Amazonian Savannah, Conservation, Taxonomy.

The Monte Alegre State Park (PEMA) and the Paytuna Environmental Protection Area (APA Paytuna -environmental impact buffer zone for PEMA) are located in the municipality of Monte Alegre, northwest of the State of Pará. In addition to its objective of preserving natural ecosystems, PEMA has great archaeological importance, as it has a mountain range complex with archaeological sites of cave paintings dating back more than 11 thousand years. However, the growing increase in extensive livestock farming activities in the region has been accelerating deforestation and putting pressure on vegetated areas, thus threatening the megadiverse Amazonian savannas, the predominant phytophysiognomy in PEMA and APA Paytuna. Advances in studies of the flora in these conservation units can help in understanding the dynamics of the herbaceous stratum of the Amazonian savannas, providing data that helps in their maintenance and management. Objective conservation actions for these environments are fundamentally limited by the lack of knowledge about their floristic composition. Floristic studies for PEMA and APA Paytuna, carried out in 1909, 1963 and 2020, stand out, which show the dominance of Poaceae and Cyperaceae in the herbaceous stratum. It is well known that Cyperaceae comprises a significant component in the Amazonian savannas, with significant levels of endemism, despite being cosmopolitan, with 5,687 species, distributed across almost all terrestrial, aquatic and marsh environments. The present proposal aims to carry out the survey and taxonomic study of the genera and species of the Cyperaceae family present in the PEMA and APA Paytuna, aiming to enrich the knowledge about the Cyperaceae flora of these important conservation units and for the state of Pará. The botanical material used will come from collection and consultation expeditions to the collections of the main herbaria in Pará (MG, IAN, HF, MFS, HCP, HSTM) and others that have collections representative of the area under study (ex. INPA, HAMAB, RB, NYBG). The taxa will be determined with the help of specialized literature and consultation of type specimens and protologs. To date, with data from a recent collecting expedition and consultation of the collections of the HSTM, IAN and MG herbaria, 6 genera and 33 species of Cyperaceae have been identified. Identification keys, diagnostic descriptions, geographic distribution data, habitat and illustrations of Cyperaceae species and genera occurring in PEMA and APA Paytuna will be presented.