Papers by Selene Rangel Landa
Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 2016
Background: Studying motives of plant management allows understanding processes that originated a... more Background: Studying motives of plant management allows understanding processes that originated agriculture and current forms of traditional technology innovation. Our work analyses the role of native plants in the Ixcatec subsistence, management practices, native plants biocultural importance, and motivations influencing management decisions. Cultural and ecological importance and management complexity may differ among species according with their use value and availability. We hypothesized that decreasing risk in availability of resources underlies the main motives of management, but curiosity, aesthetic, and ethical values may also be determinant. Methods: Role of plants in subsistence strategies, forms of use and management was documented through 130 semi-structured interviews and participant observation. Free listing interviews to 38 people were used to estimate the cognitive importance of species used as food, medicine, fuel, fodder, ornament and ceremonial. Species ecological importance was evaluated through sampling vegetation in 22 points. Principal Components Analysis were performed to explore the relation between management, cultural and ecological importance and estimating the biocultural importance of native species. Results: We recorded 627 useful plant species, 589 of them native. Livelihood strategies of households rely on agriculture, livestock and multiple use of forest resources. At least 400 species are managed, some of them involving artificial selection. Management complexity is the main factor reflecting the biocultural importance of plant species, and the weight of ecological importance and cultural value varied among use types. Management strategies aim to ensure resources availability, to have them closer, to embellish human spaces or satisfying ethical principles. Conclusion: Decisions about plants management are influenced by perception of risk to satisfy material needs, but immaterial principles are also important. Studying such relation is crucial for understanding past and present technological innovation processes and understand the complex process of developing biocultural legacy.
Gaia Scientia, Dec 29, 2014
El uso de especies de palma del género Brahea es muy antiguo y la cultura de su aprovechamiento e... more El uso de especies de palma del género Brahea es muy antiguo y la cultura de su aprovechamiento es vigente y retribuye importantes beneficios económicos para la subsistencia de numerosas comunidades rurales en México. El Valle de Tehuacán-Cuicatlán existen docenas de localidades donde la extracción de hojas de B. dulcis para el tejido de sombreros, constituye una de las principales actividades económicas con un papel especial en la vida diaria y la cultura. En el presente trabajo se documenta el conocimiento que tienen los habitantes de Santa María Ixcatlán sobre las especies de Brahea. Esta es la única localidad donde se encuentran el grupo originario de los ixcatecos. Se evalúa el papel del aprovechamiento de las hojas de palma en la subsistencia de esta comunidad y el impacto del aprovechamiento en la diversidad de las comunidades vegetales. La perspectiva de aprovechamiento sustentable de este recurso tiene un componente económico y social asociado a la gestión de mercados justos pues en la actualidad los artesanos son superexplotados en la red de comercialización. Tiene también un componente ecológico pues las estrategias para aumentar la disponibilidad de materia prima a través de promover la expansión de palmares tiene un costo en pérdida de diversidad biológica forestal. Estrategias de control de las áreas de palmar y restauración d áreas transformadas deben combinarse para garantizar su aprovechamiento sustentable. Palabras chave: Brahea dulcis, Brahea nitida, etnobotánica, ixcatecos, palma criolla, Valle de Tehuacán-Cuicatlán transformadas devem ser combinados para garantir seu uso sustentável.
Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation, 2019
Vegetation maps have been key tools for synthesizing large amounts of information and supporting ... more Vegetation maps have been key tools for synthesizing large amounts of information and supporting geographical location of biodiversity. Traditional vegetation map development demands acquisition and processing of expensive supplies, expertise of qualified interpreters and extensive fieldwork; nevertheless vegetation maps are crucial in areas where conservation policies ought to be rapidly produced, as it is the case of the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley which was recently declared a hotspot of biocultural heritage of highly important conservation. Currently, mapping approaches that integrate plant diversity outcomes, expert knowledge and land cover information are still scarce. In this study we combined free access cartographic data and expert knowledge to develop a vegetation map, in order to provide basic criteria for decisions on conservation of regional biocultural diversity. Bioclimatic regionalization, georeferenced fieldwork, over 30 years of vegetation outcomes and expert knowledge enabled us to develop a novel method for vegetation mapping. Climatic, lithologic and topographic affinities were used as main criteria for map class reassignment. Field verification allowed quantifying an acceptable certainty of class assignation. Our comprehensive approach proved fundamental for developing a detailed vegetation map elucidating complex vegetation diversity patterns. The classification scheme here proposed increased almost twofold that of the original land cover map. Regarding the outstanding plant diversity harbored, the extent of the study area (~ 12 000 km2) and the scale of the vegetation map obtained, we regarded the map certainty as meaningful. To conclude, the present vegetation map proved to be a powerful communication tool to facilitate sound conservation policy making.
Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
Background Interactions between humans and fauna lay in the heart of the history of human subsist... more Background Interactions between humans and fauna lay in the heart of the history of human subsistence. In Mesoamerica, the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley (TCV) harbours a high biodiversity with archaeological and ethnoecological evidence of its use by people inhabiting the area since at least 12,000 B.P. It is recognized as one of the most ancient areas of agriculture in the Americas, and a broad spectrum of management practices aimed to ensure the availability of desirable plants has been documented, but it has not been analysed for animals. This study aimed to investigate the use and management practices directed to wild animals along current settlements within the TCV and neighbouring areas. Methods We conducted an extensive search, review and analysis of documental sources for the period between 1967 and 2018. We found 38 documents providing information about the presence of animal species and 15 describing their use and/or management. We included our own observations from four case ...
Sustainability
Palm plants provide important benefits for rural communities around the world. Of the 95 native p... more Palm plants provide important benefits for rural communities around the world. Of the 95 native palm species in Mexico, Brahea dulcis (Soyate palm) has been tagged as an important resource for many Mesoamerican ethnical groups. Scientific and empirical knowledge concerning Soyate is thematically fragmented and disassociated, meaning that sound sustainable management is far from established. Research of over 20 years has permitted us to document ecological, cultural and geographical outcomes of B. dulcis; thus, the present paper aims at compiling all knowledge on Soyate to eventually guide its long-term management. It was conducted in two stages: firstly, it comprised a thorough review of previous studies on the management of B. dulcis in Mexico; secondly, we integrated unpublished outcomes obtained from fieldwork, including participatory ground-truth validation and semi-structured interviews obtained from local ethnic groups. Five factors guided our compilation effort: (i) biologica...
Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad
Biodiversity and Conservation
Vegetation maps have been key tools for synthesizing large amounts of information and supporting ... more Vegetation maps have been key tools for synthesizing large amounts of information and supporting geographical location of biodiversity. Traditional vegetation map development demands acquisition and processing of expensive supplies, expertise of qualified interpreters and extensive fieldwork; nevertheless vegetation maps are crucial in areas where conservation policies ought to be rapidly produced, as it is the case of the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley which was recently declared a hotspot of biocultural heritage of highly important conservation. Currently, mapping approaches that integrate plant diversity outcomes, expert knowledge and land cover information are still scarce. In this study we combined free access cartographic data and expert knowledge to develop a vegetation map, in order to provide basic criteria for decisions on conservation of regional biocultural diversity. Bioclimatic regionalization, georeferenced fieldwork, over 30 years of vegetation outcomes and expert knowledge enabled us to develop a novel method for vegetation mapping. Climatic, lithologic and topographic affinities were used as main criteria for map class reassignment. Field verification allowed quantifying an acceptable certainty of class assignation. Our comprehensive approach proved fundamental for developing a detailed vegetation map elucidating complex vegetation diversity patterns. The classification scheme here proposed increased almost twofold that of the original land cover map. Regarding the outstanding plant diversity harbored, the extent of the study area (~ 12 000 km2) and the scale of the vegetation map obtained, we regarded the map certainty as meaningful. To conclude, the present vegetation map proved to be a powerful communication tool to facilitate sound conservation policy making.
Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
Background: Traditional markets outstandingly contribute to conservation of biocultural diversity... more Background: Traditional markets outstandingly contribute to conservation of biocultural diversity, social relations, and cultural values. These markets reflect life strategies and forms people of a region interact with their biodiversity and territories, as well as traditional ecological knowledge and management practices. To understand the factors motivating plant and mushroom management, we analyzed the resources cultural and economic values, their role in people's subsistence, and the relation of these values with the resources spatial and temporal availability. Our study based on the supposition that traditional markets are settings of interchange of resources with the highest importance for people's life in a region. Also, that the cultural, economic, and ecological factors influence values of the resources, and the demand on them determine pressures on the most valuable resources which, when scarce, motivate management innovation, otherwise become extinct. Methods: We documented cultural, economic, and ecological aspects, as well as management techniques of wild and weedy plants and mushrooms interchanged in three traditional markets of the Pátzcuaro Lake region, in central-western Mexico. For doing that, from February 2015 to March 2018, we conducted 175 visits to markets and 89 semi-structured interviews to producers, gatherers, and sellers of wild and weedy plants and mushrooms. Based on participant observation and interviews, we identified variables related to culture, economic, and ecological aspects, as well as management regimes of resources and management systems, which were documented and used as indicators for quantitative analyses. Through principal components analyses (PCA), we determined the indexes of cultural and economic importance (ICEI), management intensity (IMI), and ecological risk (IR) of the resources studied. For conducting that, we classified plant and mushroom species according to their cultural, economic, ecological, and technological indicators, respectively. The score of the first principal component was considered as the index for each group of variables, respectively. To identify relations between cultural importance and risk, we performed linear regression analyses between ICEI and IR indexes.
Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine, Jan 30, 2017
Identifying factors influencing plant management allows understanding how processes of domesticat... more Identifying factors influencing plant management allows understanding how processes of domestication operate. Uncertain availability of resources is a main motivation for managing edible plants, but little is known about management motives of non-edible resources like medicinal and ceremonial plants. We hypothesized that uncertain availability of resources would be a general factor motivating their management, but other motives could operate simultaneously. Uncertainty and risk might be less important motives in medicinal than in edible plants, while for ceremonial plants, symbolic and spiritual values would be more relevant. We inventoried edible, medicinal, and ceremonial plants in Ixcatlán, Oaxaca, Mexico, and conducted in-depth studies with 20 native and naturalized species per use type; we documented their cultural importance and abundance by interviewing 25 households and sampling vegetation in 33 sites. Consumption amounts and preferences were studied through surveys and free...
Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 2016
Background: Documenting the spectrum of ecosystem management, the roles of forestry and agricultu... more Background: Documenting the spectrum of ecosystem management, the roles of forestry and agricultural biodiversity, TEK, and human culture for food sovereignty, are all priority challenges for contemporary science and society. Ethnoagroforestry is a research approach that provides a theoretical framework integrating socio-ecological disciplines and TEK. We analyze in this study general types of Agroforestry Systems of México, in which peasants, small agriculturalist, and indigenous people are the main drivers of AFS and planning of landscape diversity use. We analyzed the actual and potential contribution of ethnoagroforestry for maintaining diversity of wild and domesticated plants and animals, ecosystems, and landscapes, hypothesizing that ethnoagroforestry management forms may be the basis for food sufficiency and sovereignty in Mexican communities, regions and the whole nation. Methods: We conducted research and systematization of information on Mexican AFS, traditional agriculture, and topics related to food sovereignty from August 2011 to May 2015. We constructed the database Ethnoagroforestry based on information from our own studies, other databases, Mexican and international specialized journals in agroforestry and ethnoecology, catalogues and libraries of universities and research centers, online information, and unpublished theses. We analyzed through descriptive statistical approaches information on agroforestry systems of México including 148 reports on use of plants and 44 reports on use of animals. Results: Maize, beans, squashes and chili peppers are staple Mesoamerican food and principal crops in ethnoagroforestry systems practiced by 21 cultural groups throughout Mexico (19 indigenous people) We recorded on average 121 ± 108 (SD) wild and domesticated plant species, 55 ± 27% (SD) of them being native species; 44 ± 23% of the plant species recorded provide food, some of them having also medicinal, firewood and fodder uses. A total of 684 animal species has been recorded (17 domestic and 667 wild species), mainly used as food (34%). Conclusions: Ethnoagroforestry an emergent research approach aspiring to establish bases for integrate forestry and agricultural diversity, soil, water, and cultural richness. Its main premise is that ethnoagroforestry may provide the bases for food sovereignty and sustainable ecosystem management.
