The Nature Interpretation Center (CINAT) blows out candles in celebration of its fifth anniversary! The space, built by Klabin in the State Natural Heritage Private Reserve (RPPNE) Serra da Farofa Complex, offers a complete structure for researchers who wish to conduct studies in the region. There is a dormitory, cafeteria, and even an auditorium.

 

Roseli Lopes da Costa Bortoluzzi, a professor in the Department of Forest Engineering at UDESC, has been following research at the site even before CINAT was built. She states: the structure makes a difference for studies. "In the past, we had a basic infrastructure. Today we have excellent accommodation available for the researchers, which optimizes time and resources, as students do not have to come to the city and return to the countryside every day," she explains.

 

 

The professor has supervised 17 research projects in the region, spanning both master's and doctoral programs. The work ranges from the survey of species of native flora to the use of plants in daily life. One of them, for example, studied how the essential oil extracted from one of the species could be used to combat diseases in apple orchards. 

 

For the researcher, learning more about native vegetation is a way to take care of the entire environment. “Studying native species brings benefits to the local biodiversity because, by propagating them, you are also giving chances for animal species associated with them to develop,” she details. 

 

Research for what purpose?

 

Studying the flora of the RPPNE Serra da Farofa Complex is a way to care for nature and people. The works allow:

•    Identify and record species in the region;
•    Discover medicinal uses of plants;
•    Identify plants that can be used for landscaping;
•    Protect species threatened with extinction;
•    Take care of animals that depend on flora to live.