Influência de variáveis ambientais na produção de pinhão pela Araucaria angustifolianos municípios de Santa Catarina, Brasil

Araucaria angustifoliais the main species that makes up the Mixed Ombrophilous Forest and is listed as endangered. The seed of the Araucaria, the pine nut, is food for both humans and wild animals and is considered an important source of income for local producers. The objective of this research was to relate a historical series of data (from 1995 to 2023) about the quantity and price of pine nuts with environmental variables for the municipalities of Santa Catarina that explain the characteristics of the places that produce or do not produce the seed of Araucaria angustifolia. The subdivision of the state into six mesoregions was used: Greater Florianópolis, Itajaí Valley, Southern Santa Catarina, Serrana, Northern Santa Catarina and Western Santa Catarina. The variables provided by WorldClim (19 bioclimatic variables, elevation and wind) and the soil texture of the municipalities were used as environmental variables. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to identify the association between environmental variables and pine nut production. The results showed that the state produced 78,123,000 kg of pine nuts during the study period at an average price of R$ 3.59/kg. The Serrana mesoregion was the largest producer (74.77%), followed by the West of Santa Catarina (21.99%) and the North of Santa Catarina (3.24%). The results show that the higher elevation and lower average annual temperature (Bio1) favor larger quantities of pine nuts produced in the state