Prestige and homophily predict network structure for social learning of medicinal plant knowledge

Abstract

Human subsistence societies have thrived in environmental extremes while maintaining biodiversity through social learning of ecological knowledge, such as techniques to prepare food and medicine from local resources. However, there is limited understanding of which processes shape social learning patterns and configuration in ecological knowledge networks, or how these processes apply to resource management and biological conservation. In this study, we test the hypothesis that the prestige (rarity or exclusivity) of knowledge shapes social learning networks. In addition, we test whether people tend to select who to learn from based on prestige (knowledge or reputation), and homophily (e.g., people of the same age or gender). We used interviews to assess five types of medicinal plant knowledge and how 303 people share this knowledge across four villages in Solomon Islands. We developed exponential random graph models (ERGMs) to test whether hypothesized patterns of knowledge sharing based on prestige and homophily are more common in the observed network than in randomly simulated networks of the same size. We found that prestige predicts five hypothesized network configurations and all three hypothesized learning patterns, while homophily predicts one of three hypothesized network configurations and five of the seven hypothesized learning patterns. These results compare the strength of different prestige and homophily effects on social learning and show how cultural practices such as intermarriage can affect certain aspects of prestige and homophily. By advancing our understanding of how prestige and homophily affect ecological knowledge networks, we identify which social learning patterns have the largest effects on biocultural conservation of ecological knowledge.

Methodological advances for hypothesis‐driven ethnobiology

“…Ethnobiology as a discipline should embrace the role of socio‐relational linkages (Bodin, Crona & Ernstson, 2006; Crona & Bodin, 2006; Bond & Gaoue, 2020) in the creation, transformation and transmission of knowledge (Gaoue et al ., 2017). Of particular interest is the role of social influence, social capital, and homophily in shaping the dynamics of local ecological knowledge (Prell, 2012; Kendal et al ., 2018; Kluger et al ., 2020).…”

“…− (< random) for prestige or rarity: people with prestigious or rare knowledge do not need to learn from the people they teach (Bond & Gaoue, 2020)…”

“…(2017) proposed a synthesis of 17 testable hypotheses in ethnobotany and thereby built a foundation upon which advanced statistical methods can be applied to enhance ethnobiology as a scientific discipline. There is now a small but increasing number of hypothesis‐driven ethnobiological studies (Almeida et al ., 2005; Alencar et al ., 2010; Soldati & Albuquerque, 2012; Hart et al ., 2017; Seyler et al ., 2019; Bond & Gaoue, 2020; Coe & Gaoue, 2021; Muleba, Yessoufou & Rampedi, 2021).…”

Time, Mediated through Plant Versatility, is a Better Predictor of Medicinal Status of Alien Plants

“…In the 1990s, ecology, which is now well-known with several theories, was too questioned as the discipline had then no general laws or a unifying theory [51][52][53][54]. Increasingly, ethnobotanists are taking the same trajectory, making use of the wonderful and unique descriptive ethnobotanical data documented for centuries across different geographic regions of the world to formulate and/or test various ethnobotanical hypotheses [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]16,[55][56][57]]. It has not been possible to test widely the residence time hypothesis of the introduction of alien plants into local medicinal flora simply because of the lack of data on the times of introduction of these species into their recipient environments.…”

Dinámicas de información en profesionales de enfermería desde el análisis de redes sociales

“…Luego se perfilan redes homófilas (profesionales con estatus e intereses similares) y horizontales (entre personas con el mismo estatus). Estudios previos señalan que los profesionales de enfermería suelen manejarse en redes verticales (8) ; esto puede significar un cambio respecto a la importancia o prestigio otorgado al conocimiento procedente de otras figuras profesionales, como pueden ser los médicos, y se focalice en compañeros de la misma categoría profesionales (26).…”