Amazonian Invertebrates in the Traditional diet of the Paiter Suruí in Southeastern Brazil.

The Paiter Suruí people in the southwestern Brazilian Amazon have a complex food system that includes insects and crustaceans. We designed our study to systematize data about the invertebrates they incorporate into their traditional diet. After conducting a review of the literature, we verified and expanded the data through semi-structured interviews with Paiter Suruí volunteers, and traced trends in their consumption of invertebrates.

Ethnotaxonomy of birds by the inhabitants of Pedra Branca Village, Santa Teresinha municipality, Bahia state, Brazil.

Background: Studies on popular names of birds help to understand the relationship between human beings and birds and it also contributes to the field of ornithology.

Methods: This study aims to register the ethnotaxonomy of birds in the village of Pedra Branca, Santa Teresinha municipality, Bahia State, Brazil, by cataloguing and identifying their popular names, besides understanding the ethnoclassification system of local bird species. The ethno-ornithological data were obtained by means of semi-structured open interviews, and projective tests.

"Shark is the man!": ethnoknowledge of Brazil's South Bahia fishermen regarding shark behaviors.

Background: Fishermen's knowledge is a source of indispensable information in decision-making processes related to efforts to stimulate the management and conservation of fishing resources, especially in developing countries. This study analyzed the knowledge of fishermen from three municipal areas of Bahia in northeast Brazil regarding the behavior repertoire of sharks and the possible influence that these perceptions may have on the inclination to preserve these animals. This is a pioneering study on the ethnobiological aspects of elasmobranchs in Brazil.

Behaviour of Sotalia guianensis (van Bénéden, 1864) (Cetacea, Delphinidae) and ethnoecological knowledge of artisanal fishermen from Canavieiras, Bahia, Brazil.

Artisanal fishermen, because of their direct and frequent contact with the aquatic environment, possess a wealth of knowledge about the natural history of the fauna of the region in which they live. This knowledge, both practical and theoretical, has been frequently utilized and integrated into academic research. Taking this into consideration, this study discusses the ethnoecological knowledge of artisanal fishermen from a community in Canavieiras, state of Bahia, Brazil regarding the Guiana dolphin (Sotalia guianensis), a typically costal member of the family Delphinidae that is little studied in this region.

Local knowledge of traditional fishermen on economically important crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura) in the city of Conde, Bahia State, Northeastern Brazil.

Background: This article records the traditional knowledge of crab gatherers in the city of Conde, in the North Coast Region of Bahia State, Northeastern Brazil.

Methods: Data on biological and ecological aspects of economically important brachyuran crustaceans have been obtained from semi-structured interviews and in loco observations conducted from September 2007 to December 2009. A total of 57 fishermen of both genders, aged between 10 and 78 years have been interviewed (individually or collectively) in different contexts; interviewees were asked about aspects such as external morphology, life cycle, trophic ecology, and spatial and temporal distribution of the major economically important brachyuran crustaceans in the region.

[The popular zootherapy in Bahia State: registration of new animal species used as medicinal resources].

This article deals with the use of animals as medicinal resources in Bahia State, Northeastern Brazil. The data come from a processional evaluation of academic performance, since it was an exercise requested by the professor of the discipline Ethnobiology (2007.2 semester) to the students of the course Bahia State Teachers' Undergraduation of Feira de Santana State University.