methodology of ethnobotanical studies field work

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Ethnobotany

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Ethnobotany, the study of the classification, use and management of plants by people, draws on a range of disciplines, including natural and social sciences, to show how conservation of plants and of local knowledge about them can be achieved. Ethnobotany is critical to the growing importance of developing new crops and products such as drugs from traditional plants.

This book is the basic introduction to the field, showing how botany, anthropology, ecology, economics and linguistics are all employed in the techniques and methods involved. It explains data collection and hypothesis testing and provides practical ideas on fieldwork ethics and the application of results to conservation and community development. Case studies illustrate the explanations, demonstrating the importance of collaboration in achieving results.

Published with WWF, UNESCO and Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.

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Home > Books > Medicinal Plants

Ethnobotany

Submitted: 25 February 2022 Reviewed: 31 March 2022 Published: 26 May 2022

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.104754

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Medicinal Plants

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Ethnobotany is a life science which studies the interaction between human beings and flora in particular and broadly deals with the investigations, observations, and identifications of botanical diversity used for the prevention and treatment of human and livestock ailments. The current chapter reviews the history and development of ethnobotany and the involvement of this branch of science in the innovation and derivation of drug products which is originated from plants and claimed by the traditional healers and indigenous people used for the prevention and treatment of disease. This chapter also combines interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary methods that can lead to further productive, comprehensive, and systemic guesstimates in the investigation of the relationship between the plants and humans. Regardless of its various bottlenecks, ethnobotany becomes an attractive and hopeful area of research. It also covers ethnobotanical knowledge and modern science, ethnobotany research and their applications, plant conservation and sustainable management practices, taxonomy, and economic botany. The chapter also deals with the ways in which different societies and cultures have come to perceive, know, use, classify, and symbolically represent plants and animals.

ethnobotany
ethnobiology
ethnoecology
ethnomedicine
herbal medicine
ethnopharmacology
natural products
medicinal plants

Author Information

Jafer siraj *.

School of Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Mizan-Tepi University, Mizan-Aman, Ethiopia

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected];, [email protected]

1. Introduction

1.1 ethnobotanical terms and concepts.

The word ethnobotany was first announced by American botanist John Harshberger in 1896 as “the study of interaction of human beings with flora.” Ethnobotany is a life science which studies the interaction between human beings and flora in particular and broadly deals with the investigations, observations, and identifications of botanical diversity used for the prevention and treatment of human and livestock ailments [ 1 ]. It also studies about the indigenous people knowledge, beliefs, and practices (i.e. it may be cultural and religious practices) related with medicinal plants. Also it includes how human beings categorize, isolate, and associate with floras besides with joint relationships of floras and human beings. The ethnobotanists should have to discuss with native community to share their routine life and to respect their cultures in order to obtain valuable information about the plants used for the medicinal purpose. Ethnobotanists have an obligation both to the scientific civic and the native principles. The field of ethnobotany is a much comprehensive discipline which is concerned in all studies about the interaction between human and floras. In addition to medicinal plants, ethnobotany also give emphasis on other natural products including food, plants used in rituals, coloring agents, fiber plants, poisons, fertilizers, building materials for houses, household items, boat, etc. [ 2 ].

Botany is the science which deals with floras including physiology, morphology, genetics, ecology, distribution, taxonomy, and economic importance. Occasionally, fungi are included in botany [ 3 ]. Ethnobiology is a multidisciplinary ground that deals with the interaction of human with living things including plants and animals. Ethnobotany might be considered as a particular subdivision of ethnobiology. There is numerous specific division of ethnobotany that emphasizes one specific characteristic of the field [ 4 ]. Ethnomedicine focuses on complementary and alternative medicine including diagnostic and therapeutic along with herbal remedies. It is generally the comparison of the traditional medicines practiced by various ethnic groups, especially by indigenous people [ 5 ]. Ethnopharmacology is the study of the purposes, mechanism of action, efficacy, and safety of drugs which is herbal or plant origin, and it may include both stimulants and centrally active herbal remedies [ 6 ]. Economic botany emphasizes applied economic, agricultural, or marketable features of a plant that are used by people but does not intensely discover customary beliefs, the “ethno” side of ethnobotany. Economic botany deals with the aim of discovering novel products which are plant origin and which might be or might not be related with indigenous practices, while ethnobotany studies are documenting traditional use practices of plants by the indigenous people without considering the economic value of the plants. Ethnobotanists use different methods and materials for their ethnobotanical studies, including ancient writings, surveys, discussions with key informants, and field investigations of the relationship between the plants and human beings. They typically work together with native people or traditional healers who have knowledge about the plants to record the indigenous biodiversity including plants, and also for the identification of botanical diversity, parts used for the treatment of human and livestock diseases, and method of preparations and applications [ 7 ]. Biocultural diversity is the entire diversity demonstrated by the world’s natural and cultural arrangements. It includes both the biodiversity index (the variety of florae, faunae, territories, and ecologies) and the cultural diversity index (variety of people customs and languages). Biodiversity is calculated by sharing the amount of diverse species in specific habitat by the entire digit of persons living in that specific habitat. Cultural diversity can be measured by dividing the quantity of diverse languages, religions, and tribal groups in specific habitat by the quantity of whole persons living in that specific habitat [ 8 ].

Ethnobotany covers various disciplines, including botany, biochemistry, pharmacognosy, toxicology, medicine, nutrition, agriculture, ecology, evolution, comparative religion, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, cognitive studies, history, and archeology, due to the fact that plants have significant purpose in day-to-day activity of human beings. The multidisciplinary habit of ethnobotany permits a widespread range of methods and uses and leads to the investigation of plants in various ways by the researchers [ 9 ]. But plants with medicinal importance are usually the focus area for the investigator under the field of ethnobotany, and the study of these medicinal plants has essential role for the development of ethnobotany field [ 2 ]. It is obvious that interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary methods can lead to further productive, comprehensive, and systemic guesstimates in the investigation of the relationship between the plants and humans. Regardless of its various bottlenecks, ethnobotany becomes an attractive and hopeful area of research [ 9 ].

1.2 Applied ethnobotany and ethnoecology

In addition to developing quantitative approach for the ethnobotanical assessment, ethnobotany has progressed along with broader method, including additional features of the natural environment. Ethnobotanists somewhat frequently categorize themselves more and more as ethnobiologists or ethnoecologists for the reason that these fields bargain more prospects to evaluate the relationship between the people and the whole surroundings in addition to the societies’ interaction with the external environment including the effect of global trade on domestic economy and individual life. Since 1992, the interaction of human beings with plants has created a new term known as “applied ethnobotany” which in fact relates to studies and approaches which allow to work together with the indigenous people and traditional practitioners in an actual way, to investigate the knowledge of native people and develop a better management structures which shape specific use practices and social dynamics [ 10 ]. Applied ethnobotanies also made every effort to fill the gap between indigenous knowledge and modern practice and to recognize the association between indigenous practices and knowledge schemes and procedures, directions, and financial fashions at the nationwide and worldwide level [ 10 ]. In recent times, the term ethnoecology has been invented. Martine defines ethnoecology as a discipline which integrates many diverse academic fields. The term ethnoecology is used to incorporate all fields which designate the relationship between indigenous people and the ecosystem, including subdisciplines such as ethnobiology, ethnobotany, ethnoentomology, and ethnozoology [ 11 ]. In fact, ethnoecology is the discipline of how individuals comprehend the interaction between human beings and the living things, including animals, plants, and physical elements of a place [ 12 ].

2. Ethnobotany in history

Human being has been consuming floras meanwhile beforehand documented history. Our most primitive ancestors collected floras for foodstuff, medication, fibers, and construction supplies, momentary on their knowledge through oral customs. Farming, the exercise of generating yields and rising livestock, came about autonomously in diverse areas of the universe 10,000–15,000 years ago. Plant knowledge was an unlimited benefit in ancient societies, as it conversed a bigger opportunities of survival. Many ancient researchers took an extreme concern in botany, publishing herbals that enclosed plant information, and in addition also contained botanical importance. By using this baseline, an individual can identify and collect medicinal plants from the traditional healers own garden or from the forest and also can easily understand the method of preparations and applications. The term ethnobotany did not coin out as a discipline during the ancient civilization until earlier modern period. Despite the fact that individuals historically had a nearby relationship with the plants and various intellectuals investigated botany, rare scholars investigated the plant knowledge of an ethnic group till the twentieth century. The following are the rare leading ethnobotanical researchers and texts that aided disperse botanical knowledge all the way through the ages [ 8 ].

The ancient Egyptians (3000 B.C.) were specialists in using remedies for curative and preventive purposes. The curing of the sick was carried out by priest doctor and pharmacist “Son” who prescribed and prepared remedies. The crude drugs used for the plant derivation included Aloes, Gum, Myrrh, Poppy, Pomegranate, Colocynth, Linseed, Squill, Coriander, Onion, Anise, Melon, Castor, etc. The Ebers Papyrus found in Egypt in the 1870s contains prescriptions written in hieroglyphics for over 700 preparations. This prescription for an asthma remedy is prepared by the combination of herbs heated on a brick so that the victim possibly will inhale their smokes. The Babylonian medicine was known as Laws of Hamorabi (772 B.C.). The medicines used were mostly of vegetable origin. The medications used include 250 constituents of plant and 180 constituents of animal origin. Several of these remedies were known to the ancient Egyptians. In the Old Indian medicine, the “Riveda” and Ayurveda (Acoko 2000 B.C.) contained the holy medicinal plants. The gathering of plant constituents was undertaken only by a guiltless, pure, and religious individual. The fresh plants were considered to be most effective. The most famous Indian remedies were sandalwood, clove, pepper, cardamom, caraway, ginger, benzoin, cannabis, castor oil, sesame oil, aloes, etc. Besides the well-known acupuncture , the Chinese medicine is very recognized for the herbal remedy. The Pen Ts’ao Kang Moa (1000 B.C.) contained an unbelievable amount of herbal medicines and preparations of animal source. Their book comprises many recipes for every ailment. Among the plants and minerals highly respected for its magic well-being power were ginseng, rhubarb, ephedra, star anise, pomegranate, and aconite. Opium is a very old Chinese drug for diarrhea and dysentery. Pythagoras (560 B.C.) used drugs such as mustard and squill. Hippocrates (466 B.C.) was familiar with abundant medicines and wrote “ Corpus Hipocraticum 460 B.C.” The Greek Empire was followed by that of the Romans Dioscorides who was a Greek by birth and was the first to define medicines, and his work “ Greek Herbal of Dioscorides ” included 5000 medicinal plants in addition to animal and mineral medicines. Pliny, who lived about the same time as Dioscorides , was also a renowned author of natural history. Galen (134–200 A.C.) was a physician and he is ascribed the use of “ Galenical preparations. ” Islamic literatures were found the first beginnings of chemistry , the name of which is derived from an Arabic word “Kemia,” as were also such familiar words such as alcohol and alkali. The Arabs added several new plants and medicines to those previously recognized to the Greeks and Romans. In their days, pharmacy attained its maximum reputation and developed an independent branch of medicine. It is thought-provoking to note that the first dispensary was opened in Baghdad, the center of trade in those days. The dispensary was made of sandalwood and named “Sandalia.” Rhazey (850–932 A.C.) who was born at Rai in Persia was the director of Baghdad hospital. He published a famous book “Alhawi Kabeer” [ 8 ].

