Uma década de descobertas : trajetória científica de Spondias bahiensis p. Carvalho, Van den Berg & M. Machado após sua descrição

Abstract

The Caatinga biome, notable for its endemic biodiversity, is home to 3347 plant species, including 526 exclusive ones, highlighting the urgency of conserving them. It also has 389 species of medicinal plants, 15.3% of which are endemic, emphasizing their importance both for conservation and for ethnopharmacological studies. Conservation units in the Caatinga have proved to be effective, revealing unknown species and maintaining a rich presence of natives compared to unprotected areas. The bibliographic and bibliometric review of plants used for food reveals the ability of these methods to consolidate and synthesize data, crucial for advances in ethnobotany, ecology and biotechnology, and underlines the need for informed public policies to integrate biodiversity with food security.Observing the discrepancies between the cultivation and importance of umbu-cajá and the limited scientific support, a bibliographic review and scientific, technical and molecular mapping of Spondias bahiensis was carried out through bibliometric analysis of articles and genetic data. 52 articles were identified in Scopus and 50 in Web of Science, of which only 9 dealt specifically with the species after eliminating duplicates, with an annual growth rate of 18.92% and a focus on genomic sequencing, phylogenetics and hybridization. No patents were found, and the molecular data included 522 nucleotide sequences and 324 proteins from GenBank. The bibliographic and bibliometric review points to a scarcity of specific literature and the critical need to expand research to cover agronomic, ethnopharmacological and conservation aspects, which are fundamental for the sustainable use and preservation of Spondias bahiensis.