Socioeconomic factors influencing knowledge and consumption of food plants by a human group in a mountainous environment in the semiarid region of Bahia, Northeast Brazil

Abstract

Background The relationship of people with natural resources is guided by different sociocultural, ecological and evolutionary factors. Regarding food plants, it is not different. Studies around the world have evaluated the effects of socioeconomic factors, such as age, gender, income, profession, education level, time of residence, ethnic diversity, religion, festive rituals, access to urban areas and migrations. In this sense, the objective of the present study was to characterize the diversity of knowledge and use of food plants by people from Serra dos Morgados and evaluate if the socioeconomic factors influence knowledge and consumption of food plants in the community. Methodology This research was conducted in the village of Serra dos Morgados, municipality of Jaguarari, Bahia, with the purpose of evaluating the factors that influence in the knowledge and use of food plants. Socioeconomic data such as age, gender, time of residence, and monthly income were collected. The free list technique was applied during the collection of ethnobotanical data in order to analyze the preference of the plants based on the salience index (SI). To analyze the factors that influence knowledge and use forms, we used GLM Lasso. Results A total of 33 people were interviewed, 8 men and 25 women; their age ranged from 30 to 82 years. People cited 98 species of plants, 41 species being identified of spontaneous occurrence. The plant with the highest salience index (SI) was “cheirosa” (Psidium ganevii) (SI = 0.5679), followed by “massaranduba” (Micropholis sp.) (SI = 0.4323); “araça” (Campomanesia guazumifolia) (SI = 0.3320); and “cambuí” (Siphoneugena sp.) (SI = 0.3144). Conclusions The main factors that influence knowledge and use forms in the locality were family income and the collection site, with homegardens cited as the preferred area for collection of food plants. This study provided an overview related to potentially important species for a community located in a region where there are few ethnobiological studies. The results presented here can be used in future studies, providing clues for investigations. Also, there is a contribution to the conservation of biocultural aspects related to the use of food plants in a community living in mountainous regions.

Local knowledge of homegarden plants in Miao ethnic communities in Laershan region, Xiangxi area, China

“…Furthermore, the number of homegardens not only reflects the degree of focus on plant diversity and conservation awareness but also signifies the transmission of traditional knowledge [ 40 ]. Moreover, simulation results provide further evidence of the strong correlation between homegardens and traditional knowledge [ 41 ]. Consequently, it is hypothesized that the quantity and area of homegardens in an area are directly proportional to the extent of traditional knowledge it possesses (Fig.…”

Etnobiologia evolutiva: itinerários da produção cientométrica com base na etnobotânica e nos saberes tradicionais

“…Os autores sugerem que seja dada mais atenção a estudos que regulem a interação do homem-natureza e sua regulação nos sistemas socioecológicos. Seguindo a mesma vertente, daSilva Souza et al (2022), com pesquisa publicada no Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, mostram que os fatores socioculturais, ecológicos e evolutivos influenciam no conhecimento e uso dos recursos naturais disponíveis em comunidades rurais na região Nordeste do Brasil. Quanto ao fator de impacto, observou-se: Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (3.6), Evolutionary Biology (2.5), Current Anthropology (2.2), Ethnobiology and Conservation (1.4) e Acta Botanica Brasilica (1.1), o qual avalia os periódicos pelos valores compartilhados pelo Journal Citation Reports (JCR) em 2022.…”