3. Ethnobotanical knowledge and modern science

Out of the several plants biodiversity found on the earth surface, the plants which are used for the prevention and treatment of human and livestock disease are the significant ones due to the fact that those medicinal plants have secondary metabolites known as specialized metabolites [ 13 ]. Specialized metabolites with therapeutic possessions are dispersed throughout some plants genera, and these floras act as processing house for the natural products which are responsible for specialized metabolites [ 14 ]. The specialized metabolites have the potential biological activity that in turn used to protect the health and well-being of people and are the essential lead compounds for the modern medicines [ 15 ]. Study reported that medicinally important plants are the major source of treatment for up to 80% of the population until now, especially for underprivileged nations [ 16 ]. Also, the rest 20% of population living in higher-income countries still depends on complementary and alternative medicines which are especially plant origin and natural products [ 17 ]. Fascinatingly, out of the 25 dispensed drugs, about 12 of them are products which are plants origin [ 18 , 19 ]. The role of ethnobotanists and researchers are incredible in the innovation of different present-day drugs, including artemisinin, aspirin, ephedrine, codeine and papaverine, colchicine, taxol, digoxin and digitoxin, capsaicin, tetrahydrocannabinol, and cannabidiol which are derived from Artemisia annua L., Filipendula ulmaria (L.) Maxim., Ephedra spp., Papaver somniferum L., Colchicum autumnale L., Taxus brevifolia Nutt., Digitalis purpurea L., Capsicum spp., and Cannabis sativa L., respectively [ 13 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. The uses of artemisinin in the modern medicine become acknowledged after a Chinese scientist (Tu Youyou) wins Nobel Prize in a year 2015 [ 23 ]. The results from the search of “medicinal plants” term on Google Scholar become more than 200,000 starting from the year 2000 until now.

Native people and ethnic groups use more than thousands of wild plants for the prevention and treatment of different human and livestock ailments, and even some of them are not identified and scientifically named still now, and hope several conventional medicines will be discovered from the plants and natural products in the future by the scientific community [ 24 , 25 , 26 ]. The well-known anthropologist David Maybury-Lewis had given emphasis to the role of indigenous people in supporting the invention of several plants which are medicinally important and used by this indigenous people for the treatment of different diseases [ 27 ]. Ethnobotanists can accelerate the proof of identity of plants which are medicinally important, and it is recommended that instead of conducting ethnobotanical assessment only, bioactive and lead compound can be extracted by mimicking the ethnobotanical information obtained from the indigenous people or traditional healers that can simplify the activity of bioprospecting of the plants [ 28 ]. Garnatje et al. [ 13 , 29 ] advocated the term “ethnobotanical convergence” for the similar uses of plants included in the same node of a phylogeny. Although the term “ethnobotanical convergence” was condemned by Hawkins and Teixidor-Toneu [ 30 ], it is however assumed that connecting new technologies with the indigenous ethnobotanical information can accelerate the development of new modern drugs from the natural products and plants. Connecting ethnobotany with other fields such as phytochemistry, pharmacology, pharmacognosy, and molecular biology can support the botanical diversity identification and analysis of chemical constituents of medicinal plants which have the ability to prevent and treat human and livestock ailments [ 31 ]. Furthermore, approaches such as genomics and omics can also be employed to identify the genes underlying the (specialized) metabolites present in the plants characterized by high-throughput metabolomics approaches such as gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GCMS), liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LCMS), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy [ 32 , 33 ]. The proper identification, utilization, and conservation of medicinal plants can assist in providing better alternative health care services in rural areas, especially in developing countries [ 34 , 35 ]. Moreover, several medicinal plants collected from the traditional healers own garden or from the forest are majorly important, and high percent of individuals relay on these medicinal plants in order to get cure from their diseases [ 36 ]. The shortage of quality health care provisions that safeguard healthy lives and encourage safety of the individuals at all ages groups especially in the third-world nations of Asia and Africa strengthens the significance of medicinal plants used by the specific ethnic groups [ 34 , 35 ]. In the past more than 10 years, the majority of population in the world depends on products derived from the plants which in turn shows the increasing demands of products derived from the natural resources, and it may lead to the over-increment of the need of medicinal plants. So, the scientific community and ethnobotanists should fasten the investigation related with the development of products from the plants by working together with the indigenous people and traditional healers who have the ability to collect those plants which are medicinally useful by considering the emerging number of both communicable and noncommunicable and population growth and global climate change.

4. Plant collection and identification

A herbarium is a process of collecting dried-out plant samples that used for study purposes. The key roles of a herbarium are to make available reference materials for botanical diversity identification of newly collected specimens, help as a supply for botanists and botany subjects, record the occurrence of a plant types in a specific area, decide taxonomy concerns, and store type and voucher samples. A type specimen is the exact specimen on which the name of a taxon is based. They are vastly valued and may be stored distinctly or attached onto different colored paper to escape loss or harm. A voucher specimen helps as the root for a scientific research. It is a consistent technique to authenticate the exact identity of the plant used for the research. Incase if questions are raised about the identity of the medicinal plants, the only way to answer this questions is by using the voucher numbers given for the specific plants. So, this shows whether the plants are correctly identified by the experts [ 37 ].

The person who collects the medicinal plant specimens are not allowed collecting endangered plant species or rare plants in a specific territory. And also, the individuals should respect the local regulations and need to obtain permission from the responsible bodies/officers. Incase if the medicinal plants were found only on individuals or traditional healers own gardens, verbal informed consent or permission should be obtained from the owner of plants to collect the specimens. After the plant specimens were collected from the traditional healers own garden or from the forest, the specimens should be put into the plastic bags, labeled, pressed, and transported to the national biodiversity centers. Then, the plant materials should be dried using the appropriate drying system and prepared for the botanical diversity identification using standard herbarium procedures. The identification mechanism is taken place by the botanists or taxonomists in the laboratory. But some botanical diversity identification processes can be taken place directly in the traditional healers own garden or in the forest if the owner or laws are not permitted to collect the plant specimens. The plant specimens should be deposited in the national herbarium or biodiversity laboratory by collecting them and immediately pressing between papers using a field press. Sticky specimens may be pressed between waxed paper. The pressing procedure in between newspaper should be carried out simultaneously by collecting the specimens due to the reason that once the specimens dried, they are difficult to press and arrange. The plant specimen should be arranged to show all the significant structures including lower and upper leaf, flower heads, and so on. Large specimens can be folded or cut into sections. Bulky fruit can be cut in half; large cones can be tagged to be stored in a box. Plant specimens should be dried as rapidly after it was collected and transported to the laboratory [ 38 ].

Sticks with good plants need to be gathered for the sample. The parts of the plants collected as sample should have to encompass pure phyllotaxy and the forking scheme. For small herb, collection of more specimens as could fix on the herbarium sheet is desirable. In common, cutters are used to cut the stems, whereas for a while tallness, pruner is used, and for spiny samples, such as Berberis mucrifolia , leather glove is mandatory. For leaves and aromatic plants, digger is useful to dig out underground part. Particular plants stems lie horizontally under the ground. In such cases, the underground part should be washed from the mud elements, etc. If it is stem, then samples have been placed in a branching manner. Marine floras are light or to some extent filamentous and are hard to be organized on the page. A sheet of mounting paper is located below the moving or submerged tiny floras, and then the paper is slowly raised till the sample lies on the paper and out of the water. Then paper is raised to create a slope prudently so that it enables water runoff. These floras need to be shaken well before placing them in flimsies. Certain floras can be placed in plastic bags. The flowers that straightforwardly damage or can be lost among higher flowers from the same gathering place can be positioned in small bags within the larger bag. Unhealthy flowers, depauperate samples, diseased branches, etc., should be escaped [ 39 ].

Details about the plant specimens geographic area with the help of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), specimen collection date, and collection number should be noted down at the period of the specimen collection in a field notebook or electronically. This information is necessary to arrange the label for the herbarium specimen sheet. The collection number should be written on the edge of the sheet of paper. After the exact botanical diversity of the specimen becomes identified, the scientific name of their plant can be written together with the collection number. Herbarium specimen labels are organized in several means, but they usually hold a heading with state or region, province or district, country, and name of institution related with the sample, followed by the scientific name (genus, species, and author), details about the area such as geographic types or distance from adjacent town or landmark, and locale specifics (soil, altitude, humidity, etc.), Collection date, name of the specimen collector, and collection number are also significant information. The label is located at the bottommost-right-hand corner of a herbarium mounting sheet and attached immediately. Glue is also applied to the back of the plant sample, and it is organized on the mounting sheet. Lesser weight may be located on the top of the specimen till the glue is dry. Fragments of plant material such as seeds or pollen can be located in a small folded pocket, which is also glued immediately to the sheet. Once dried, the herbarium stamps the sheet with its name and assigns it an accession number. It is then filed in the herbarium cabinets that are usually ordered alphabetically as per plant family, genus, and species. Some herbaria use numerical arrangement as per the Adolf Engler method of arrangement [ 37 ].

Knowledge of plant anatomy is essential for classifying plant species. Deprived of it, a plant may be not identified correctly, with possibly severe consequences. Botanical diversity identification keys are valuable tools if you have adequate information of plant anatomy to appropriately use them. A dichotomous key offers the user with two alternatives at each stage, while a polyclave key may offer quite a lot of choices at each stage. Electronic polyclaves usually let the user to effort some well-known features of the specimen, thus removing various species in the key. It may, moreover, offer the possibility or chance that the left behind species are the right choice and may quick the user to say other features to remove further species. There are little elementary rules to make a dichotomous key. The entries should initiate with a couplet that has same first words (e.g. Leaves opposite or Leaves alternate) but are opposing statements. A leaf cannot be both alternate and opposite so that the decision is perfect. To avoid misunderstanding, they should not have several entries in a row that start with the identical word and should not use overlying ranges of measurement. Negative statements (e.g. Leaves not opposite) should also be avoided. Couplets can be numbered, lettered, or a combination of both. Occasionally indented keys use no numbers or letters at all [ 38 ].

Even though this key is only a rare line, it comprises terms that need specialized knowledge of plant anatomy. If you do not know what “samaroid wings” or “perianth” are, the key is unusable. Field guides frequently enclose keys and illustrations to support the plant identification. They usually emphasize a restricted geographic area and compressed adequate to carry in the field. A field guide lets the user to compare the unidentified plant with identified plants that cultivate in the area. Even with a good field guide and key, it is often hard to identify a plant down to the species level, specifically if it is not flowering or fruiting. If possible, a botanist will gather a specimen to take back to the laboratory for an additional systematic investigation [ 40 ].

5. Ethnobotany research and their applications

Even though many new chemical constituents have been derived and identified from medicinal plants used by the multicultural ethnic group, there are no conventional drugs synthesized from these plants using ethnobotanical knowledge and regulated as pharmaceutical products in the United States in at least in the past 40 years [ 41 ]. This may look like astonishing, considering the amount of resources and materials invested during the investigation of ethnobotanical knowledge for the past 40 years. On the other hand, indigenous knowledge about the medicinal plant is still used by the scholars and researchers for the identification of new chemical constituents and structures [ 42 ] that can be used as the main points for the development of new chemicals that have biological activity. Nowadays, the jobs for scholars and researchers have become more difficult than the past. They did not focus on finding new cultures, rather they focused on previously invented more than 4000 cultures and knowledge. An essential problem challenged by researchers on medicinal plant is that the study on medicinal plant may not all the time result in perfect separation of mechanisms of action, rather they only show “in-vitro pharmacological activity” or “in-vivo pharmacological activity on different organ or “identification chemical constituents and suggesting that it may have such activity due to the presence of this functional groups,” etc. A close relationship between ethnobotanists who conduct research for the assessment of medicinal plant use practices by the indigenous people and traditional healers and experimental pharmacologists who conduct study on the pharmacological activity of traditional medicinal plants claimed by the traditional healers is very important in order to add values on present health care system by discovering novel drugs from the natural products and plants [ 43 ].

