Grau de inflamabilidade, zoneamento e manejo da vegetação em brejo paludoso no Parque Estadual do Cocó: implicações ecológicas e estratégias de mitigação de incêndios

Abstract

The Cocó State Park, located in Fortaleza, the capital of the state of Ceará, is the fourth largest urban park in Latin America and encompasses a mosaic of natural environments associated with the estuary and floodplain of the Cocó River, including mangroves, marshy swamps, seasonal floodplains, flooded fields, and coastal vegetation formations. Situated in a coastal area, the park has a hot and humid tropical rainy climate, with irregular rainfall throughout the year and high levels of temperature, insolation, and evaporation, which can cause significant water deficits. Geoenvironmentally, it is part of the Coastal Plain, particularly the fluvial-marine plain, which is influenced by the tide up to 13 km from the river mouth. This region is part of the coastal vegetation complex, characterized by high phytoecological heterogeneity, including mangroves, tabuleiro forests, coastal savannas, beach fields, and, particularly for this study, marshy swamps. Located within an urban area, Cocó Park suffers constant anthropogenic pressure and experiences recurring fires, especially in the wetlands, environments situated in depressions that can maintain a permanent or seasonal water surface and harbor high biological diversity. Within the scope of the Restaura Cocó project, the Laboratory of Plant Interactions (LIVE/UFC) conducted a survey of herbaceous vegetation and flammability tests of the most abundant species, aiming to assess the fire risk during the dry season. Monitoring of the vegetation over 12 months identified the species Ammannia sp., Typha domingensis, Cyperus articulatus, and Marsilea quadrifolia, in addition to the tree species Annona glabra. The flammability tests considered biomass loss, burning time, and temperature, resulting in the calculation of the flammability index. Typha domingensis and Cyperus articulatus showed the highest indices (1.9 and 2.0, respectively) and occupy about 70% of the swamp area, while M. quadrifolia (1.30) and A. glabra (1.20) showed lower values. The results indicate low fire resilience in the swamps of the Park, providing support for fire management and prevention strategies through the management of environmental filters such as the water regime.