN et al., 2016;SHIBATA et al., 2016).High intraspecific morphological variability may be a common scenario for species that underwent a domestication process (CLEMENT, 2006).It is relevant to understand the relationships that inluence the landscape, as well as the historical use and knowledge of societies (CAPPARELLI et al., 2011;PROBER et al., 2011) distributed along the extent of MOF.
The use, consumption, variety identification and management of pinhões reveal a scenario that involves ecological and cultural aspects of araucaria in MOF outside CUs.Our goals of this study were to identify araucaria varieties, to characterize the use and management of araucaria seeds (pinhões) in local communities surrounding São Joaquim National Park and to discuss human-plant interactions, which can be relevant to the structure of cultural landscapes.

Study area
The study was conducted along a MOF plateau in Santa Catarina State, between 2012 (data collection and interviews) and 2013 (data analysis and interview transcription), in the municipality of Urubici (28°00'54"S, 49°35'30"W).We selected areas around São Joaquim National Park (Figure 1), which is the main CU in the region.

Ethnoecological interviews
In order to identify potential respondents for the interviews, we deined three conditions.First, the respondent indicated owns land near the CU.Second, the land must be a smallholding rural property.Since all properties are located in the surrounding areas of the São Joaquim National Park in the municipality Urubici, according to INCRA -National Institute for Agrarian Reform, the "smallholding properties" are up to 80 hectares or one to four iscal modules (INCRA, 2013).Third, the respondent should directly or indirectly use p ¡¢£¤ seeds (e.g., selling, extracting, self-consumption).The interview used the snowball methodology, which consists of identifying the next potential respondent based on an indication by the present respondent (BAYLEY, 1994).The snowball technique is used to ind research subjects and is an informal method to reach a target population (ATKINSON; FLINT, 2001).We considered the information gathering finished when one respondent indicated another respondent that had already been interviewed.This indicates the suficiency of the number of respondents due to sample saturation (BERNARD, 2006).The interviews were semi-structured with structured and open-ended questions and aimed to understand the ethnoecological knowledge of the communities (see MACHADO MELLO;PERONI, 2015;ADAN et al., 2016).The interviews followed the prerogatives of Provisional w¥¦ §¨©¥ o 2186-16 (23/08/2001) and used the consent form Te¤ de e¡¡ (see ADAN et al., 2016).We highlighted several topics in the interviews, such as the morphological description, commerce period, costumer preferences, and local variety names (see Appendix 1) of p ¡¢e .We also estimated a consensus value for the araucaria varieties (CVV), which is calculated by dividing the number of citations of one speciic local araucaria variety by the total number of citations.We could then describe the consensus among informants and understand how local knowledge is distributed in the study area (BYG;BALSLEY, 2001;MONTEIRO et al., 2006).The survey also aimed to describe the interaction of the local communities with the transformation of the araucaria landscape.Further, we described local problems cited by the communities and possible consequences on the target species.Due to ethical aspects, none of the respondents were identiied during this study.All interviewees in this study were male (N = 15) and varied from 45 to 70 years old (mean 53.4 years).

Guided tours -Ethnoecological and ecological data collection
To identify local varieties of araucaria we set some speciic conditions.First, only the owner of the area, which included local farmers, landowners and/or seed extractors, could identify local varieties in the guided tours (ALBUQUERQUE et al., 2008).Second, the p ¡¢£¤ commerce would have to directly or indirectly inluence the domestic income of the owner.Based on these two criteria, guided tours to collect ethnoecological information were possible.We randomly selected three landowners that were interviewed to participate in the guided tours, aiming to identify local araucaria varieties inside their properties.We delimited nine plots (40X40 m/ 1600 m²/ 0.16 ha) in three private areas (i.e., three plots per property), which equaled 14,400 m² or 1.44 ha.The plots were a minimum of 50 m apart and each plot was actively used for p ¡¢£¤ extraction.Inside the plots, besides the ethnoecological information collected, we identified aspects of the araucaria population structure by describing all specimens of four ontogenetic development classes (i.e., seedling, juvenile, adult male or female).