Most of the scholars have related the current use of medicinal plants to their ancient civilization of ethnic groups by investigating the local names of the medicinal plants and uses in archival material and literature, but also more in recent times through past linguistic analysis of popular names [ 44 , 45 ]. Investigation of the history of the use practices of Rhododendron tomentosum Harmaja in Norway by the indigenous people indicates continuity in vernacular names and the therapeutic indication of this medicinal plants from the first eighteenth to twentieth centuries, with only a loss in use as a salt substitute. The investigation of cognates to indigenous medicinal plant names offers us evidences to the past interaction between the medicinal plants and the native society, whereas the specific name of medicinal plants indicates some striking characteristics of the plant, color, their native uses, and views of the indigenous people [ 46 ]. Sabine Nebel’s studied that the evaluation of names for edible greens among Grecanico speakers in Italy and Greek findings shows astonishing continuity of language and customs. For instance, Portulaca oleracea L. (purslane) is called andracla in Gallicianò and andrakla in Greece. The uses of several of these medicinal plants are the most persistent form of traditional healing practices in ancient Greek civilization [ 38 ]. Spanish ethnobotanists and researchers also try to relate historical-linguistic method to the Spanish use practices of medicinal plants called manzanilla (chamomile) in drinking teas since the ages of Moorish practices in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and even further back to Dioscorides in ancient Greece [ 46 ]. Also, other researchers present an infrequent sight into Lithuanian botanical diversity classification by tracing and certainly separating the roots of cognate native names for sycamore maple ( Acer pseudoplatanus L.), plane tree ( Platanus spp.), black poplar ( Populus nigra L.), guelder rose ( Viburnum opulus L.), and blessed wreaths prepared from collected rye. They show the importance and risks of using traditional texts and ethnographic data, such as melodies, mysteries, and children’s verses, as botanical indication for rebuilding the etymology and figurative history of ethnobotanical naming [ 47 ].

Many scholars give emphasis on the present uses of higher plants collected from the forest or wild not only due to the continuous historical use practices by the indigenous people or recurrence in new markets but also due to the their significance nutritional values. Generally, wild plants are nutritive because of their high content of minerals and vitamins [ 48 , 49 ]. Study show that the consumption of common golden thistle ( Scolymus hispanicus L.) among poor farmers in Portugal has a long history, also stretching back to ancient Roman times, and has now become popular among tourists. Underlying the use of this particular thistle, though, is the fact that it manages to maintain its high nutritional value regardless of the quality of the soils in which it grows. Native agriculturalists have acknowledged this distinctiveness and thus ignore all other thistles that cultivate in the area [ 49 ]. Also, other characteristics like sex are also essential concern in the collection and preparation of wild plants for healing and foods in Europe. Even though the depth knowledge of collection and preparation of wild fruits and plants is considered as the characteristic of females in various countries [ 50 ], but thistles collection and preparation is the activity of males in Portugal [ 49 ]. Researchers identified and presented about females who become males in the Albanian Alps: in this ancient form of transgenderism, there is convergence of the ethnomedicinal knowledge of “typical” males, regarding food and plants used for the treatment livestock ailments (ethnoveterinary), wild greens, and the ethnomedicinal knowledge of females, regarding weedy food and medicinal plants [ 51 ].

Around 679 ethnobotanical surveys were accompanied in Latin America until 2012. Out of these surveys, 41% of ethnobotanical studies were carried out in Brazil, 22% of these studies were conducted in Mexico, 9% of these surveys were carried out in Peru, 8% were conducted in Argentina, 6% were conducted in Bolivia, and 14% of the studies were conducted in the rest of the countries of Latin American continent [ 52 ]. Apart from the infamous development of ethnobiology as a field in Latin America, the amount of ethnobotanical research conveyed for the scientific community look like to delay in various countries. From the results of research conducted on ethnobatanical information in Latin America especially in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina, it is true that there is rapid increment of scientific studies on the ethnobotany fields in the continent. This condition could be improved by the integration of better funds for ethnobotanical studies by investing in human resources and economic capitals and through the formation of thematic areas and ethnobotanical cultures (as observed in Brazil and Mexico). The overall objective of these thematic areas are to promote and enlarge debates on the disciplines, build protocols, and create knowledge that may fulfill the existing gaps in various areas of ethnobotany. Ethnobotanical study may also be encouraged by an escalation in the number of scientific proceedings and journals to distribute the results obtained from the researches and by the design of undergraduate courses and master programs to teach scholars who will conduct quality researches on this field. These methods can fufill the existing gaps and intervals in ethnobotanical study and also lead to the alliance of ethnobotanical knowledge throughout the Latin America continent [ 52 ].

Ethnobotany seems to have appealed its correct place among the scientific field getting finance studies, but much task yet to be conducted. There is still a lot of ethnobotanical information yet to be recorded, especially in different parts of Africa like ethnobotanical knowledge of the Khoi, Ndebele, and Swazi, as well as the relationship of this ethnic group with traditional medicinal plants, wealth of unrecorded information, especially relating to the ethnobotany of the Khoi, Ndebele, and Swazi, as well as the interaction between plants and people, folk taxonomies, historical use practices of plants, uses of plants for the treatment of livestock ailments, and medicinal plant uses before the colonial period. In addition to these, medicinal plants used for the treatment of dental disease, plant parts used for the perfumes, cosmetics, insect repellents, colorant flowers, yeast plants, thatching plants, textile plants, musical instruments, as well as hunting, fishing, and other technologies. It is very important to isolate market-based research from indigenous knowledge-based research. Hence, market-based research may depend on the profit obtained from the study within reasonable time, but the former may be of more direct value in the short term, but indigenous knowledge-based research may be more urgent and important, as a consequence of their long period role on the way to a deeper identification of medicinal plants use practices by the traditional healers and native societies, especially in Africa. Study shows that urbanization and solid traditional effects from other parts of the globe are prominent to an extraordinary loss of indigenous knowledge in South Africa. Scholars and researchers should be stimulated to grasp the chances offered by ethnobotanical study and to document the aspects of their own historical-linguistic information and indigenous medicinal plant use practices by the different ethnic groups for the sake of future generations. It is obvious that once the traditional knowledge is documented well systematically, it is not adulterated for life time. It is truly accepted that each individuals and generations can understand and interpret indigenous knowledge in different angle. The sources of present-day technologies and discoveries by the scientists are the traditional and indigenous knowledge of our illiterate ancestors. However, the investigation of native knowledge concerning medicinal plants uses for the prevention and treatment of human and livestock diseases should be given emphasis especially in Africa. Hence, it is not feasible to give oral indigenous knowledge information for the scientific community without tangible and well-documented traditional knowledge about medicinal plants use practices in Africa [ 53 ].

Study conducted on ethnobotanical study in northern Angola showed that about 2390 medicinal plants were reported to be used by the traditional healers and community. Those medicinal plants were categorized under 358 species in 96 plant families, while just 3 out of 358 stated species are endemic to Angola and about one-fifth are neophytes. As the distance from where the medicinal plants collected increased, the number of use citations also higher. According to this study, large proportion of women (83%) was involved in the collection and preparation of medicinal plants from the forest and garden. The authors of this study discover new medicinal plants used for the treatment of different ailments by the indigenous people in the study, including Gardenia ternifolia which is claimed to have anti-measles, and ethnobotanical knowledge and the chemical constituents of Annona stenophylla subsp. cuneata medicinal plant have never been identified and documented elsewhere especially in the study area. Regardless of the long-term fighting in Angola, indigenous use practices of medicinal plants for the prevention and treatment of human and livestock disease remain a crucial part of traditional heritage. For that reason, plants are critical components in all parts of livelihood, particularly in the health care system. This condition is compounded by the still low-quality medical sectors in the Angola, particularly in countryside of the countries [ 54 ].

Another study conducted on hierarchies of knowledge; ethnobotanical knowledge, practices, and beliefs of the Vhavenda in South Africa for biodiversity conservation showed that 84 medicinal plant species were stated by the respondents which are categorized under 44 families. The majority of the stated medicinal plants were categorized under the fabaceae. The authors were identified 6 new species which are not reported before in Vhavenda ethnobotanical documents, also 68 medicinal plants claimed to have new indications and another 14 species have the similar uses with previously record. In this survey, high percent of plants reported were consumed as dietary supplements (36.0%) and used for the treatment of different human and livestock diseases (26.1%) and comprised mostly indigenous plants (73.8%) paralleled to nonnative plants (26.2%). The Vhavenda takes a variety of activities for the management of plant diversity that can be endorsed to taboos avoiding the usage of endangered and rare species, advertisement of sustainable collecting activities, and the proliferation of plant species for environmental refurbishment. Also, the authors reported about 48.4% of indigenous plant knowledge was transferred to generations through family/relatives, followed by studying about plants cultivation, collecting information by individual itself, through traineeships with traditional practitioners, and through learning in the schools and clan gatherings which constituted 16.1%, 9.7% 6.4%, and 19.4%, respectively. The reasons behind the difficulty in transferring knowledge about traditional plants use practices of Vhavenda are alterations in traditional knowledge platforms for information exchange, destruction of traditional organizations, and shifting value structures. The Vhavenda ethnic groups preserve a complex “knowledge-practice-belief” structure nearby for the use, control, and protection of plant biodiversity. The documentations of indication of new medicinal plants for the different purpose in this research and the expansion of the previously invented plants for the treatment of different human and livestock disease are valuable for providing an additional complete understanding into the indigenous plants use practices by this ethic groups in South Africa. The indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants use practices of this ethnic group is widespread comprising a variety of indigenous, exotic, wild, and cultivated plants. The indigenous people and traditional healers cultivate and gather a diversity of plants from the own garden, and from the wild and deciduous woodlands representing an all-embracing knowledge base conceivably imitating the sociocultural perspective of comparative separation and long-term settlement of the Vhavenda in the area. The domination of native plant diversity signified in ethnobotanical survey proposes that plant knowledge acclimatization may initiate with common and readily existing plants; conversely, the new popularity of nonnative plant diversity also reveals a form of adaptation to new acquired plant variety that has become integrated into the Vhavenda depository of valuable plant diversity. Native practices and organizations are also inserted in traditional settings and coded in cosmologies and belief systems that have safeguarded the sustainable utilization of plant biodiversity. Plant managing plans aim is to sustain consistent and continual supply of plant biodiversity for dietary purposes, medicinal use practices, and other uses through selective practices such as the prohibition of endangered and rare plants from use, the advertisement of sustainable collecting practices, and the proliferation of plant biodiversity [ 55 ].

