Testing an Ethnobiological Evolutionary Hypothesis on Plant-Based Remedies to Treat Malaria in Africa

Santoro, Flávia Rosa; Santos, Gilney Charll; Júnior, Washington Soares Ferreira; Chaves, Leonardo da Silva; Araújo, Thiago Antonio Sousa; Nascimento, Aguinaldo José do; Sobral, André; Silva, Josivan Soares; Campos, Juliana Loureiro Almeida; Albuquerque, Ulysses Paulino

doi:10.1007/s11692-016-9400-9

Cited by 16 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Therefore, demonstrated the high probability that important information about how to deal with recurrent challenges in nature (e.g., prohibition of use) could be favored in human memory, whereas adaptive information (e.g., insertion of M. tenuiflora) is favored in cultures when the event becomes recurrent and continuous in nature, which is the case with the implementation of REBIO . Considering how the human mind can recover favorable information from the past and that the human mind has adaptive plasticity to overcome the effects of challenging events for survival (e.g., insertion of new species in sociocultural systems), Santoro et al (2017) observed that the high incidence of malaria led to greater knowledge about antimalarial medicinal plants in African populations. In other words, the recurrence of adversities in the environment, in this specific case, the prohibition of use, can model adaptive information that will be preferentially remembered about specific resources over others .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are firewood preference behaviors influenced by restrictions in access to vegetation, and can they vary over time?

Tavares Mendes,

Alves Ramos,

Silva

2024

Ethnobio Conserv

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Studies aim to understand the behavior of human populations when selecting certain groups of plants over others. Some plants are chosen for favorable characteristics that justify specific uses. Thus, individuals may exhibit specialized behavior patterns, selecting plants for fuel based on specific biological traits like ignition potential and durability, or generalized behavior patterns, depending on species availability or utilitarian redundancy. However, little is known about how the preference for these resources may be shaped by contexts that prohibit resource use. Prohibiting resource use can compel human groups to devise new selection strategies, leading to significant changes in socioecological system dynamics. Hence, this study aims to investigate how preference for plants used as firewood varies in areas with restricted and unrestricted resource use. We conducted semi-structured interviews in two communities. Participants with restricted natural resource access in the past showed a tendency towards specialized behavior (p<0.000849). However, due to imposed restrictions, the community had to develop new usage strategies, resulting in a tendency towards generalized behavior (p>0.6489). Preference in unrestricted use areas varied over years, with generalists in the past (p>0.4675) and specialists presently (p<0.2074). Based on these behaviors, we infer that these human groups possess adaptive plasticity to mitigate the drastic effects of long-term wood resource extraction.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are firewood preference behaviors influenced by restrictions in access to vegetation, and can they vary over time?

Tavares Mendes,

Alves Ramos,

Silva

2024

Ethnobio Conserv

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“…A classic example is the preference for fatty and sweet foods, which is behavior adapted to ancestral environments with little fat availability, but poorly adapted in the current environment, thus increasing the incidence of cardiovascular illness [ 59 ]. However, there is recent robust evidence of significant genetic changes in human populations [ 58 , 60 , 61 ]. Although previous examples do not involve changes in cognitive aspects, it is probable that psychological mechanisms evolved in the Pleistocene may be subject to evolutionary processes that promote rapid changes in a few generations, being able to generate new cognitive structures that used “model” older mechanisms to adapt to today’s environments challenges (see [ 24 ]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Memory for medicinal plants remains in ancient and modern environments suggesting an evolved adaptedness

et al. 2021

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Adaptive memory is the propensity of human memory to easily store and retrieve important information to deal with challenges related to the Pleistocene. Recent evidence shows that humans have had a multiregional evolution across the African continent, including the rainforests and deciduous forests; however, there is little evidence regarding the implications of these origins and the relevant and recurring challenges of these environments on survival processing advantage in memory. In this study, we conducted an experiment with volunteers to analyze whether adaptive memory operates in the retrieval of important information to solve challenges of using medicinal plants to treat diseases in the ancestral environments of the savanna, rainforests, and deciduous forests compared to the modern environments of desert, tundra, coniferous forest, and urban areas. We used simulated survival environments and asked volunteers (30 per simulated scenario) to imagine themselves sick in one of these environments, and needing to find medicinal plants to treat their disease. The volunteers rated the relevance of 32 words to solve this challenge, followed by a surprise memory test. Our results showed no ancestral priority in recalling relevant information, as both ancestral and modern environments showed a similar recall of relevant information. This suggests that the evolved cognitive apparatus allows human beings to survive and can create survival strategies to face challenges imposed in various environments. We believe that this is only possible if the human mind operates through a flexible cognitive mechanism. This flexibility can reflect, for example, the different environments that the first hominids inhabited and the different dangerous situations that they faced.

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“…A recent study showed that IPLC groups in Africa, located in regions with a high incidence of malaria, knew of a great number of plants that could be used for treatment (Santoro et al 2017). This relationship occurred before the adoption of public policies to control the disease, which seems to have negatively affected the knowledge of antimalarial plants.…”

Section: What Theoretical Innovations Can Capture the Dynamic Nature mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ten important questions/issues for ethnobotanical research

et al. 2019

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For at least 30 years researchers have called for a deeper refl ection on the paths we desire for ethnobotanical research. Although the discipline of ethnobotany is growing, as measured by the number of publications in the area, there is still work to be done regarding the homogeneity of theoretical and methodological approaches and the implications of ethnobotanical research fi ndings for society as a whole. In this article we present 10 questions/issues that we believe can guide the research and actions of ethnobotanists for the coming years.

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Testing an Ethnobiological Evolutionary Hypothesis on Plant-Based Remedies to Treat Malaria in Africa

Cited by 16 publications

References 53 publications

Are firewood preference behaviors influenced by restrictions in access to vegetation, and can they vary over time?

Are firewood preference behaviors influenced by restrictions in access to vegetation, and can they vary over time?

Memory for medicinal plants remains in ancient and modern environments suggesting an evolved adaptedness

Ten important questions/issues for ethnobotanical research

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