Se presenta un panorama de investigaciones socio-ecológicas sobre manejo tradicional de recursos ... more Se presenta un panorama de investigaciones socio-ecológicas sobre manejo tradicional de recursos vegetales y ecosistemas en distintas regiones de México, con especial énfasis en la región del Valle de Tehuacán, en Puebla y Oaxaca. En una muestra de ocho regiones, se estudiaron 29 comunidades campesinas de nueve grupos indígenas y mestizos. Se han documentado más de 2 000 especies de plantas utilizadas por los habitantes de las comunidades estudiadas; en promedio, 335±130 especies por comunidad. En una muestra de seis comunidades y seis mercados regionales del Valle de Tehuacán, se encontró que en promedio 13 ± 4% de las especies registradas tienen el mayor valor cultural y económico y están sujetas a mayores tasas de extracción. Entre estas especies, pueden identificarse riesgos asociados a la intensidad de aprovechamiento en función de su abundancia, forma de vida y parte aprovechada. Los habitantes de las comu-nidades estudiadas maneja aquellos recursos bajo mayor riesgo y el mane...
Aprovechamiento, demografía y establecimiento de Agave potatorum en el Valle de Tehuacán, México:... more Aprovechamiento, demografía y establecimiento de Agave potatorum en el Valle de Tehuacán, México: Aportes ecológicos y etnobiológicos para su manejo sustentable Recibido: 30 Septiembre 2013 Aceptado: 11 de Diciembre 2013 RESUMEN Agave potatorum es una especie multipropósito de alto valor cultural y económico en la Reserva de la Biósfera Tehuacán-Cuicatlán, México, especialmente para la producción de mezcal. Es una de las especies más vulnerables debido a las elevadas tasas de extracción, la creciente demanda de mezcal, las particularidades de su biología reproductiva y los limitados esfuerzos de manejo. Se integra información etnobiológica, económica y ecológica sobre su aprovechamiento en el territorio de la comunidad de San Luis Atolotitlán, Puebla y se discuten recomendaciones para su manejo sustentable. Estimamos que anualmente se extrae entre 54% y 87% de los individuos reproductivos existentes en ese territorio; aún así, existe un déficit de alrededor de 5,000 agaves que son i...
Forest Ecology and Management, 2015
ABSTRACT Extraction of Agave potatorum from forests for mescal production is a main cause of its ... more ABSTRACT Extraction of Agave potatorum from forests for mescal production is a main cause of its populations’ decline and extinction in central Mexico. Sustainable harvest of agaves and populations’ recovery actions are needed for protecting this and other agave species similarly threatened. Our study aimed to identify mechanisms determining seedling establishment and sapling plants growth of A. potatorum in order to generate information helpful for enhancing populations’ growing and reforestation strategies. We hypothesized that (1) A. potatorum plants are spatially associated, probably species-specific, to shrub species, the frequency of facilitation being higher in the earlier stages of life cycle, varying among sites under different stress conditions, (2) germination and seedling survival are higher beneath nurse plants canopy compared with open areas, seeds and plants from a particular site performing better in the original conditions than in others, (3) nurse plants have a positive effect in the net balance of the growth rate of A. potatorum despite the negative effects of shade on carbon gain. We studied the association of A. potatorum with shrub and tree species by analysing their distribution patterns in two sites with contrasting environments (one relatively more xeric than the other). In these site we conducted experiments for testing seedling establishment and growth of agaves. Reciprocal transplanting experiments tested seed germination and seedling survival of agaves in open areas and beneath nurse plants. Two-years-old saplings were planted in open areas and beneath nurse plants to analyse their relative growth rate. We found a significant association of both young and adult plants to nurse plants, some of them being markedly specific. Germination and survival were higher under nurse plants, we also found negative effects of shade in carbon gain, but growth was higher there than in open spaces. We suggest that protection against solar radiation is a main factor influencing the association. Provenance of seeds was significant for germination success and early establishment. Nurse plants are crucial for the establishment of A. potatorum; however, several species may play the role of nurse plants and these may be different among sites. Therefore, rapid identification of nurse plant species in different vegetation types would allow agile actions for successful reforestation. Manual dispersion of seeds beneath canopies of shrubs that are high quality nurse plants, as well as producing sapling agaves in nurseries and transplanting them after two years associated to nurse plants are recommendable techniques for populations’ recovery.
Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 2013
Background: The Tehuacán Valley, Mexico is a region with exceptionally high biocultural richness.... more Background: The Tehuacán Valley, Mexico is a region with exceptionally high biocultural richness. Traditional knowledge in this region comprises information on nearly 1,600 plant species used by local peoples to satisfy their subsistence needs. Plant resources with higher cultural value are interchanged in traditional markets. We inventoried the edible plant species interchanged in regional markets documenting economic, cultural and ecological data and about their extraction and management in order to: (1) assess how commercialization and ecological aspects influence plant management, (2) identify which species are more vulnerable, and (3) analyze how local management contributes to decrease their risk. We hypothesized that scarcer plant species with higher economic value would be under higher pressure motivating more management actions than on more abundant plants with lower economic value. However, construction of management techniques is also influenced by the time-span the management responses have taken as well as biological and ecological aspects of the plant species that limit the implementation of management practices. Plant management mitigates risk, but its absence on plant species under high risk may favor local extinction. Methods: Six traditional markets were studied through 332 semi-structured interviews to local vendors about barter, commercialization, and management types of local edible plant species. We retrieved ethnobotanical information on plant management from ten communities in a workshop and sampled regional vegetation in a total of 98 sites to estimate distribution and abundance of plant species commercialized. Through Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) we analyzed the amount of variation of management types that can be explained from socioeconomic and ecological information. A risk index was calculated relating distribution, abundance, economic value and management of plant resources to identify the most vulnerable species. * These variables were recategorized and were considered as another variable because some plant species had more than one value in this category. Values were summed in the recategorized variables.
Economic Botany, 2010
Plant Management in the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley, Mexico. Plant management types currently pract... more Plant Management in the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley, Mexico. Plant management types currently practiced in the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley, México, were documented and analyzed based on ethnobotanical studies conducted in 13 villages with six indigenous groups and Mestizo people. The information was organized in a data base, and then detailed and guided to a consensus through six workshops carried out by ethnobotanists working in the area. From a total of 1,608 useful plant species, we identified 610 with at least one management type other than simple gathering. Managed species are mainly used as food, fodder, medicinal, and ornamental, and they belong to 101 plant families. The higher species numbers were recorded in Cactaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Crassulaceae, and Agavaceae. Nearly 60% of the managed species are native to the region and the rest are introduced from other regions of Mexico and the world. In total, 400 species are ex situ managed out of their natural environments through seed sowing and/or planting their vegetative propagules or entire young plants; 373 species are in situ managed in their natural habitats as follows: all these species are deliberately left standing during vegetation clearance, 76 species are also enhanced intentionally favoring their abundance through modifications of their habitat, or directly by planting their propagules, and 51 receive protection through regulations, particular strategies of extraction, and actions against herbivores, competitors, freezing, radiation, and drought. Most management forms involve artificial selection at different intensity levels. The information allows visualizing co-occurrence of incipient and advanced forms of management at different intensity levels within and among species, which helps to postulate testable hypotheses on factors influencing plant management and domestication in an important area for studying the origins of agriculture.
Economic Botany, 2009
This study systematizes ethnobotanical information about the interactions between people and plan... more This study systematizes ethnobotanical information about the interactions between people and plants, ethnofloristic richness, the relative importance of useful species richness in relation to general species richness, and plant management in the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley of central Mexico. The study recorded a total of 1,605 useful vascular plant species (61.2% of the total species richness of the regional vascular flora), this being the region with the highest absolute richness of useful plant species in Mexico. The null hypothesis that plant families with a higher number of useful species would be those having a higher general species richness was analyzed through residuals method. The plant families richest in useful species were Poaceae, Asteraceae, Cactaceae, Cyperaceae, Mimosaceae, and Solanaceae, most of which also have the highest general floristic richness. However, analyses of use categories did not generally corroborate our hypothesis. About 1,335 of the useful species are wild, more than 500 species are submitted to some type of management (62 species are tolerated, 34 protected, 50 enhanced, and 358 cultivated), but only a few have been studied to document their process of domestication. This information can be useful for developing regional strategies of sustainable management of plant resources.
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Papers by Selene Rangel Landa