A study review on medicinal plant use practices in Ethiopia showed that the country is rich in biodiversity and believed to have about 6000 higher plants diversity with about 10% of native higher plant species. This amount of biodiversity of plants species also includes most of the lower plant species. The genetic variety enclosed in the many biotic makeup is also great, consequently making the country a serious biodiversity homeland for plants. As one of the 12 Vavilovian midpoints of origin for home grown crops and their wild relatives, it is the country of various native crops and genetic stocks. Ethiopia is considered as the richest country in biodiversity since 5000 years ago when ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans used it as a basis of exclusive merchandises like Frankincense, Myrrh, and other plant products, which are also used for the production of different drugs. Among the largest biodiversity of plant species found in Ethiopia, highest percent has medicinal purposes. With similar fashion with the rest of the world, most of the people of Ethiopia rely on medicinal plants for the treatment of human and livestock ailments. Accordingly, about 95% of traditional therapeutic synthesis are the products of plant source. It is not ambitious to say medicinal plants have been used as a basis for the traditional remedies in order to prevent and treat different human and livestock diseases in Ethiopia. Medicine preparation from the medicinal plants is an essential part of the tradition of Ethiopian people. Most Ethiopian indigenous healing knowledge is retained in stringent mystery; conversely, it is dynamic in that the traditional healers create every struggle to broaden their range by reciprocal transferring of traditional medicinal knowledge to each generations or by reading the traditional pharmacopeias. It is difficult to acquire indigenous healing information of the traditional practitioners for the reason that they claim that the knowledge is their own and only like to transfer their knowledge to their relatives, especially to the eldest son [ 56 ].

Traditional practitioners in Ethiopia use the medicinal plant existing in the biodiversity for the prevention and treatments of various human and livestock ailments. A study showed that around 800 plants diversity which is medicinally important in Ethiopia is used for treating around 300 diseases. As stated by several researchers, there are diverse kinds of plant diversity with their parts used for the treatment purposes, the place where they grow, and the type of conditions treated by using these medicinal plants. There are about 18 medicinal plant diversity with 63 genera, and they are used by the indigenous society for the prevention and treatment of different human diseases. According to the literature, the common medicinal plants used for the prevention and treatments of human conditions are Aloe species, Eucalyptus globulus , Hagenia abyssinica , Cupressus macrocarpa , Buddleja polystachya , Acmella caulirhiza , Acacia species, Citrus species, Clematis species, Coffee Arabica , Croton macrostachyus , Euphorbia species, Ficus sycomorus , and Moringa stenopetala . According to other reviews, all plant life forms were not in the same way used as therapies, for the reason that there is the dissimilarity in the distribution among the life forms. Therefore, the growth forms of medicinal plants were trees, shrubs, herbs, climbers, and others. The most predominant plant parts used for the prevention and treatments of different human and livestock ailments are herbs, followed by shrubs and trees [ 57 ].

A study conducted on ethnobotanical assessment and physicochemical properties of Commonly Used Medicinal Plants in Southwest Ethiopia showed that a total of 72 plants species were stated by the respondents for the treatment of different human and livestock ailments and classified under 61 genera and 39 families. Herbs constituted the predominant plant growth parts followed by shrubs, tree, and climbers. Leaves were the most frequently used medicinal plant parts by the traditional healers in the study followed by roots and seeds. Regarding the method of preparation of the medicinal plants, crushing, powdering, pounding, and pressing were used sequentially by the traditional healers [ 58 ].

6. Conservation of medicinal plants

Conservation of medicinal plants should have an objective of conserving biodiversity within specified place like by preparing botanical garden to confirm that all the plant species will be ready to use by the future generations [ 59 ]. Sustainable managing of indigenous medicinal plant diversity is very significant not only for the reason that their potential benefit as lead compound for new drug discoveries but also because of the large percent of people around the world still depends on traditional medicinal plants [ 60 ]. There is certain protection activities that have been carried out everywhere in the globe intended to keep endangered medicinal plants from additional harm [ 61 ]. This includes in situ and ex situ protection actions. Both in situ and ex situ protection efforts are applied to protect medicinal plant genetic biodiversity. In situ conservation is the protection of plant biodiversity in their natural territories. Certain indigenous medicinal plants have to be well kept in situ because of the difficulty for domestication and managing [ 62 ]. Medicinal plants can also be protected by confirming and inspiring their growth in different spaces, as they have been used traditionally [ 62 ]. This can be promising in the place of churches, mosques, graveyards, farm margin, river bank, and so on. An interpretation that has been made by the researcher showed that medicinal plant diversity grown around the religious sites is prohibited from collecting [ 60 ]. The second one is ex-situ conservations means conservation outside their natural habitats. This comprises gen bank, herbal gardens, and others. As it was stated, home gardens have an abundant influence for the protection of medicinal plant species in broad, and at the same time the biodiversity can also be well kept; thus, home gardens are strategic and best agricultural systems for the protection, production, and development of species that are medicinally important [ 62 , 63 ]. Various efforts have been made to safeguard and encourage sustainable use of plants that are medicinally important in different country. In the field, biodiversity protection goes alongside with the protection of ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological information. Ethnobotanical investigation can point out managing difficulties of biodiversity through interviews and market studies; moreover, it provides resolutions by encouraging indigenous knowledge and customs that had protection advantages [ 64 , 65 ]. A study reported that the wise utilization of species that are medicinally useful wants the participation of diverse sectors and larger community support and for this, awareness formation is suggested [ 66 ].

7. Conclusion

Ethnobotany is a life science which studies the interaction between human beings and flora in particular and broadly deals with the investigations, observations, and identifications of botanical diversity used for the prevention and treatment of human and livestock ailments. It also studies about the indigenous people knowledge, beliefs, and practices (i.e. it may be cultural and religious practices) related with medicinal plants. Also, it includes how human beings categorize, isolate, and associate floras beside with joint relationships of floras and human beings. The ethnobotanists should have to discuss with native community to share their routine life and to respect their cultures in order to obtain valuable information about the plants used for the medicinal purpose. Ethnobotany might be considered as a particular subdivision of ethnobiology. Ethnobotanists use different methods and materials for their ethnobotanical studies including ancient writings, surveys, discussions with key informants, and field investigations of the relationship between the plants and human beings. They typically work together with native people or traditional healers who have knowledge about the plants to record the indigenous biodiversity including plants and also for the identification of botanical diversity, parts used for the treatment of human and livestock diseases, and method of preparations and applications.

Ethnobotanists somewhat frequently categorize themselves more and more as ethnobiologists or ethnoecologists for the reason that these fields bargain more prospects to evaluate the relationship between the people and the whole surroundings in addition to the societies’ interaction with the external environment including the effect of global trade on domestic economy and individual life. Since 1992, the interaction of human beings with plants has created a new term known as “applied ethnobotany” which in fact relates to studies and approaches which allow to work together with the indigenous people and traditional practitioners in an actual way, to investigate the knowledge of native people and develop better management structures which shape specific use practices and social dynamics. Applied ethnobotanies also make every effort to fill the gap between indigenous knowledge and modern practice and to recognize the association between indigenous practices and knowledge schemes and procedures, and directions and financial fashions at the nationwide and worldwide level. In recent times, the term ethnoecology has been invented. Martine defines ethnoecology as a discipline which integrates many diverse academic fields. The term ethnoecology is used to incorporate all fields which designate the relationship between indigenous people and the ecosystem, including subdisciplines such as ethnobiology, ethnobotany, ethnoentomology, and ethnozoology. In fact, ethnoecology is the discipline of how individuals comprehend the interaction between human beings and the living things including animals, plants, and physical elements of a place.

Even though many new chemical constituents have been derived and identified from medicinal plants used by the multicultural ethnic group, there are no conventional drugs synthesized from these plants using ethnobotanical knowledge and regulated as pharmaceutical products in the United States in at least in the past 40 years. This may look like astonishing, considering the amount of resources and materials invested during the investigation of ethnobotanical knowledge for the past 40 years. On the other hand, indigenous knowledge about the medicinal plant is still used by the scholars and researchers for the identification of new chemical constituents and structures that can be used as the main points for the development of new chemicals that have biological activity. Nowadays, the jobs for scholars and researchers have become more difficult than the past. They did not focus on finding new cultures, rather they focused on previously invented more than 4000 cultures and knowledge. An essential problem challenged by researchers on medicinal plant is that the study on medicinal plant may not all the time result in perfect separation of mechanisms of action, rather they only show “in-vitro pharmacological activity” or “in-vivo pharmacological activity on different organ” or “identification chemical constituents and suggesting that it may have such activity due to the presence of this functional groups,” etc. A close relationship between ethnobotanists who conduct research for the assessment of medicinal plant use practices by the indigenous people and traditional healers and experimental pharmacologists who conduct study on the pharmacological activity of traditional medicinal plants claimed by the traditional healers is very important in order to add values on present health care system by discovering novel drugs from the natural products and plants. On the assumption that there is a necessity for original, cautious, systematic, and cooperative records of the relationship of human beings with plant nature, for joining societal and environmental systems, for sustaining and improving biodiversity, and for recoupling health and well-being with traditional and ecological integrity, ethnobotany will be a discipline of significance and prominence in the globe.

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Methods and Techniques Applied to Ethnobotanical Studies of Timber Resources

First Online: 01 January 2013

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methodology of ethnobotanical studies field work

Marcelo Alves Ramos 5 ,
Patrícia Muniz de Medeiros 6 &
Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque 6

Part of the book series: Springer Protocols Handbooks ((SPH))

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4 Citations

In this chapter, we discuss a number of steps that are relevant to the planning and execution of an ethnobotanical study of the domestic use of timber. We introduce the main methods used in this type of study, including their applications and limitations, allowing the reader to identify the techniques that should be implemented in your studies.

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Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade de Pernambuco, Nazaré da Mata, Pernambuco, Brazil

Marcelo Alves Ramos

Laboratory of Applied and Theoretical Ethnobiology, Department of Biology, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

Patrícia Muniz de Medeiros & Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque

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Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque

Departmento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Católica de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

Luiz Vital Fernandes Cruz da Cunha

Departamento de Fitotecnia e Ciências Ambientais, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Areia, Paraíba, Brazil

Reinaldo Farias Paiva de Lucena

Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Estadual da Paraiba, Campina Grande, Paraíba, Brazil

Rômulo Romeu Nobrega Alves

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Ramos, M.A., de Medeiros, P.M., Albuquerque, U.P. (2014). Methods and Techniques Applied to Ethnobotanical Studies of Timber Resources. In: Albuquerque, U., Cruz da Cunha, L., de Lucena, R., Alves, R. (eds) Methods and Techniques in Ethnobiology and Ethnoecology. Springer Protocols Handbooks. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8636-7_22

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8636-7_22

Published : 30 September 2013

Publisher Name : Humana Press, New York, NY

Print ISBN : 978-1-4614-8635-0

Online ISBN : 978-1-4614-8636-7

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Ethnobotany: The Study of People-Plant Relationships

2011, Anderson/Ethnobiology

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Rainer W Bussmann

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Plants resources have served not only for the primary human needs but also for health care, since time immemorial. Indigenous knowledge is being recognized worldwide owing to their intrinsic value as well as potential instrumental connotation to phytodiversity conservation and modern drug development. Ethnobotany has played important role in the development of new drugs for many centuries and becoming increasingly important in defining strategies and actions for conservation or recuperation of residual forests. There is greater interest in ethnobotany today, than at any time in the discipline's history. This article analyses the relevance of ethnobotany in current scenario. It is anticipated that, in the future, ethnobotany may play an increasingly important role in sustainable development and biodiversity conservation.

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Ethnoecology studies human beings’ relation with their environment aiming at understanding several current social-ecological problems such as ecological degradation and loss of cultural diversity, mainly from a local point of view. Since 2006, the research team of the Ethnoecology Laboratory (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) is conducting research projects focused on the study of social, cultural, political, and ecological factors and dynamics influencing the relation of rural and indigenous communities in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe, with their surrounding environment. Contrary to the common practice of simply extracting information from rural communities, projects from the Ethnoecology Laboratory blend academic research and actions oriented to return their findings to the populations where they take place to contribute in some direct or indirect way to the improvement of their well-being and sustainable use of natural resources.