Local araucaria varieties, inluence of pinhão commerce on household income, and commercialization period
Local varieties/types of araucaria were grouped into four types: g !" , # ¤ , h¤ ge d¤ and h¤ Tde; the g!" variety was the most cited (Table 1).As answered by the respondents, in relation to commerce 80% believe that customers do not recognize local varieties, as one landowner stated: "fe ¡$ p ¡¢£¤ %¢%& s¢% %%e , On the other hand, according to respondents, the g!" variety is Local varieties of Araucaria angustifolia in southern Brazil the most commercialized (in June and July).Several answers state that the variety is "t'( )0(tt1(2t," "t'( 23((t(2t" or even "0(44(0."The 567678 variety was not cited by the farmers, landowners and/or seed extractors as a commercialized variety due to its late ripening period (August to November) and, according to one respondent, because "1t 48(2 i8t 4(t67' 908o t'( 06i7'(2."Among the 15 respondents, 66.5% pointed out that ")1i'@8" commercialization inluences their income, but only two declared that commercialization is highly important for them.The best months for the commercial varieties were May, June, and July (winter), as cited by 86.66% of the respondents (N = 13).In the guided tours, each of the three landowners, seed extractors and/or smallholders helped us identify araucaria ethnovarieties inside their private areas.We identiied 54 individuals of three varieties: A8 7(48 (23), A8 B604( (29), and C6DEFG (only two).We did not identify the 567678 variety inside the plots.

Pinhão extraction and its natural production cycle
When asked about seed extraction over the years, 87.5% of the respondents afirmed that there had been changes for harvesting )1i'@8; 61.5% believed that extraction increased, whereas 38.5% argued that the harvest decreased.Those who said harvesting has increased argued that this is due to proper legislation that avoided deforestation (13.5%), resulting in a higher quantity of araucaria trees.Other respondents (13.5%) claimed that nowadays there is more interest qr struvxqry )1i'(2.Only two respondents (13.5%) discussed that araucaria exhibits a lower and higher production cycle that sometimes causes an increase in )1i'@ 8 harvesting.The respondents that said extraction has decreased cited climate variations (three respondents) and the araucaria cycle (two respondents).One respondent said the following: "B'( )1i'@8 12 77l176l (1i )084E7t1F ( 980 t'0 (( 78i2(7Et1F( (602 6i4 0(2t2 t38 (602."Another aspect tv )1i'@8 extraction mentioned by the respondents related to the natural factors that could interfere with )1i'@8 production.Twenty percent cited that highly concentrated areas are not beneicial to araucaria, as described below:

Ecological aspects of araucaria and local communities, a landscape perspective
All respondents declared they were aware of legislation concerning the conservation of the species.Of them, 73.5% afirmed that thanks to the legislation there was an increase in the araucaria population, and 20% believed that )1i'@8 stxxuvs u xvu qrsvuuu in the future so araucaria conservation is relevant.Six landowners (40%) think that the penalties for committing a crime are a reason for the increase.Another 60% answered that preservation among landowners is due to "(78l8176l 6360(i(22w" For those who argued that the araucaria population decreased after the national legislation (26.5%), two major points were highlighted: seedling suppression and lack of effective enforcement.All respondents are aware of seedling suppression practices; nevertheless, in this study we did not ask them if they practiced seedling uvxxvuuuqtry

Guided tours to describe araucaria ecology and the opinion of respondents about araucaria conservation
In order to conduct a brief analysis of the araucaria populations inside the nine sampled plots (Table 2), we classiied the species into four groups: seedlings, juveniles and male and female adults; adult identiication was made by the landowner.In the plots, we found a lower percentage of seedlings (14.7%) compared to juveniles (35.6%), males (31.2%) and females (18.5%).When analyzing our semi-structured questionnaire, negative opinions about araucaria conservation laws were notable (20% among all respondents), as described below: an incentive for preservation or for subsistence (wood masonry).On the other hand, one interviewee declared that using araucaria resources should be explored extensively: ®¯°±²³¯´µ ´³ ± ¶±µ²•±¸•¯³¹²•°¯.ºAnother respondent suggested that each private area should have its own management plan, so the wood can be used for subsistence.Finally, we asked the respondents if they »¥li¥ª¥d i£ ©©¦ai£»¼¥ «ctic¥© §¨ ¥©¨ ¥ ©¥ ¨ § araucaria and 73.3% answered that this is possible.When asked which practices they would suggest as sustainable, were described, such as encouraging planting with ¤¨ª¥£¢¥£¦ ©»©¡½¡¥©¬ ©¥¼¥ ¦¡ª¥ ¦¦¡£¤ ¨ § ¨¼½¥ ¦¥¥©¬ and tax compensation for araucaria management.

