| Green cover |
Area totally covered by vegetation visible in satellite images, independent of the plant habit (ALVAREZ, 2004ALVAREZ, I. A. Qualidade do espaço verde urbano: uma proposta de índice de avaliação. 2004. Tese de Doutorado. Universidade de São Paulo. ). It involves the climatic regulation services (evapotranspiration, pollution filter, climatic softening) (BROWN et al., 2015BROWN, R. D. et al. Designing Urban Parks That Ameliorate the Effects of Climate Change. Landcape and Urban Planning, v. 138, p. 118-131, 2015. ), and plays a fundamental role in soil conservation (NIEMEIJER; DE GROOT, 2008NIEMEIJER, D.; DE GROOT, R. S. A conceptual framework for selecting environmental indicator sets. Ecological Indicators, v. 8, n. 1, p. 14-25, jan. 2008. ). |
| Pervious area |
Regulation function of the water cycle and fundamental role in situations of climatic extremes in the cities (dry and rainy seasons) (DE GROOT et al., 2015DE GROOT, R. S. et al. Challenges in integrating the concept of ecosystem services and values in landscape planning , management and decision making. Ecological Complexity, v. 7, n. 3, p. 260-272, 2015. ). The pervious zones were checked in the field and calculated using satellite images available in Google Earth. Certain regions, such as exposed soil, were also included in this calculation. |
| Canopy |
The analysis considered as area covered by canopy the one with shrubs and trees (LARONDELLE; HAASE, 2013LARONDELLE, N.; HAASE, D. Urban ecosystem services assessment along a rural-urban gradient: A cross-analysis of European cities. Ecological Indicators, v. 29, p. 179-190, 2013. ). The area was defined using satellite images (available in Google Earth) and calculated using the ArcGIS software by means of polygon areas, besides checking in the field. |
| Burlap |
The correct soil maintenance is the basis of three ecosystem services: regulation and retention of nutrients and soil formation. The burlap is one of the main routes to transfer matter and energy to terrestrial ecosystems (DE SOUSA-NETO et al., 2017DE SOUSA-NETO, E. R. et al. Litterfall mass and nutrient fluxes over an altitudinal gradient in the coastal Atlantic Forest, Brazil. Journal of Tropical Ecology, v. 33, n. 4, p. 261-269, 2017. ). It is a physical barrier against leaching processes, wind action and it cushions the effects of falling water (LIU et al., 2017LIU, W. et al. The effect of litter layer on controlling surface runoff and erosion in rubber plantations on tropical mountain slopes, SW China. Catena, v. 149, p. 167-175, 2017. ). The observation of the burlap was made in the field, once in urban areas the management of this edaphic compartment can take place (FERREIRA et al., 2018FERREIRA, M. L. et al. Soil biodiversity in urban forests as a consequence of litterfall management: implications for São Paulo’s ecosystem services. Sustentability, v. No prelo, 2018. ). The quality of the burlap was not considered in this study. |
| Diversity of species |
The diversity of species in a vegetation fragment offers the complexity and the base structure for an ever-growing ecosystem development in tropical forests (RODRIGUES; BRANCALION; ISERNHAGEN, 2009RODRIGUES, R. R.; BRANCALION, P. H. S.; ISERNHAGEN, I. Pacto pela restauração da mata atlântica: Referencial dos conceitos e ações de restauração florestal. 1. ed. São Paulo: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz/Instituto BioAtlântica, 2009. ). This complexity, when already consolidated, is translated into an increase in the vegetation resilience and stability. The stability, which is influenced by the number of constituting species, is reflected in the ecosystem services associated with the biological control. Likewise, the greater producers’ wealth is usually associated with the greater wealth of the whole community. The identification of plant species was based on the APG II classification system, by means of field work using binoculars, specialized literature (LORENZI, 1998LORENZI, H. Árvores brasileiras: manual de identificação e cultivo de plantas arbóreas do Brasil, vol. 2. 2. ed. Nova Odessa: Instituto Plantarum, 1998. , 2002, 2009; LORENZI et al., 2003), and the assistance of professionals when necessary. |
| Habit |
Following Ivanauskas, Monteiro and Rodrigues (2004IVANAUSKAS, N. M.; MONTEIRO, R.; RODRIGUES, R. R. Composição florística de trechos florestais na borda sul-amazônica. Acta Amazonica, v. 34, n. 3, p. 399-413, 2004. ), the classification: tree, shrub, palm tree, herb, liana, epiphyte, hemi-parasite and parasite was used for the analysis of the vegetation habit in the field. The different species and growing habits are important indicators for refuge and nursery services, by allowing different types of ecological niches, besides considering the important function in carbon stock (in the case of woody plants). |
| Native and exotic |
Considering the principles of the action plan for biodiversity (CIDADE DE SÃO PAULO, 2011b), Act 91 of 2010 from the Secretariat for the Green and the Environment of the Municipality of São Paulo (CIDADE DE SÃO PAULO, 2010), besides Rodrigues et al. (2009RODRIGUES, R. R.; BRANCALION, P. H. S.; ISERNHAGEN, I. Pacto pela restauração da mata atlântica: Referencial dos conceitos e ações de restauração florestal. 1. ed. São Paulo: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz/Instituto BioAtlântica, 2009. ) and Conway and Vander Vecht (2015CONWAY, T. M.; VANDER VECHT, J. Growing a diverse urban forest: Species selection decisions by practitioners planting and supplying trees. Landscape and Urban Planning, v. 138, p. 1-10, 2015. ), it is believed that it is important to maintain the native biodiversity even in the cities, in favor of the adaptation of local species to this environment and the increase of the resilience to the local biodiversity, even if exotic species can offer several services beneficial to the city. The definition of the origin of the species followed the guidelines of Act 60 from the Secretariat for the Green and the Environment of the Municipality of São Paulo (CIDADE DE SÃO PAULO, 2011d) and the list of Brazilian plant species (JARDIM BOTÂNICO DO RIO DE JANEIRO, 2015). |
| Production function indicators |
For the analysis of the production function, we chose to assess the degree of exploitation of the natural vegetation resources by the population regarding: nourishment, raw materials, medicinal resources and ornamental use at three levels. At the lower level, there is little or local exploitation of the resource; at the intermediate level, the resource already stands out, while at the higher level there is an economic exploitation of the resource. Considering that the data obtained for these aspects are classified at only three levels, observations were made to the park administration for this characterization. Only the genetic resources services were excluded from the analysis of the production functions, because the exploitation of such resource is limited in urban environments. |