Helbert M Prado , Rui Sergio Murrieta

Field methods

Owners and managers of homegardens have extensive knowledge of plants, their uses, and ecosystemic processes. This knowledge might be highly valuable for many purposes. To enhance ethnobotanical research on homegardens and encourage a discussion of proper methodology, this article presents tools and methods used to collect data in the multidisciplinary study of homegardens in Chiapas,Mexico; Eastern Tyrol, Austria; and Kalimantan, Indonesia. The article defines homegardens and gardeners and explains both the sampling process used in these studies and how contact and rapport was established. Also discussed are possible research questions and hypotheses, equipment used in the field, interviewing strategies, vegetation surveys, and data management. Interviews typically elicit information on preferred garden plants, plant management, homegarden management, and the history of gardening in the study area. It is concluded that homegardens present an excellent opportunity to use and experiment with both informal and formal techniques to collect qualitative as well as quantitative data.

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In this chapter, the reader will find guidelines and suggestions for the application of ethnobotanical and ethnoecological methods in archaeological sites and their surroundings, aiming to establish a closer dialogue between ethnobiology and archaeology for understanding the human history of past and present landscapes. The goal of such methodological proposals is to document the knowledge and practices of human populations that live on and around archaeological sites concerning the vegetation of these areas. The methods presented here can shed light on specific questions about the relationships between past human populations and their plant resources (e.g., practices of use, management, and domestication), helping to understand how people transformed the landscape and how the legacies of such relationships are visible in the present. This chapter is collectively written by ethnobiologists, botanists, ecologists, and archaeologists from several institutions working in the Amazon basin. Thus, examples presented here come mainly from research conducted in this region.

Michael Coe

Ethnobotany has evolved from a discipline that largely documented the diversity of plant use by local people to one focused on understanding how and why people select plants for a wide range of uses. This progress has been in response to a repeated call for theory-inspired and hypothesis-driven research to improve the rigor of the discipline. Despite improvements, recent ethnobo-tanical research has overemphasized the use of quantitative ethnobotany indices and statistical methods borrowed from ecology, yet underemphasized the development and integration of a strong theoretical foundation. To advance the field of ethnobotany as a hypothesis-driven, theoretically inspired discipline, it is important to first synthesize the existing theoretical lines of research. We review and discuss 17 major theories and hypotheses in ethnobotany that can be used as a starting point for developing research questions that advance our understanding of people–plant interactions. For each theory or major hypothesis, we identify its primary predictions and testable hypotheses and then discuss how these predictions have been tested. Developing research to test these predictions will make significant contributions to the field of ethnobotany and create the critical mass of primary literature necessary to develop meta-analyses and to advance new theories in ethnobotany.

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Evaluating different methods used in ethnobotanical and ecological studies to record plant biodiversity

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1 Study Group of Ecology and Ethnobiology from the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL), Campus Arapiraca, Alagoas Zip Code 57309-005, Brazil

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2 Department of Forestry of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFEPE), Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

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3 Department of Biological Sciences of the University of Pernambuco (UPE), Campus Mata Norte, Nazaré da Mata, Pernambuco, Brazil

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5 Department of Biology, Laboratory of Applied and Theoretical Ethnobiology (LEA), Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE), Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

This study compares the efficiency of identifying the plants in an area of semi-arid Northeast Brazil by methods that a) access the local knowledge used in ethnobotanical studies using semi-structured interviews conducted within the entire community, an inventory interview conducted with two participants using the previously collected vegetation inventory, and a participatory workshop presenting exsiccates and photographs to 32 people and b) inventory the vegetation (phytosociology) in locations with different histories of disturbance using rectangular plots and quadrant points.

The proportion of species identified using each method was then compared with Cochran’s Q test. We calculated the use value (UV) of each species using semi-structured interviews; this quantitative index was correlated against values of the vegetation’s structural importance obtained from the sample plot method and point-centered quarter method applied in two areas with different historical usage. The analysis sought to correlate the relative importance of plants to the local community (use value - UV) with the ecological importance of the plants in the vegetation structure (importance value - IV; relative density - RD) by using different sampling methods to analyze the two areas.

With regard to the methods used for accessing the local knowledge, a difference was observed among the ethnobotanical methods of surveying species (Q = 13.37, df = 2, p = 0.0013): 44 species were identified in the inventory interview, 38 in the participatory workshop and 33 in the semi-structured interviews with the community. There was either no correlation between the UV, relative density (RD) and importance value (IV) of some species, or this correlation was negative.

It was concluded that the inventory interview was the most efficient method for recording species and their uses, as it allowed more plants to be identified in their original environment. To optimize researchers’ time in future studies, the use of the point-centered quarter method rather than the sample plot method is recommended.

The consequences of the loss of biodiversity have aroused both interest and controversy [ 1 ]. Due to high extinction rates, inventories carried out in the most timely manner possible [ 1 , 2 ] are required to provide rapid and reliable information on the identification and recording of the species present in a particular region.

Questions regarding the accuracy and timeliness of species’ surveys should be considered when choosing the most recommended methods for rapid assessment. Influenced by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) of 1992 [ 3 ], such comparisons between methods have occurred since the 1990s [ 4 , 5 ]. Because conservation is, according to Diegues [ 6 ], “the management of human use of organisms and ecosystems, to ensure the sustainability of such use,” it would be desirable to incorporate ethnobotanical methods, along with their comparison, into the process of the rapid assessment of plants to clarify which methods are the timeliest and most accurate. Therefore, researchers have compared ethnobotanical methods for inventorying plant species and information regarding vegetation [ 5 , 7 ] that recorded the uses of local vegetation and species, which can lead to more accurate recommendations for their conservation.

To reduce the time spent in data collection in the field, Jinxiu et al. [ 8 ] recommended the involvement of parataxonomists, i.e., people who identify biological samples without having had formal training in taxonomy and systematics [ 9 - 11 ]. In addition to aiding with the identification of species samples, parataxonomists have helped to preserve local knowledge.

For local people to recognize biological samples and assist in recording them, the samples can be presented directly in the field by the inventory interview method, which involves a vegetation inventory associated with ethnobotanical data collection [ 12 ], similar to the procedure performed by Galeano [ 13 ] and Hanazaki et al. [ 14 ].

In addition to presenting biological samples in the field, they also can be presented as visual stimuli in the form of ex situ surveys (surveys conducted outside the plant’s original environment), usually in participatory workshops [ 15 ]. The tools that have been used as visual stimuli include photographs [ 12 , 16 ], exsiccates [ 16 , 17 ], and fresh material [ 12 , 18 ].

Apart from the involvement of parataxonomists, interviews conducted with a representative group of the population have been an important tool in data collection, allowing the profiling of plant knowledge in the community [ 19 ] and assisting in the establishment of conservation strategies using various forms of analysis [ 20 - 22 ]. Abba and Cassini [ 23 ] concluded that in addition to providing low-cost and reliable results, interviews effectively contributed to ecological research on three species of armadillos ( Chaetophractus villosus , C. vellerosus and Dasypus hybridus ) in the Argentinean Pampas and were an important tool in making decisions about soil use and management. Another important methodological aspect to be evaluated is the method of vegetation sampling. In some ethnobotanical studies, it is common to analyze whether the structural composition of the vegetation may be related to the relative importance of the plants for the local community, as supported by the ecological apparency hypothesis [ 13 , 24 , 25 ]. The use value [ 25 ] has been the parameter used to draw conclusions about the cultural importance of certain plants to the human community. However, it is possible that different methods lead to different results. Galeano [ 13 ] found a positive correlation between species with the highest use and species that are most important structurally, whereas Tacher et al. [ 24 ] found no such relationship. Therefore, due to the importance of the vegetation inventory, there is a need to compare the influence of different methods of sampling vegetation (with the most common being the sample plot and point-centered quarter methods) and their correlation with use value.

Therefore, this study aimed to: a) compare the efficiency of recording species according to methods for accessing local knowledge about native resources used in ethnobotanical studies (semi-structured interviews, inventory interviews, and a participatory workshop with visual stimuli); and b) analyze whether plant recognition is related to the structure of the vegetation, using different methods for inventorying the vegetation (rectangular plots and quadrant points) in areas with different histories of disturbance on the landscape.

Material and Methods

The study was conducted in a village known as Sítio Carão , located in the municipality of Altinho, in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil . The village selected for the study is situated 16 km from downtown Altinho, which is located 163.1 km from the state’s capital. At the time of this study, the population of the village was 189 inhabitants (112 were over 18 years of age, consisting of 67 women and 45 men); the local language is Portuguese. The village has an elementary school (to complete their studies, the children travel to downtown Altinho); there is also a Catholic church and a Protestant church [ 17 , 26 - 30 ]. The central point of the village is located at coordinates 08°35’13.5”S and 36°05’34.6”W.

The economy is sustained by subsistence farming, mainly corn and beans. Livestock farming is restricted to cattle, goats, poultry and a small number of pigs; this type of farming is also responsible for supplementing the food supply and generating family income [ 17 , 28 - 30 ].

The vegetation consists of Caatinga , which is composed of trees that have a maximum height of just over 10 m, with branchy saplings and shrubs that are more abundant. In general, the density of the trees with a trunk diameter more than 3 cm is between 1000 and 3000 per hectare, with basal areas between 10 m 2 ha -1 and 30 m 2 ha -1 and biomass between 20 Mg.ha -1 and 80 Mg.ha -1 [ 31 ]. The climate is dry and the soil is mainly shallow. The area includes the Sertão and Agreste subzones, the latter occurring in Altinho. As is typical of Caatinga vegetation, deciduous, thorny species, and Cactaceae and Bromeliaceae are found in large numbers in the area [ 32 ].

The main resources for the village of Sítio Carão is the adjacent Serra do Letreiro landform, which provides space for agriculture, cattle rearing and the gathering of plants and animals [ 17 , 28 - 30 ].

Data collection

For the purpose of this study, three methods were selected: a semi-structured interview with the entire adult population, which requires more time to collect ethnobotanical information; an inventory interview, which requires less time to collect ethnobotanical data but is associated with a previously compiled inventory of vegetation; and a participatory workshop using visual stimuli, which requires the least amount of time to collect ethnobotanical data and which is also associated with a pre-existing inventory of vegetation from which to select the species to be used as visual stimuli.

To assess whether plant recognition is related to ecological apparency, i.e., the structure of the vegetation, or some characteristic related to the population structure of the species, specimens were correlated with the phytosociological parameters obtained from two forms of vegetation sampling carried out in two areas with distinct histories of disturbance, as described below.

To select the plant species presented as visual stimuli (Figure 1 ), one sample of each of the 62 plant species recorded during a phytosociological inventory was chosen. This field research and inventory were carried out between May 2008 and May 2010 [ 33 ]. A criterion for the selected specimens was healthy adult plants, thus the specimens would have the largest possible number of characteristics inherent to the plant structure. A floristic list was prepared using the APG II system, and the names were confirmed from the list of species of the Brazilian flora compiled by the Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro [ 34 ].

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is 1746-4269-10-48-1.jpg

Photographs of some plant species presented as visual stimuli during the participative workshop in the village of Sítio Carão , Altinho municipality, Pernambuco (NE Brazil), in which: a. Jatropha molíssima (Pohl) Bail. (pinhão bravo); b. Helicteres macropetala A.St.-Hil. (moleque duro); c. Erythrina velutina Wild. (mulungu); d. Capparis jacobinae Moric. ex. Eicler (incó or incol); e. Ziziphus joazeiro Mart. (juazeiro); f. Ditaxis malpiguiaceae (Ule) Pax e K. Hoffm. (not recognized).

