PARSEMA: avaliação participativa de serviços ecossistêmicos de matas ciliares como estratégia de ensino e conservação

Abstract

Citizen science fosters dialogue between scientific research and school communities. The use of rapid assessment protocols has been employed as a strategy to engage students in the investigation of local environmental issues, contributing to active learning. This study aimed to develop and test a rapid ecological assessment protocol for riparian ecosystem services (PARSEMA) as a citizen science tool focused on basic education. The proposal seeks to evaluate whether the tool is capable of reflecting the maintenance or loss of ecosystem services along a gradient of ecological integrity conditions. The hypothesis tested was that environments with lower levels of disturbance present a greater availability of ecosystem services. Thus, it is expected that reference-condition streams will maintain the provision of services, while degraded streams will show significant losses. The protocol was applied by 345 students across 18 streams with varying environmental conditions (5 reference, 4 moderately altered, and 9 degraded). The protocol results were compared to three indices of anthropogenic disturbance (at local, regional, and integrated scales). The hypothesis of ecosystem service conservation in reference streams was confirmed, validating PARSEMA as a useful tool for educational activities and environmental awareness in the assessment of riparian ecosystem services. The creation, application, and validation of PARSEMA highlighted its potential as a citizen science instrument by actively engaging students in socio-environmental discussions and in the identification of ecosystem services. This protocol represents an eco-technological educational innovation with potential for wide-scale application, raising awareness among young students about riparian forest conservation and the sustainability of urban watersheds (UN SDGs 4 and 6).