Publications by authors named "Flavia Rosa Santoro"

Background: Hybridization between the local medical systems (LMSs) and biomedicine has been the focus of different studies in ethnobiology, primarily due to the increasing access to biomedicine by indigenous peoples and local communities. Studies on hybridization allow for an understanding of the process of developing and evolving local knowledge systems. In this study, we propose a hybridization score to determine how individuals' socioeconomic characteristics and preference between LMS and biomedicine determine the complementarity of therapeutic options.

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The Patagonian steppe is a refuge for several indigenous peoples who live in relatively isolated communities, depending heavily on natural resources for their activities, health, and food security. The local ecological knowledge is a reservoir that generates full wellbeing and for which it must be the object of protection and local development. In this study, we aimed to find which factors can influence local ecological knowledge from a metacommunity on the Patagonian steppe.

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Background: We aimed to verify whether the taste and chemical composition influence the selection of plants in each medicinal category, whether within a socio-ecological system or between different socio-ecological systems. To this end, we use the theoretical bases of the Utilitarian Redundancy Model and the Utilitarian Equivalence Model. We studied the local medical systems of four rural communities in northeastern Brazil, used as models to test our assumptions.

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Most of the studies with a focus on pathways and biases of cultural transmission in different domains show that vertical transmission predominates over horizontal and oblique transmission, especially in traits linked to traditions and survival skills, such as local medicine. However, overestimation of the importance of vertical transmission has been an object of methodological criticism. Therefore, a statistical analysis with diachronic perspective may obtain more accurate results.

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Ethnobotanical studies focused on understanding how local medical systems are functionally maintained suggest that utilitarian redundancy and knowledge transmission are factors that influence the resilience of the system. However, to date, there have not been any studies that analyze these factors in relation to the variables that influence the variation of knowledge. Given the above, this study aims to analyze the influence of gender in the resilience of the system, using utilitarian redundancy and knowledge transmission as factors.

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The interest in theoretical frameworks that improve our understanding of social-ecological systems is growing within the field of ethnobiology. Several evolutionary questions may underlie the relationships between people and the natural resources that are investigated in this field. A new branch of research, known as evolutionary ethnobiology (EE), focuses on these questions and has recently been formally conceptualized.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how medicinal plant knowledge changes in migrant communities, highlighting cultural evolution through interactions with native people.
  • The research was conducted in Caeté-Açu, Brazil, comparing knowledge of medicinal plants among native residents, regional, national, and international migrants using free listing and interviews.
  • Results indicated that while the total number of known plant species was similar across groups, differences existed in how knowledge was acquired, with natives learning primarily from their own community, whereas migrants sought knowledge from both natives and fellow migrants.
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Resilience is related to the ability of a system to adjust to disturbances. The Utilitarian Redundancy Model has emerged as a tool for investigating the resilience of local medical systems. The model determines the use of species richness for the same therapeutic function as a facilitator of the maintenance of these systems.

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