Semi-structured interview with the community

Data from semi-structured interviews have been collected since 2006 by the research group of the Laboratory of Applied and Theoretical Ethnobiology (LEA) of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco [ 17 , 28 - 30 ]. At the time of its implementation, the legal representatives of the Altinho municipality and Sítio Carão village were contacted and informed about the objectives of the project, at which point the Family Health Program agents operating in the locality intermediated contact with the informants [ 17 , 28 - 30 ]. Each person involved was asked to sign a Term of Free and Informed Consent (FICT) (according to resolution 196/96 National Health Service) to authorize the collection, use and publication of data [ 12 ]. At this stage in the project, a census was held in which all the people of the village were approached. Thus, all the households in the village were visited, and at least one resident of each household was interviewed. From the total 189 inhabitants, 112 agreed to participate in the survey (men and/or women over 18 years who were heads of households). Regarding the profile of the respondents, over half claimed to be illiterate and to work as farmers; the other half stated that they were involved with various activities in the municipality as a means of earning an income.

Initially, there was a semi-structured interview with each informant to gather information about the popular names of plants in the region (presented in the Table 1 ), their uses, and collection sites, among other data. The uses of plants cited by informants included the following categories: a) abortive substance - plants used to promote abortion; b) alimentation - this category included all the fruit trees and native plants from which the locals extract resources for human food; c) craftwork - plants that are used in manufacturing handicrafts; d) construction - plants used as elements in building structures that are used for territorial delimitation, e.g., rafters, lines, fences and stakes; e) ecology - plants that serve as food for local wildlife or that have other observed ecological relationships; f) fuel wood - plants used as firewood or charcoal; g) forage - plants used in animal feeding; h) medicinal purposes - plants used as some form of medication for residents; i) technology - refers to the use of plants that undergo transformations from the original raw material but are not designated for use in area delimitation, for example, tool handles and plants used to make furniture; and j) veterinary uses. To ensure that only native plants were examined in the analysis for this study, interviews that exclusively cited plants collected in yards or purchased somewhere out of town were not considered. Of a total of 112 interviews, 88 that mentioned woody plants found on the hills (native vegetation) were used as the basis for the inventory interviews and participatory workshop.

Plant species cited in the general interviews, recognized in the participative workshop and inventory interviews with their popular names and respective categories of use (regarded during the survey) in the village Sitio Carão, Altinho municipality, Pernambuco (NE Brazil)


(Allemao) A.C.Sm.	amburana, umburana açu, cumaru	Alimentation, construction, fuelwood, medicinal purposes, technology, veterinarian uses.
(Vell.) Brenan	angico	Fuelwood, construction, medicinal purposes, technology, veterinarian uses.
(Bong.) Steud.	mororó, pata-de-vaca	Alimentation, construction, fuelwood, medicinal purposes, technology.
sp.		Alimentation.
L.	cedro	Construction, medicinal purposes, technology, veterinarian uses.
Barneby e Grimes	jurema branca	Alimentation, construction, forage, fuelwood, medicinal purposes, technology.
A.St.-Hil.	barriguda	Alimentation, technology.
(Mart.) J.B.Gillett	imburana, imburana braba, umburana	Alimentation, construction, medicinal purposes, technology.
Baill.	rama branca, sacatinga	Construction, fuelwood, medicinal purposes, technology, veterinarian uses.
Baill.	marmeleiro	Construction, fuelwood, medicinal purposes, technology, veterinarian uses.
Kunth	velame	Medicinal purposes, technology.
Willd.	mulungu	Alimentation, construction, craftwork, medicinal purposes, technology, veterinarian uses.
Cambess	ubaia	Alimentation, construction, ecology, fuelwood.
sp.	batinga	Alimentation, fuelwood.
(Netto) Furlan	piranha	Construction, fuelwood, medicinal purposes, technology, veterinarian uses.
Mattos	pau d’arco or pau d’arco roxo	Construction, fuelwood, medicinal purposes, technology.
(Pohl) Baill.	pinhão bravo, pinhão	Construction, medicinal purposes.
(Mart. ex Tul.) L.P.Queiroz	jucá, pau-ferro	Alimentation, construction, fuelwood, medicinal purposes, technology, veterinarian uses.
Ule.	maniçoba	Abortive substance, alimentation, fuelwood, medicinal purposes, technology.
Mart.	bom nome, rompe jibão	Alimentation, construction, fuelwood, medicinal purposes, technology.
Allemao	aroeira	Construction, fuelwood, medicinal purposes, technology.
(Mart.) O.Berg	jabuticaba	Alimentation, medicinal purposes.
(Benth.) Ducke	amorosa, jurema rasga beiço	Construction, fuelwood.
(Tul.) L.P.Queiroz	catingueira	Alimentation, construction, fuelwood, medicinal purposes, technology.
(Müll.Arg.) Huber	burra leiteira	Construction, technology.
Engl.	baraúna or braúna	Construction, fuelwood, medicinal purposes, technology.
(Benth.) H.S.Irwin e Barneby	canafístula, canafista	Craftwork, construction, technology.
Arruda	umbu or pé de umbu	Alimentation, fuelwood, medicinal purposes.
Noblick.	coqueiro catolé	Alimentation, construction, medicinal purposes, technology.
sp.	coqueiro miudinho	Medicinal purposes.
Mart.	juazeiro	Alimentation, construction, fuelwood, forage, medicinal purposes.

Inventory interview

An inventory interview [ 35 ] was conducted in which two members appointed by the community were brought to the area where we carried out the sampling of vegetation (phytosociological) (see “Vegetation sampling”), and the chosen specimens were presented to the informants in an interview with a runtime of 4 h, in which they were asked about the names of the species and their uses. These informants are locally recognized as having deep knowledge of the local native vegetation. One of them is younger (approximately 20 years old) and has always accompanied and supported our team in field work, and the other one is older (approximately 60 years) and very active, and he walks through local vegetation searching for plant resources.

Participatory workshop

The entire community was invited to the workshop on the occasion of each house call; residents were given information on the purpose of the workshop and an invitation with the date and location where it would be held. All the villagers were asked to participate, regardless of whether they were local experts. To conduct the workshop, the participants were divided into three groups to optimize time and facilitate the collection of information. People were drawn at random to assemble the groups proportionally and to form more heterogeneous groups, which were then presented with exsiccates and photographs of the 62 plant species recorded during the phytosociological inventory (see “Vegetation sampling”). The participants were shown exsiccates and photographs of the leaf, bark, inner bark and, when present, flower and fruit using a laptop monitor (Figure 1 ). The duration of the participatory workshop was 90 min, and the number of participants ranged between 24 and 32, with between 8 and 12 people per group. The variation was due to the arrival of people after the start of the workshop or departure before the end. We asked about the names of the species and their uses during workshop.

As a single botanical species may have different common names within the same community, during its six years of research the team of the Laboratory of Applied and Theoretical Ethnobiology (LEA) have sought to crosscheck the names that local residents have given each plant in the locality. Thus, it was possible to record the correct recognition of the species names by the community using exsiccates and photographs.

Vegetation sampling

The criteria used to select the two areas for vegetation sampling were that there was no record of the land being used for agriculture (Area 1) or that the land had been abandoned for nearly 30 years after being used for agricultural planting (Area 2).

There were 20 rectangular plots of 10 m × 20 m installed in each area for a total of 40 plots, constituting 0.8 ha in total. Additionally, 400 point quadrants were installed in each area for a total of 800 quadrant points.

Analysis of data

To check for significant differences in the proportion of plant species recorded using the investigated methods, Cochran’s Q test was applied using BioStat 5.0 software [ 36 ] to analyze the 62 species recorded during the phytosociological inventories in Serra do Letreiro . For the analysis, a matrix of present and absent species was created for each method to assess whether there was a significant difference in the proportion of species recorded per method. In this matrix, the present species were those mentioned during the interview and recognized during the participatory workshop or inventory interview. Absent species were those not mentioned in the interview and not recognized in the participatory workshop or inventory interview. For this analysis, three groups were created for each method and the proportion of species in each from among the 62 registered was compared.

Using the results obtained in the general interview, the use value (UV) of the plant species was calculated following an adaptation of the Phillips and Gentry [ 37 ] method, as created by Rossato et al. [ 38 ] and Silva et al. [ 39 ], using the following formula:

Where UV is = the use value of the species s mentioned by the informant i ; ΣU is = the number of uses of species s mentioned in each event by the informant i ; n is = the number of events in which the informant i cited species s .

Of the total number of native species recorded (62 were recorded in the inventory of vegetation), 31 species were mentioned during the interview and also recognized during the inventory interview and participatory workshop (Table 1 ). The use value of this group of species was correlated with the relative density (RD = 100ne/N, where ne = the number of individuals sampled within species e and N = the total number of individuals sampled, regardless of species) and importance value (IV = RD + RF + RBA).

RFs = 100AFs / ΣAFs , where AFs = the absolute frequency of species s (%) and ΣAFs = the sum of all absolute frequencies of each species and that RBA = 100BAs /BA, where BA s = the absolute basal area of species s and BA = the absolute basal area (m 2 ) of all the individual plants, regardless of species, obtained in the inventory of the vegetation plots using the sample plot method and point-centered quarter method in two areas with different disturbance histories.

Although the importance value also considers relative density, other parameters can influence its final value; therefore, the analysis was conducted in this manner to determine whether there were differences in the results obtained from the distinct vegetation sampling methods and those obtained from the different sampling locations. This approach was also used to determine whether there could be a bias in the interpretation of the ecological apparency hypothesis depending on the history of its ecological use in the location sampled and the method used. In addition to these analyses, it should be possible to correlate the identification of species to the structure of the vegetation. This analysis was performed based on the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient using BioStat 5.0 software [ 36 ].

Methods used in ethnobotanical studies for accessing local knowledge about native plants

Of the 62 species listed in the participatory workshop, 38 were recognized, nine were mistaken for different species, and 15 were not identified. In the inventory interview, 44 species were identified, 17 were not recognized, and one was confused with another species. Of all the species presented during the participatory workshop and the inventory interview and mentioned during the semi-structured interview, 31 were mentioned in all methods (Table 1 ), three were recognized only in the participatory workshop, five were recognized only in the inventory interview, and 29 were cited during the semi-structured interview with the community and were not recorded in the phytosociological inventory. The total number of native species recorded by the semi-structured interview was 49. In the inventory interview and participatory workshop, the identity of the plants was previously known by the researchers, and an error was considered to be made when the informants had different names for species than the community had previously submitted.

These differences between the methods are significant. The application of Cochran’s Q test confirmed distinctions between the proportions of species recognized and listed in the methods (Q = 13.37, df = 2, p = 0.0013), with the inventory interview being the most efficient method for recording useful species.

Relationship between use value and vegetation structure from the application of different methods for inventorying the vegetation in places with different histories of disturbance

The species with the highest use values (UV) were Chloroleucon extortum Barneby and Grimes, Calliandra sp., Croton blanchetianus Baill., Libidibia ferrea (Mart. ex Tul.) L.P.Queiroz and Chorisia speciosa A.St.-Hil, all of which had a UV above 1 (Table 2 ). The results obtained from the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient comparing UV, RD and IV obtained from the sample plot and point-centered quarter methods indicated no correlation between UV, IV and RD for the sample plot method in Area 1 (rs = 0.25, p = 0.22 and rs = -0.18, p = 0.35, respectively) or between RD, UV and IV for the point-centered quarter method in Area 1 (rs = - .12, p = 0.56 and rs = -0.08, p = 0.7, respectively). This result suggests that species with a high UV in Area 1 are not the most abundant.

