A new technique for testing distribution of knowledge and to estimate sampling sufficiency in ethnobiology studies

Araújo, Thiago Antonio Sousa; Almeida, Alyson Luiz Santos de; Melo, Joabe Gomes de; Medeiros, María Franco Trindade; Ramos, Marcelo Alves; Silva, Rafael Ricardo Vasconcelos da; Almeida, Cecília Fátima Castelo Branco Rangel; Albuquerque, Ulysses Paulino

doi:10.1186/1746-4269-8-11

Cited by 25 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Many researchers have underlined the advantages of quantitative ethnobotanical indices as valuable tools for comparing knowledge and uses of natural resources between different environments and different ethnic groups (Philips and Gentry 1996 ; Ladio and Lozada 2003 ; Silva and Andrade 2006 ; Sousa Araújo et al 2012 ; Mathur and Sundaramoorthy 2013 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wild Edible Plants Used by the Polish Community in Misiones, Argentina

Kujawska

Łuczaj

2015

Hum Ecol

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We studied the cultural significance of wild edible plants for Eastern European migrants who settled in rural subtropical areas of South America. In 50 interviews with Polish migrants and their descendants in northern Misiones, Argentina, we recorded the use of 41 botanical species and two mushroom taxa. Different cultural significance indices were applied and sociodemographic factors such as gender, age and origin were addressed. Out of the ten most salient species, nine were fruits (Eugenia uniflora, Eugenia involucrata, Rollinia salicifolia, Campomanesia xanthocarpa, Syagrus romanzoffiana, Allophylus edulis, Plinia peruviana, Plinia rivularis, Eugenia pyriformis) and only one was a green vegetable (Hypochaeris chillensis). None of our informants reported famine foods, recreational teas or condiments. Men mentioned more wild edible species than women due to their more extensive knowledge of the forest plants growing further from settlements.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wild Edible Plants Used by the Polish Community in Misiones, Argentina

Kujawska

Łuczaj

2015

Hum Ecol

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“…Sampling sufficiency and the representativeness of the samples collected are considered as major concerns of modern ethnobiology research [ 49 ], and various methods are employed to ascertain them. Application of species richness curve was one of the methods, and in this study, it was done by plotting Shannon-Wiener’s index in ordinate axis ( y ) and cumulative number of UR in abscissa axis ( x ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A study on food-medicine continuum among the non-institutionally trained siddha practitioners of Tiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu, India

Esakkimuthu¹,

Darvin²,

Mutheeswaran³

et al. 2018

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

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BackgroundMedicinal properties of the food species are one of the poorly documented and important areas of ethnopharmacology. The present survey quantitatively documented the medicinal foods prescribed by the non-institutionally trained siddha practitioners of Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu.MethodsField work was carried out between December 2014 and April 2017 using a questionnaire. The illnesses mentioned by the informants were grouped as illness categories on the basis of emic perceptions. Sufficiency of sampling of this survey was assessed by plotting the cumulative number of UR and Shannon-Wiener’s index. The indices such as informant consensus factor (FIC), Index of Agreement on Remedies (IAR), and Cultural Food Significance Index (CFSI) were calculated.ResultsThis study documented 165 medicinal foods used by 82 non-institutionally trained siddha practitioners of Tiruvallur district, and 73.93% of these preparations were plant based. Among the animal taxa, 82.05% were represented by fish taxa. The illness category gastrointestinal ailments is the majorly cited illness category treated with plant-based formulations. The illness categories viz., gastrointestinal ailments, hemorrhoids, and neural ailments had high consensus under the group of plant-based medicinal foods. In animal-based medicinal foods, kapha ailments had gained 23.07% of UR. The illness categories such as bone fractures, male reproductive ailments, blood ailments, and anabolic had high FIC values.ConclusionsDeeper studies on different dietary cultures of India may help to derive better interpretations on food-medicine continuum. This study identified some important claims such as the use of citron, pomegranate and Solanum americanum (gastrointestinal ailments), Abutilon indicum, onions and elephant foot yam (hemorrhoids), Boerhavia diffusa (urinary ailments), Moringa oleifera (anemia), Aloe vera (gynecological ailments), Eclipta prostrata (liver ailments), ivy gourd (diabetes), citron (hypertension), Centella asiatica (psychological ailments), spade nose shark (lactogogue), reticulate whipray (wheezing and bronchitis), Katelysia opima (impotence), Indian squid (anemia), and Indian oil sardine (anabolic). More studies on these claims will help identify novel functional foods to add to the field of medical nutrition therapy, with traditional brand identity. Robust studies on the documentation of the traditional knowledge on marine resources will yield a good database for various stakeholders and policy makers.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13002-018-0240-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…We chose this community because our research group has already conducted a large number of ethnobiological studies in this region, with the goal of characterizing the local medical system [13,47–49]. These studies also established a strong and trusting relationship between our group and the members of the community, facilitating access to the region and to verbal information from community residents.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, little is known about the variables that determine recall processes during free listing and consequently the order and frequency of the mentioned items. Given that ethnobiology uses data from free lists to compare knowledge regarding medicinal plants from different locations [13,15,21–23], characterize items with bioprospecting potential [12,16], evaluate the resilience of knowledge about local medical systems [14,24,25], study patterns of use relative to plants’ organoleptic properties [26], or simply characterize local knowledge about natural resources [27], an understanding of the nature of the information in free lists may allow for the identification of possible biases related to free listing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Information Retrieval during Free Listing Is Biased by Memory: Evidence from Medicinal Plants

et al. 2016

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Free listing is a methodological tool that is widely used in various scientific disciplines. A typical assumption of this approach is that individual lists reflect a subset of total knowledge and that the first items listed are the most culturally important. However, little is known about how cognitive processes influence free lists. In this study, we assess how recent memory of use, autonoetic and anoetic memory, and long-term associative memory can affect the composition and order of items in free lists and evaluate whether free lists indicate the most important items. Based on a model of local knowledge about medicinal plants and their therapeutic targets, which was collected via individual semi-structured interviews, we classify each item recorded in free lists according to the last time that the item was used by the informant (recently or long ago), the type of relevant memory (autonoetic or anoetic memory) and the existing associations between therapeutic targets (similar or random). We find that individuals have a tendency to recall information about medicinal plants used during the preceding year and that the recalled plants were also the most important plants during this period. However, we find no trend in the recall of plants from long-term associative memory, although this phenomenon is well established in studies on cognitive psychology. We suggest that such evidence should be considered in studies that use lists of medicinal plants because this temporal cognitive limit on the retrieval of knowledge affects data interpretation.

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A new technique for testing distribution of knowledge and to estimate sampling sufficiency in ethnobiology studies

Cited by 25 publications

References 32 publications

Wild Edible Plants Used by the Polish Community in Misiones, Argentina

Wild Edible Plants Used by the Polish Community in Misiones, Argentina

A study on food-medicine continuum among the non-institutionally trained siddha practitioners of Tiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu, India

Information Retrieval during Free Listing Is Biased by Memory: Evidence from Medicinal Plants

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