Focus On Sacred Groves Ethnobotany

Author : Ulysses Paulino De Albuquerque
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9788130802435
Total Pages : 137 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (24 download)

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Download or read book Current Topics In Ethnobotany written by Ulysses Paulino De Albuquerque and published by . This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction - The field of ethnobotany has grown significantly in the last few years, incorporating a wide range of methodologies, and investigative and theoretical approaches. The opening of different investigative directions based on diverse lines of research has created a need to consolidate and systematize the different approaches that have been adopted. Much current research is oriented towards examining how local practices influence biodiversity and the conservation of natural resources. The last decade has also seen an increase in the number of published works examining and standardizing research methodologies. The chapters of this book have thus sought to capture some of these new trends in ethnobotany, and we hope they can contribute to exchanging experiences among ethnobotanical investigators. This book comprises eight chapters with distinct focuses, including case studies based on ecological, biological, and social approaches, discussions of methodologies used in data collection, as well as state-of-the-art investigations into new/old areas of ethnobotanical inquiry. The first chapter presents an overview of the ethnobotanical and ecological studies underway in the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley, México. The authors examine the management techniques adopted by local communities and their impact on biodiversity, and discuss perspectives for conservation and sustainable use of the local vegetation. McClatchey and Bridges have prepared a text that is of great interest to biologists, geographers, and ethnoecologists, which focuses on the selection of habitats by human populations in the Marshall Islands. The authors conclude that the shape of the island appears to explain their selection and habitation within an atoll, while the total land area explains the population distribution in the Marshall Islands. This study goes beyond the traditional limits of ethnobotanical research. In the third chapter, Ladio and Lozada present a case study undertaken in rural communities in northeastern Patagonia (Argentina) that examines the use of medicinal plants and relates this ancestral practice to the concept of resilience. The authors also evaluate the principal illnesses that occur within the community and examine how the prevalence of those infirmities is related to the diversity of plants used by local populations. The text presented by Pulido and collaborators reviews and discusses research on homegardens in Latina America in light of three central topics their ecological, economic, and social sustainability. The authors discuss methodological questions applied to these studies and consider their strengths and weaknesses in terms of data collection. In the fifth chapter, Amorozo and co-authors describe the general panorama of ethnobotanical studies related to small-scale agricultural systems, with special emphasis on work in tropical regions. The authors describe the structure and functioning of these systems in considerable detail, paying special attention to their dynamics and evolution. Questions are raised concerning the maintenance and conservation of genetic recourses, as well as the contribution of ethnobotanical studies to research on the sustainability of agroecosystems. In chapter six, La Torre-Cuadros presents an exhaustive review of research focusing on ethnic groups in the Peruvian Amazon region undertaken between 1895 and 2007. The work is centered upon local folk knowledge collected during the last 50 years, and examines the principal advances in ethnobotany in Peru. The final two chapters discuss the efficiency of a number of methodological tools used in modern ethnobotanical research. Chapter seven, by Monteiro and co-authors, compares the richness of information about useful plants acquired through three different methodologies: general interviews, interviews within a specific cultural domain, and in situ inventories. The authors conclude that different methodologies result in the collection of distinctly different data sets. These results have important implications in choosing data collection techniques. Chapter eight, by Medeiros and co-workers, reviews the role of visual stimuli in ethnobotanical research, discusses the methodological limitations of the different visual techniques employed, and suggests a standardization of the terminology used for the different types of visual stimuli. This work is of considerable importance in light of the current lack of conceptual precision in the application of these research tools. In general, the different chapters of this book emphasize the diversity of questions that face the present generation of ethnobotanists and describe a number of active investigative areas. Finally, we would like to thank those who helped in the production of this book, especially the reviewers for their assistance and helpfulness in evaluating each chapter and for presenting valuable suggestions.