Data about the use value (UV) obtained in the general interview with the community and the relative density (RD) and importance value (IV) for the two phytosociological methods studied in the two areas



(Allemao) A.C.Sm.	0.5	0.1	0.8	-	-	1.04	1.99	-	-
(Vell.) Brenan	0.75	0.19	0.8	0.05	0.27	0.87	2.54	0.59	2.42
(Bong.) Steud.	0.82	11.13	9.61	4.3	4.52	19.73	20.93	15.91	13.62
(Mart. ex Tul.) L.P.Queiroz	1.15	0.1	3.47	-	0.13	0.44	10.19	-	2.44
(Tul.) L.P.Queiroz	0.5	4.13	3.47	6.56	7.18	9.74	8.28	23.63	68.24
sp.	1	1.73	-	-	-	4.29	-	-	-
L.	1.58	1.63	2.54	-	-	8.1	18.51	-	-
Barneby e Grimes	0.8	2.69	4.14	-	-	7.13	12.15	-	-
A.St.-Hil.	2	0.19	0.93	0.05	0.13	0.51	4.58	1.2	0.51
(Mart.) J.B.Gillett	1.07	3.36	7.21	3.17	5.05	13.13	28.13	21.42	17.26
Baill.	0.56	5.66	3.47	3.55	2.53	10.84	7.87	8.53	6.71
Baill.	0.65	8.83	7.21	59.6	55.19	17.67	17.14	115.81	112.3
Kunth	1	0.1	-	0.11	0.27	0.44	-	0.6	0.5
Willd.	1.25	0.86	0.93	-	0.13	4.03	5.01	-	0.39
sp.	1	3.36	2.67	4.25	0.66	8.25	7.52	17.47	2.26
(Netto) Furlan	1	2.3	0.93	0.05	-	6.18	2.38	0.55	-
(Pohl) Baill.	0.6	2.78	2.94	1.29	2.79	6.95	6.65	7.53	7.68
	1	-	-	0.05	-	-	-	0.63	-
sp.	1	2.11	4.14	0.48	0.43	6.09	10.99	3.12	2.21
Mart.	0.82	0.19	0.53	-	-	0.53	2.34	-	-
Allemao	0.93	2.11	3.34	1.72	2.36	7.93	10.28	12.29	7.03
(Mart.) O.Berg	0.5	1.25	2.4	0.16	1.24	3.92	7.95	0.75	8.54
(Benth.) Ducke	0.63	1.92	6.14	1.18	0.25	4.27	14.96	7.11	5.5
sp.	1	3.07	3.87	0.27	0.4	8.92	9.74	2.76	1.22
Engl.	0.6	1.54	1.2	-	-	6.65	4.75	-	-
Arruda	1	0.29	0.67	0.16	0.66	1.83	3.41	1.2	4.84
sp.	1	2.11	2.14	-	-	39.98	6.61	-	-
Mattos	0.68	2.78	2.27	0.22	0.22	9.86	8.84	2.33	0.56
No identified plant	1	0.1	0.13	-	-	0.49	1.48	-	-

PA1 = Results for the sample plot method for Area 1; QA1 = Results of the point-centered quarter method for Area 1; PA2 = Results for the sample plot method for Area 2; QA2 = Results of the point-centered quarter method for Area 2, in Sítio Carão , Altinho municipality, Pernambuco (NE Brazil).

There was no correlation between RD, UV and IV for the sample plot method in Area 2 (rs = - .37, p = 0.14 and rs = -0.2, p = 0.41, respectively). However, there was negative correlation between RD, UV and IV for the point-centered quarter method in Area 2 (rs = - .53, p = 0.02 and rs = -0.59, p = 0.0008, respectively). Consequently, species with the highest UV had the lowest RD and IV (Table 2 ). Among them, Libidibia ferrea (Mart. ex Tul.) L.P. Queiroz (Pau-ferro), Chorisia speciosa A.St.-Hil. (Barriguda) and Erythrina velutina Willd. (Mulungu) showed the highest UV (above 1) and the lowest RD (0.13%). In relation to IV, these species correspond to only 3.34% of the total IV. It is evident that there are significant relationships between the UV and phytosociological parameters, depending on the location and the type of vegetation sampling.

The participatory workshop resulted in a greater number of errors in the identification of plants, which is related to the biological material being presented outside of the original plant environment. By using exsiccates and photographs as visual stimuli, plant naming and identification become more problematic because the botanical and ecological details are absent [ 16 , 35 ]. Photographs in particular are difficult because the informant does not have access to the tactile and olfactory information necessary for the accurate identification of plants [ 18 ]. The recognition of plants through pictures can be improved if an object of known size or dimension is placed beside the biological material before photographing. Another feature that can be useful in the recognition of species is making a cut on the plant’s bark, a procedure used by many people in the field to aid in the recognition of plants.

Therefore, in situations in which one wishes to know the identity of a plant, the recommendation is to pay attention to the photographs and exsiccates used as visual stimuli. However, if the plant identity has already been established, these tools can be effective for obtaining more information about the plant, especially in cases in which the community member is elderly or would have some difficulty in being relocated to the field [ 16 ].

Unlike the use of photographs and exsiccates in participatory workshops, the inventory interview has the same advantage as the guided tour reported by Medeiros et al. [ 40 ]: they both provide for the observation of the plant in its unique biological and ecological context. The inventory interview included more citations of species recorded in the vegetation because ecological characteristics are of great importance in the recognition of plant species by parataxonomists [ 8 , 14 ]. The only limitation would be the difficulty of relocating elderly informants or those with limited mobility to the field.

Consequently, the involvement of parataxonomists is of great importance in the diagnostic process of local flora. Janzen and Hallwachs [ 41 ] argue that despite their lack of formal higher education, parataxonomists have shown themselves to be a group of great interest because they are able to absorb and work around the complex factors related to biodiversity, providing accurate inventory at levels similar or superior to those provided by undergraduate and postgraduate students. Jinxiu et al. [ 8 ] compared the recognition of plant species by taxonomists and parataxonomists on a given field over a year and found that the parataxonomists were able to recognize more plant species than the taxonomists. Cunha and Albuquerque [ 42 ] found that local informants recognized more than 95% of the plant species presented to them.

Among the limitations of involving parataxonomists would be the fact that they recognize only those species within their cultural field or those that they have encountered through their personal experiences [ 14 ]. Thus, the involvement of parataxonomists in rapid assessments is recommended, especially on occasions in which there is a pre-existing inventory of species found in the field.

The identification of the plants recognized by informants is vital to avoiding the distortion of future references. This would be an advantage of presenting the biological material in its original context, as the researcher is able to ensure the identity of the plant cited. It is important for the researchers to pay close attention when conducting in-home interviews, especially when no pre-interview research has been performed because one botanical species can be associated with several names and because several species may have the same popular name [ 9 - 11 ].

By comparing the plants recorded at Sitio Carão with those from other regions, it has been found, for example, that Rhamnidium molle Reissek is known as sassafras ; in contrast, the Fulniô Indians in the Águas Belas municipality in Pernambuco recognize the species Ditaxis malpighiacea (Ule) Pax e K. Hoffm as sassafras [ 22 ]. Allophylus quercifolius (Mart.) Rasdlk. is recognized as estralador in the community of Riachão de Malhada de Pedra , Caruaru municipality in Pernambuco [ 43 ], though estralador is a species of Myrtaceae for the residents of Sitio Carão . Thus, the validity or consistency of popular names will be limited to each location.

In this study, the high richness of species exclusively recorded in semi-structured interviews cannot be interpreted as an advantage of this technique because the other methods used in this comparison (inventory interview and participatory workshop) were dependent on the diversity recorded in vegetation sampling. Thus, the sample size of the vegetation inventoried in this study (0.8 ha) may have been insufficient to register a greater richness of native species. By consequence, the informants who participated in the participatory workshop and inventory interview may have been introduced to a lower species richness that is not representative of what they actually know. Added to this, the time effort devoted to semi-structured interviews was higher than in other methods.

Although the inventory interview requires more time for execution, it is the most recommended method because it not only enables a more complete record of the species occurring in the region but also ensures more accurate identifications. For researchers to reduce the amount of time it takes to conduct a vegetation inventory, they may choose to use the point-centered quarter method because it requires less time in its application and fewer workers in the field [ 44 , 45 ]. Another useful recommendation for selecting the locations of units to be used for vegetation inventory is the deployment and distribution of the units in landscapes with different histories of disturbance to accommodate the largest possible number of environments and plant species [ 46 - 48 ].

Many of the species identified using these methods are among the least abundant or have a smaller IV and an elevated UV. This is due to the cultural prominence of the species or to the recognition of these species in the active memories of the participants, and they are therefore more frequently cited or remembered. This prominence can be related to the well-known presence of these plants, which is not necessarily related to their abundance, their stature or size [ 14 ], their inner properties (e.g., medicinal properties due to chemical composition), or cultural preferences, such as fashion or tastes. Thus, species with low abundance or IV may have a higher UV due to being cited more often. For example, L. ferrea (Pau-ferro), C. speciosa (Barriguda) and E. velutina (Mulungu) have low values of RD and IV (Table 2 ); however because these are large species, they are better known in the community, which facilitates their recognition, recall and utility and consequently raises their UV.

The relationship between the vegetation structure and the use value of plant species still lacks a clear-cut pattern in the scientific literature. Although the purpose of this study was to show the influence of methodological choice in studies about ecological apparency for more clarification about the ecological apparency hypothesis see [ 48 ], it was realized that this relationship was not significant in the community of Sítio Carão and that insignificant relationship is independent of the ecological tool used or the level of disturbance of the sample surveyed area. However, some studies have identified significant and positive relationships between use and availability of plant resources [ 49 - 51 ]. A recent example can be seen in Gueze et al. [ 52 ], where in a random vegetation sample by plots the authors found significant relationships between the use value and the ecological importance of tree species in the Bolivian Amazon, providing further support to the hypothesis that people attach more uses to the species that are more apparent in the forest.

The use of semi-structured interviews allows the recognition of the most prominent species of a particular cultural field [ 53 , 54 ], and these species are cited because they are present in a person’s active memory. Incorporating the semi-structured interview as a tool for the rapid assessment of diversity is an excellent method for species inventories if there is no pre-existing inventory of vegetation, which also allows UV calculation. The use of a pre-existing vegetation inventory may allow for easier recognition of the species, as it would provide availability to previously recognized vegetation.

For some researchers, the structural importance of certain taxa was correlated with their UV [ 13 ], whereas other groups have concluded that not all species are used in accordance with high values of phytosociological parameters [ 24 ]. According to the results observed in this study, these differences may be related to the location and methods chosen for sampling vegetation. Galeano [ 13 ] used transects extended over 10 km, and Tacher et al. [ 24 ] used secondary data of species recorded in Mexico. To select areas with the largest number of species, the researcher should select sites that are well preserved. The point-centered quarter method is a sampling tool that is useful in this regard, in addition to being faster than the sample plot method [ 43 , 44 ].

Among the ethnobotanical methods assessed in this work, the inventory interview proved to be the best for registering local species. Although it requires more time and investment, as it is necessary to perform a vegetation inventory, there can be a greater guarantee of correctly identifying the botanic species; furthermore, the informant is able to better identify the plants presented, even if they were not identified during participative workshops.

If researchers wish to collect information from the elderly or other members of the community who may have difficulties performing the interview in situ, they may present visual stimuli, such as photographs or exsiccates. However, researchers should offer additional information to the informants to facilitate their recreation of the plant’s original environment.

