The Relationship Between Plant Use and Plant Diversity in the Bolivian Andes, with Special Reference to Medicinal Plant Use

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between plant use and plant diversity in 36 transects of 50×2 m 2 laid out in the surroundings of Apillapampa, a community of Quechua subsistence farmers in the Bolivian Andes. Use data were obtained through individual interviews with 13 local key participants and were organized in eight plant use categories. Regression slope analysis showed that for nearly all plant use categories the proportion of used species to available species decreased with increasing plant diversity in transects. Two main groups of plant use categories could be distinguished: diversity followers, for which the number of useful plant species in transects keeps abreast with increasing plant diversity (e.g. medicine) and diversity laggards, for which the number of useful plant species increases only moderately with increasing diversity (e.g., food). We hypothesize that the main difference between both groups is related to the human process of plant selection. In categories that are diversity followers, plants are partly selected and used in an immediacy context, whereby emic perception of efficacy may be of secondary importance. By contrast, plant use in categories of diversity laggards is strongly guided by emic perception of efficacy because plant use takes place in a context in which plants are generally not needed on a short notice.

Plant use and management in homegardens and swiddens: evidence from the Bolivian Amazon

“…The usefulness of moderately humanized landscapes as sources of medicinal plants is often explained by the existence of a causal link between the frequency and/or intensity of contact with certain species and their utility. As a product of human creation, the anthropogenic environment is most salient, most familiar and most accessible and therefore most likely to be learned, named and used (Brown 1985;Gavin 2009;Phillips and Gentry 1993b;Thomas et al 2008Thomas et al , 2009aThomas et al , b, 2009cTurner 1988;Voeks 2004).…”

A Biodiversity Informatics Approach to Ethnobotany: Meta-analysis of Plant Use Patterns in Ecuador

“…It is intuitively plausible that human communities that inhabit ecosystems rich in species also use a high number of species, and several studies have demonstrated just such a relationship (e.g., Begossi 1996, Salick et al 1999, Begossi et al 2002, Ladio and Lozada 2003, Ladio and Lozada 2004, Medley and Kalibo 2007, Thomas et al 2008, de la Torre et al 2009). Other studies have emphasized social, cultural, socioeconomic, and geographical factors as the main controllers of the number of species used by human communities (Ladio and Lozada 2001, Vandebroek et al 2004, Byg et al 2007).…”

Interpreting Resource Gradients and Patches for the Conservation of Woody Plant Diversity at Mt. Kasigau, Kenya

“…Following Thomas et al (2008), the Kasigau Taita are "diversity followers" for food and remedy, where the increase in plants for these uses correlates more directly with species richness, and "diversity laggards" for fuel and fodder, where accessibility on the mountain may also influence the recognition of plant uses and utilization practices. Their recognition of many plants for similar uses show how the Kasigau Taita practice a "diverse portfolio of activities" (Ellis 1998:4) that provide choices and greater adaptability to local conditions.…”