Discussion
is a consensus among the local communities interviewed about the araucaria types inside the study area, where all respondents identified at least one The ethnobotanical semi-structured survey explained the knowledge, use, and local management of araucaria resources.Furthermore, ecological points about åaeaeç õëèç÷öóôèéâ ëôõaeéôéò õaeëôèçâ öèøøaeëöôäìôúäóôèé time, variety identiication, and insights about àÚÛßÕÇ production in open landscapes rather than in dense forests (typically in CU), made by the interviewees, ought to be pointed out as interaction mechanisms that interfere with araucaria conservation.This ecological comprehension of a species by local communities reinforces that it is very likely that over several generations the distribution of araucaria must have been inluenced by human populations and was domesticated locally as a biocultural system in a cultural landscape (BERKES; DAVIDSON-HUNT, 2006;LADIO, 2011;REIS et al., 2014).
The cultural landscape theory emphasizes the importance of enhancing conservation mechanisms by recognizing the relevance of traditional populations to the ecological functions of the species, mainly due to local use and management.It could be possible that the CU and cultural landscape approach worked together towards ÙÍÌÐÈÌÍÚÌ ÌÛÜÐ×ËÚÝÇÞÚÌ öèéåaeëêäóôèé óè øäôéóäôé ae öèìèòôöäì û÷éöóôèéåâ åaeaeç õë èç÷öóôèéâ species dispersion, genetic exchange, and the use and preservation of resources by local communities.

FIGURE 1 :
FIGURE 1: The study area.Left, the integral protection conservation units distributed in the three southern Brazilian States (dark gray) are in blue: Rio Grande do Sul (RS), Santa Catarina (SC) and Paraná (PR).Right, location of São Joaquim National Park.(SC)and Paraná (PR).Right, location of São Joaquim National Park.
QP Q S I SS S (dense forest -N.A.), Q I S PS fSg IP Ihj P S PS HSkm nS H (dense forest -N.A.) S PS HS j PIq Q I HP IP Q IPfk WIQ hS Ij HIPQRS rISP P S km Local varieties of Araucaria angustifolia in southern Brazil the natural aspects of the species.Gathering/extraction practices of pinhões, for instance, is a historical and actual ecological factor for local communities in MOF in southern Brazil (MACHADO MELLO; PERONI,

TABLE 1 :
Local HIPQRS varieties identiied by the local communities (farmers, seed extractors), months of occurrence, consensus value for the variety (CVV) and commercialization ranking.

TABLE 2 :
(DILLENBURG et al., 2009)tiied in nine plots in the surrounding areas of the São Joaquim National Park.We used each landowner (LO) plot to identify four different araucaria stages: seedlings, juveniles, adult males, and adult females.The local owners of the area identiied and classiied the adult population.Local varieties of Araucaria angustifolia in southern Brazil different type of araucaria.The varieties identiied in this study, AEÇ ÈÉÊÇ, AEÇ ËÌÍÊÉ, ÎÌÏÐÑÒ and ÓÌÈÌÈÇ, were also described in different regions of the Urubici and Painel municipalities, both in Santa Catarina State, byAdan et al. (2016).The AEÇ ÈÉÊÇ variety ripens between March and April according to the respondents in the present study.Another variety, ÔÕÇ ÖÇ×Ø, identiied by local people in the Northern Plateau of Santa Catarina State, can ripen in February and March(ZECHINI et al., 2012).Mattos (1994)described four types/varieties of the species and one form, ÙÍÌÐÈÌÍÚÌ ÌÛÜÐ×ËÚÝÇÞÚÌ variety ÈÌËßÌÍÚÛÉÛ×Ú×, A. ÌÛÜÐ×ËÚÝÇÞÚÌ var.ÈÌÚÇÑÌ, A. ÌÛÜÐ×ËÚÝÇÞÚÌ var.ÊÉàÉÛÊÉÛ×, Ùá ÌÛÜÐ×ËÚÝÇÞÚÌ var.ÚÛÊÉßÚ×ÈÉÛ×Ú×, and the form Ùá ÌÛÜÐ×ËÚÝÇÞÚÌ var.ÑÚÛÌÈÉÌâ ãäåaeç èé åaeêaeëäì empirical studies in southern Brazil.Reitz and Klein(1966)also identiied nine different araucaria types and one form in southern Brazil, such as ÉÞÉÜÌÛ×í ×ÌÛÈËÚ In addition, during initial development stages, seedlings can be shade tolerant(DILLENBURG et al., 2009).Nevertheless, what has caused the main reduction of araucaria species in the landscape is attributed to historical forest degradation, overexploitation of wood, agricultural expansion and forest fragmentation, rather than the historical use and management of the species' resources by the local öèøø÷éôóôaeå ôé ä çèøaeåóôöäóaeç ìäéçåöäõaeù ëaeòaeéaeëäóaeå ôé èõaeé RIBEIRO et al., 2012)ëaeöë÷ôóøaeéó is dependent on large clearings(PUCHALSKI et al.,  2006;RIBEIRO et al., 2012).