In cases in which immediate ethnobotanical inventory is necessary, researchers can opt to hold a census by means of semi-structured interviews conducted with all the adults of the community or with a representative group of this population. However, it needs to be accepted that only the most prominent species and those most easily remembered will be cited, while other species found in the community will most likely not be included in the inventory. For researchers to optimize their time, it is better to utilize the point-centered quarter method than the sample plot method. It is also recommended that samples from different areas in the landscape with different histories of disturbance be gathered to record as many different environments and species as possible.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interest.

Authors’ contributions

All authors participated in the design of the study and the writing of the paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Carão community for their disposition and good will in participating in this study, especially Alexandre Oliveira de Nascimento, and CNPq for the productivity grant conceded to UPA and for the financial support for the research (Proc. 471989/2012-6). The authors also thank the anonymous reviewers for their important contributions.

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Silva VAS, Nascimento VT, Soldati GT, Medeiros MFT, Albuquerque UP. In: Methods and techniques in Ethnobiology and Ethnoecology. Albuquerque U, da Cruz Cunha L, Lucena R, Alves R, editor. New York: Springer; 2014. Techniques for analysis of quantitative ethnobiological data: use of indices; pp. 379–395. [ Google Scholar ]
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Published: 10 June 2014

Evaluating different methods used in ethnobotanical and ecological studies to record plant biodiversity

Henrique Costa Hermenegildo Silva 1 ,
Rinaldo Luiz Ferreira Caraciolo 2 ,
Luiz Carlos Marangon 2 ,
Marcelo Alves Ramos 3 ,
Lucilene Lima Santos 4 &
Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque 5

Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine volume 10 , Article number: 48 ( 2014 ) Cite this article

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To reduce the time spent in data collection in the field, Jinxiu et al. [ 8 ] recommended the involvement of parataxonomists, i.e., people who identify biological samples without having had formal training in taxonomy and systematics [ 9 – 11 ]. In addition to aiding with the identification of species samples, parataxonomists have helped to preserve local knowledge.

Apart from the involvement of parataxonomists, interviews conducted with a representative group of the population have been an important tool in data collection, allowing the profiling of plant knowledge in the community [ 19 ] and assisting in the establishment of conservation strategies using various forms of analysis [ 20 – 22 ]. Abba and Cassini [ 23 ] concluded that in addition to providing low-cost and reliable results, interviews effectively contributed to ecological research on three species of armadillos ( Chaetophractus villosus , C. vellerosus and Dasypus hybridus ) in the Argentinean Pampas and were an important tool in making decisions about soil use and management. Another important methodological aspect to be evaluated is the method of vegetation sampling. In some ethnobotanical studies, it is common to analyze whether the structural composition of the vegetation may be related to the relative importance of the plants for the local community, as supported by the ecological apparency hypothesis [ 13 , 24 , 25 ]. The use value [ 25 ] has been the parameter used to draw conclusions about the cultural importance of certain plants to the human community. However, it is possible that different methods lead to different results. Galeano [ 13 ] found a positive correlation between species with the highest use and species that are most important structurally, whereas Tacher et al. [ 24 ] found no such relationship. Therefore, due to the importance of the vegetation inventory, there is a need to compare the influence of different methods of sampling vegetation (with the most common being the sample plot and point-centered quarter methods) and their correlation with use value.

Material and Methods

The study was conducted in a village known as Sítio Carão , located in the municipality of Altinho, in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil . The village selected for the study is situated 16 km from downtown Altinho, which is located 163.1 km from the state’s capital. At the time of this study, the population of the village was 189 inhabitants (112 were over 18 years of age, consisting of 67 women and 45 men); the local language is Portuguese. The village has an elementary school (to complete their studies, the children travel to downtown Altinho); there is also a Catholic church and a Protestant church [ 17 , 26 – 30 ]. The central point of the village is located at coordinates 08°35’13.5”S and 36°05’34.6”W.

Data collection

Semi-structured interview with the community

Data from semi-structured interviews have been collected since 2006 by the research group of the Laboratory of Applied and Theoretical Ethnobiology (LEA) of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco [ 17 , 28 – 30 ]. At the time of its implementation, the legal representatives of the Altinho municipality and Sítio Carão village were contacted and informed about the objectives of the project, at which point the Family Health Program agents operating in the locality intermediated contact with the informants [ 17 , 28 – 30 ]. Each person involved was asked to sign a Term of Free and Informed Consent (FICT) (according to resolution 196/96 National Health Service) to authorize the collection, use and publication of data [ 12 ]. At this stage in the project, a census was held in which all the people of the village were approached. Thus, all the households in the village were visited, and at least one resident of each household was interviewed. From the total 189 inhabitants, 112 agreed to participate in the survey (men and/or women over 18 years who were heads of households). Regarding the profile of the respondents, over half claimed to be illiterate and to work as farmers; the other half stated that they were involved with various activities in the municipality as a means of earning an income.

Inventory interview

Participatory workshop

Vegetation sampling

Analysis of data

Methods used in ethnobotanical studies for accessing local knowledge about native plants

Relationship between use value and vegetation structure from the application of different methods for inventorying the vegetation in places with different histories of disturbance

The relationship between the vegetation structure and the use value of plant species still lacks a clear-cut pattern in the scientific literature. Although the purpose of this study was to show the influence of methodological choice in studies about ecological apparency for more clarification about the ecological apparency hypothesis see [ 48 ], it was realized that this relationship was not significant in the community of Sítio Carão and that insignificant relationship is independent of the ecological tool used or the level of disturbance of the sample surveyed area. However, some studies have identified significant and positive relationships between use and availability of plant resources [ 49 – 51 ]. A recent example can be seen in Gueze et al. [ 52 ], where in a random vegetation sample by plots the authors found significant relationships between the use value and the ecological importance of tree species in the Bolivian Amazon, providing further support to the hypothesis that people attach more uses to the species that are more apparent in the forest.

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Silva, H.C.H., Caraciolo, R.L.F., Marangon, L.C. et al. Evaluating different methods used in ethnobotanical and ecological studies to record plant biodiversity. J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine 10 , 48 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-10-48

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This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction The Development of Ethnobotany Methods in Ethnobotany Classic Case Studies and their Contributions to Ethnobotanical Praxis Conclusion
PDF Concepts and Methods in Studies Measuring Individual Ethnobotanical
rences that can be drawn from empirical analyses of ethnobotanical knowledge. Future research should 1) validate the consistency of measures of individual ethnobotanical knowledge; 2) analyze the reliability of data generated by the different methods developed so far; and 3) addres. the relationship between the various dimensions of ...
Ethnobotany
Ethnobotanists use different methods and materials for their ethnobotanical studies, including ancient writings, surveys, discussions with key informants, and field investigations of the relationship between the plants and human beings.
Collecting Ethnobotanical Data: An Introduction to Basic ...
The notion of culture as consensus raises two important and related methodological problems in ethnobotanical studies: the degree to which ethnobotanical knowledge is shared within a community or ethnic group and the problem of adequate sampling.
An Introduction to ethnoecology and ethnobotany. Theory and Methods
human benefit. Ethnobotany was a term first suggested by John Harshberger in 1896 to delimit a specific field of botany and describe plant uses. It was defined as "the use of plants by aboriginal peoples" (cited in Cotton, 1996). Ethnobotanical studies based largely on qualitative methods and had all too often been just academic exercises or
Ethnobotany as a Pharmacological Research Tool and Recent Developments
While bioprospecting did guide ethnobotanical research in the past, today the goals of ethnobotany have shifted toward understanding the human study population and exploring the meaning behind the relationship among peoples and plants in a full spectrum of cultures.
Methods and Techniques Applied to Ethnobotanical Studies of Timber
In the studies of general plant resources, the categories of use that include timber products are diluted and lack a more comprehensive approach. As the subject of timber use has been largely neglected in the ethnobotanical studies, there is an lack standardization and methodological consistency. Therefore, in this chapter, we introduce the ...
Ethnobotany: major developments of a discipline abroad, reflected in
Ethnobotany describes the relationship between people and plants. Research illustrating this relationship, both in New Zealand and abroad, is largely scattered throughout a number of disciplines including anthropology, botany and ecology. This review examines the ethnobotany field overall and evaluates the contributions made in three main areas ...
Ethnobotany: The Study of People-Plant Relationships
This knowledge might be highly valuable for many purposes. To enhance ethnobotanical research on homegardens and encourage a discussion of proper methodology, this article presents tools and methods used to collect data in the multidisciplinary study of homegardens in Chiapas,Mexico; Eastern Tyrol, Austria; and Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Tools and Methods for Data Collection in Ethnobotanical Studies of
This knowledge might be highly valuable for many purposes. To enhance ethnobotanical research on homegardens and encourage a discussion of proper methodology, this article presents tools and methods used to collect data in the multidisciplinary study of homegardens in Chiapas,Mexico; Eastern Tyrol, Austria; and Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Tools and Methods for Data Collection in Ethnobotanical Studies of
To enhance ethnobotanical research on homegardens and encourage a. discussion of proper methodology, this article presents tools and methods used to. collect data in the multidisciplinary study of ...
Evaluating different methods used in ethnobotanical and ecological
Therefore, this study aimed to: a) compare the efficiency of recording species according to methods for accessing local knowledge about native resources used in ethnobotanical studies (semi-structured interviews, inventory interviews, and a participatory workshop with visual stimuli); and b) analyze whether plant recognition is related to the ...
Back Matter
forgotten fiungi and bryophytes anid the hard-to-collect palms. Also ilncltided are sectiolis onl the developmenit of ethniobotanical research protocols, the methodologies for observing and recordinig interactionis between people anld planits, and examples of quanititative miiethods in ethnobotanical fieldwork.
Evaluating different methods used in ethnobotanical and ecological
Background This study compares the efficiency of identifying the plants in an area of semi-arid Northeast Brazil by methods that a) access the local knowledge used in ethnobotanical studies using semi-structured interviews conducted within the entire community, an inventory interview conducted with two participants using the previously collected vegetation inventory, and a participatory ...

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Ethnobotany

Medicinal Plants

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1. Introduction

1.2 Applied ethnobotany and ethnoecology

2. Ethnobotany in history

3. Ethnobotanical knowledge and modern science

4. Plant collection and identification

5. Ethnobotany research and their applications

6. Conservation of medicinal plants

7. Conclusion

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Methods and Techniques Applied to Ethnobotanical Studies of Timber Resources

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Timber Resources

Theories and Major Hypotheses in Ethnobotany

Mexican Ethnobotany: Interactions of People and Plants in Mesoamerica

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Ethnobotany: The Study of People-Plant Relationships

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Evaluating different methods used in ethnobotanical and ecological studies to record plant biodiversity

Rinaldo Luiz Ferreira Caraciolo

Luiz Carlos Marangon

Lucilene Lima Santos

Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque

Material and Methods

Data collection

Semi-structured interview with the community

Inventory interview

Participatory workshop

Vegetation sampling

Analysis of data

Methods used in ethnobotanical studies for accessing local knowledge about native plants

Relationship between use value and vegetation structure from the application of different methods for inventorying the vegetation in places with different histories of disturbance

Competing interests

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Acknowledgements

Evaluating different methods used in ethnobotanical and ecological studies to record plant biodiversity

Material and Methods

Data collection

Semi-structured interview with the community

Inventory interview

Participatory workshop

Vegetation sampling

Analysis of data

Methods used in ethnobotanical studies for accessing local knowledge about native plants

Relationship between use value and vegetation structure from the application of different methods for inventorying the vegetation in places with different histories of disturbance

Acknowledgements

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Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine

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