This study tested the ecological apparency hypothesis in the community of Barroquinha, in the municipality of Lagoa, Paraíba State, Brazil. We used the Use Value (UV) by testing the information obtained through three types of calculations: UV general , UV current , and UV potential . The botanical sampling was conducted in two areas of the community (Preserved -A1; Degraded -A2), and interviews were carried out with 66 people, who signed a Free and Transparent Consent form, required by the Research Ethics Committee. The Spearman's correlation test was performed to relate phytosociological data to ethnobotanical data. We used the Pearson Correlation to test the correlation between genders and the Use Values (UVs). Fifteen useful species were recorded in A1 and 16 species in A2. Positive correlations were found in both areas between species and the phytosociological data: in A1 between UV current with basal area and dominance (p < 0.05) and in A2 between UV general and UV current with all parameters (p < 0.05). Only the forage category showed a positive correlation in A1 between UV potential and density and frequency (p < 0.05). In A2, the fuel category was correlated with UV current and basal area and dominance (p < 0.05). There was positive correlation between UV general /UV current , UV general /UV potential , UV current /UV potential (p < 0.0001). Men and women considered the same species as the most important (p < 0.0001). According to the results of this study, we can conclude that ecological apparency best explains the relationship between use and availability of species used for timber.

The ecological apparency hypothesis seeks to understand the dynamics of use that a particular species has through its availability in vegetation areas. According to this hypothesis, apparent plants are the most collected and used by humans. This hypothesis was tested in the rural community of Santa Rita, municipality of Congo, in Cariri microregion (Paraíba state, Northeast Brazil). We calculated the use value (UV) for each species. For the phytosociological inventory, we adopted the point-quadrant method, plotting 500 points distributed in the vegetation areas of the community, registering the perimeter measurements and height of 2000 plants. Interviews were conducted with householders, totaling 98 informants (41 men and 57 women), and 24 species, 21 genera, and 11 families were recorded. The cited species were grouped into 11 utility categories. The Spearman correlation coefficient was used to correlate phytosociological and ethnobotanical data. The use values of the species did not correlate with phytosociological parameters. Regarding the use categories, there were positive correlations for fuel (UV with dominance and basal area), construction (UV with all phytosociological parameters), fodder (UV with all parameters), and poison/abortion categories (UV with density and frequency). Ecological apparency significantly explained the local importance of useful plants in fuel, construction, and fodder categories, and less significantly for poison/abortion.