Useful Plants from the Wild to Home Gardens: An Analysis of Home Garden Ethnobotany in Contexts of Habitat Conversion and Land Use Change in Jeju, South Korea

Abstract

Home gardens are often the most agrobiodiverse sites in the anthropogenic environment, a space where crops and other useful plants are often transplanted from other components of the landscape. This study investigates the plant composition of home gardens and their usefulness in 12 small towns and villages-with three of these chosen as the focus for in-depth research-situated in the Jeju province of South Korea. The goal of the research is to explore their roles in local ethnobotany in the context of habitat conversion and land use change. The 131 home gardens surveyed in these villages yielded 164 species-and variety-level plant taxa (52 wild, 109 domesticated, and 3 introduced), of which 95 were useful plant taxa (39 wild, 55 domesticated, and 1 introduced). Use of home garden plants was predominantly for food and medicinal purposes. Home garden plant usefulness was more multi-functional and thus more versatile than practices associated with these plants in nongarden habitats. Plant diversity in home gardens was supported by the presence of nearby forest and grassland areas. Interview data indicate that plant users were motivated to transplant wild plants into their home gardens in order to secure a consistent supply, given decreases in wild plant populations in the last 15-20 years. The loss and overharvesting of forests and other wild plant habitats have caused the decrease in these plant populations. Underlying drivers of the habitat conversion and land use change influencing increased wild plant transplants to home gardens are local livelihood and lifestyle changes, including the earlier expansion of commercial agriculture beginning in the late 1960s and the accelerated growth of tourism since 2000.

Guatemalan Maya Q’eqchi’ Seasonal Calendar: Methods to Monitor Climate Change Locally

“…Following guidelines from the Codes of Ethics of the Latin American Society of Ethnobiology (Cano Contreras et al 2016) and the International Society of Ethnobiology (ISE 2006), as well as local Q’eqchi’ customs, we obtained permission and consent for our research from the governing council of the village, the Consejo Comunitario de Desarollo (Community Development Council) and the village general assembly, as the main authority of the village (see Medinaceli 2018 for a detailed protocol). Following this general consent process, we obtained free, prior, and informed consent for each interview and focus group participant.…”

“…Mostly Q'eqchi' participated, but Kaqchikel, Pokomchi, Mam, and Ladino did as well. Semi-structured interviews consisted of three types: 32 "plant walk" interviews (Martin 2010) which involved a conversation while walking around the interviewee's home garden (Hong and Zimmerer 2022;Mekonen, Giday, and Kelbessa 2015; and see Thiel and Quinlan 2022a for details); 15 ethnomedical interviews (e.g. Odonne et al 2013;Quinlan 2010;Yang et al 2014) which focused on medicinal uses of home garden and wild plants and animals; and eight hunting focused interviews with both expert and non-expert hunters.…”

Improved random forest classification model combined with C5.0 algorithm for vegetation feature analysis in non-agricultural environments

“…Furthermore, it regulates ecosystem functions and supports biodiversity in agroecosystems 1 , 2 . Accurate identification and comprehensive understanding of vegetation characteristics and spatial distribution in non-agricultural environments are vital for preserving biodiversity in agroecosystems 3 .…”

Home food gardening in modern cities: advances, issues, and future perspectives

“…Actually, HFG is a kind of smallscale farming implemented within the urban areas or rural areas, and its products are mainly used for self-consumption rather than for profit. Additionally, there is a cross relationship between HFG and indoor farming, because HFG can be carried out indoors (e.g., kitchen windowsills, and bay windows) or in open spaces (e.g., backyards, and rooftops) (Ghosh, 2014;Degefa et al, 2021;Mullins et al, 2021;Hong and Zimmerer, 2022;Richardson and Arlotta, 2022;Baliki et al, 2023;Cruz et al, 2023;Ma et al, 2023;Ezzeddin et al, 2024).…”

“…A varied and colorful home garden decorated with various vegetables and fruits may be turning into a common sight in the future (Santos et al, 2022). In addition, from an ecological perspective, HFG can lessen the impact of heat islands, ameliorate residential microclimate, as well as contribute to conservation and maintenance of diversity of plants with local characteristics (Furlan et al, 2017;Saroinsong et al, 2021;Hong and Zimmerer, 2022;Patel et al, 2022;Humaida et al, 2023;Korpelainen, 2023;Visvanathan et al, 2023).…”