Agrobiodiversity and in situ conservation in quilombola home gardens with different intensities of urbanization

Abstract

Among the agricultural environments of traditional communities, home gardens are frequently cited as high agrobiodiversity sites. However, the agrobiodiversity of home gardens along a rural-urban gradient demands study in order to identify possible infl uences of urbanization and to support mitigation of impacts. Th e present work investigated the role home gardens play in the in situ agrobiodiversity conservation of plants in quilombola communities with diff erent degrees of urbanization. Th e study found that more urbanized communities have larger home gardens, but the average richness of plant species in these areas was not statistically diff erent among the communities. Furthermore, the abundance of plant species was similar. Medicinal and food plants were mainly found in home gardens of the communities with high to intermediate levels of urbanization, while ornamental plants were more common in rural community home gardens. It is believed that crop exclusivity in home gardens of the more urbanized communities highly infl uenced the results, increasing the role home gardens play in maintaining traditional practices. Th e elevated and statistically equal species richness in home gardens suggests that, despite the factors generated by urbanization, all of the communities are very important for in situ conservation of native and introduced species.

Diversity of use and local knowledge of wild and cultivated plants in the Eastern Cape province, South Africa

“…High frequencies associated with food plants in comparison with other plant use categories such as ethnoveterinary and herbal medicines (Fig. 4 ) corroborate research findings by Avila et al [ 59 ] that the main purposes of agricultural environments of traditional communities is to produce food and the high agrobiodiversity found in these areas increases the nutritional diversity and quality of family diets.…”

Assessment of Useful Plants in the Catchment Area of the Proposed Ntabelanga Dam in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

“…The diversity of food plants documented in this study indicates the relevance of the Ntabelanga catchment area as an important resource for food production and subsistence of households. One of the main purposes of agricultural environments of traditional communities is to produce food and the high agrobiodiversity found in these areas increases the nutritional diversity and quality of family diets [34]. …”

Ten important questions/issues for ethnobotanical research

“…Home gardens, for example, survived and evolved over centuries of biocultural transformations as one of the oldest systems of land use (Nair & Kumar 2006). Green lands and home gardens in urbanized areas promote diversity and food security, allow for adaptation to climate change, improve life quality and wellbeing and can also increase the connectivity between urbanized landscapes and remnant forest areas (Galhena et al 2013;Larios et al 2013;Mattsson et al 2013;Capaldi et al 2014;Peroni et al 2016;Ávila et al 2017;Shackleton et al 2017).…”