The influence of urbanization on local ecological knowledge: a systematic review.

Urbanization is a complex and multifaceted process studied across various scientific disciplines. However, in ethnobiology, research on the impacts of urbanization on local ecological knowledge (LEK) often lacks standardization and tends to focus primarily on local scales. This study aims to systematically characterize how researchers address urbanization in ethnobiology and assess its effects on LEK globally.

Access restrictions to forest resources, rather than COVID-19 bans, drive the selection of firewood species for bonfires during Festas Juninas in northeastern Brazil.

Background: The complex interplay of social and environmental factors shapes ecosystems, potentially leading to harmony or conflict, highlighting the importance of understanding these dynamics for coexistence. In developing countries, firewood serves as a primary energy source and plays a role in cultural-religious rituals and festivities. However, the specific patterns of woody species used for the latter remain poorly understood, including the impact of access restrictions to resources and local bans on practices.

Exploring the electronic structure of [RuFNO] ion by the generation of a metastable state (MS1).

Some mononitrosyl complexes of transition metals exhibit one or two metastable states (linkage isomers, MS1 and MS2) when irradiated at low temperatures with appropriate wavelengths. In this work, the generation of metastable state one (MS1) (or Ru-ON linkage isomer) in K[RuFNO].HO at 77 K was studied by sample excitation using laser light in a wide range of wavelengths.

Diagnosis and Integrated Management of Fruit Rot in , Caused by .

Fruit rot is the principal phytopathological problem of pipiana pumpkin ( Huber) in the state of Guerrero. The aims of this research were to 1) identify the causal agent of southern blight on pumpkin fruits by morphological, pathogenic, and molecular analysis (ITS1, 5.8S, ITS2); 2) evaluate spp.

What Factors Guide the Selection of Medicinal Plants in a Local Pharmacopoeia? A Case Study in a Rural Community from a Historically Transformed Atlantic Forest Landscape.

The criteria that local people use for selecting medicinal plants have been a recurrent topic in pharmacology and ethnobotany. Two of the current hypotheses regarding this phenomenon, ecological apparency and diversification, attempt to explain the inclusion of "apparent" and "non-apparent" and native and exotic taxa, respectively, in local pharmacopoeia. This study addresses the following questions: Do "apparent" and "non-apparent" medicinal plants have the same importance in local pharmacopoeia? Do "non-apparent" plants occupy more local categories of diseases than "apparent" plants? Do native and exotic medicinal plants have the same importance? Do exotic and native plants occupy different local categories of diseases? This study was conducted with householders of a community from Northeastern Brazil.

Rapid assessment of insect fauna based on local knowledge: comparing ecological and ethnobiological methods.

Background: The rapid assessment of biodiversity making use of surveys of local knowledge has been successful for different biological taxa. However, there are no reports on the testing of such tools for sampling insect fauna. The present study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of different ethnobiological techniques for rapid sampling of insect fauna.

Human perceptions of landscape change: The case of a monodominant forest of Attalea speciosa Mart ex. Spreng (Northeast Brazil).

From the perception of human populations, we can assess the changes occurring in certain landscapes and the factors that cause those changes. Such studies have proven helpful in increasing the knowledge of the history of a landscape, recognizing past formations and projecting its future. Our research objective was to determine how a landscape dominated by the palm tree Attalea speciosa, a species of ecological, economic, and cultural importance, has been changing over time by synthesizing and comparing historical documents and local perceptions.

Implications from the Use of Non-timber Forest Products on the Consumption of Wood as a Fuel Source in Human-Dominated Semiarid Landscapes.

Little is known about what possible effects on wood resources might be caused by non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Here, we assessed the patterns of fuelwood consumption related to an NTFP (Caryocar coriaceum) oil extraction and how this non-domestic activity can indirectly increase the use pressure on fuelwood species in a protected area, semiarid of Brazil. We conducted semi-structured interviews, in situ inventories, phytosociological surveys, and analyses of wood quality to identify the set of woody plants used in oil production.

Evaluating different methods used in ethnobotanical and ecological studies to record plant biodiversity.

Background: This study compares the efficiency of identifying the plants in an area of semi-arid Northeast Brazil by methods that a) access the local knowledge used in ethnobotanical studies using semi-structured interviews conducted within the entire community, an inventory interview conducted with two participants using the previously collected vegetation inventory, and a participatory workshop presenting exsiccates and photographs to 32 people and b) inventory the vegetation (phytosociology) in locations with different histories of disturbance using rectangular plots and quadrant points.

Methods: The proportion of species identified using each method was then compared with Cochran's Q test. We calculated the use value (UV) of each species using semi-structured interviews; this quantitative index was correlated against values of the vegetation's structural importance obtained from the sample plot method and point-centered quarter method applied in two areas with different historical usage.

Traditional botanical knowledge of artisanal fishers in southern Brazil.

Background: This study characterized the botanical knowledge of artisanal fishers of the Lami community, Porto Alegre, southern Brazil based on answers to the following question: Is the local botanical knowledge of the artisanal fishers of the rural-urban district of Lami still active, even since the district's insertion into the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre?

Methods: This region, which contains a mosaic of urban and rural areas, hosts the Lami Biological Reserve (LBR) and a community of 13 artisanal fisher families. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 fishers, complemented by participatory observation techniques and free-lists; in these interviews, the species of plants used by the community and their indicated uses were identified.

Results: A total of 111 species belonging to 50 families were identified.

A new technique for testing distribution of knowledge and to estimate sampling sufficiency in ethnobiology studies.

Background: We propose a new quantitative measure that enables the researcher to make decisions and test hypotheses about the distribution of knowledge in a community and estimate the richness and sharing of information among informants. In our study, this measure has two levels of analysis: intracultural and intrafamily.

Methods: Using data collected in northeastern Brazil, we evaluated how these new estimators of richness and sharing behave for different categories of use.

New strategies for drug discovery in tropical forests based on ethnobotanical and chemical ecological studies.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Hypotheses from ethnobotany and chemical ecology can increase our ability to predict the pharmaceutical potential of tropical flora. In order to illustrate how bioprospecting studies can benefit from the incorporation of these hypotheses, especially in tropical dry forests, we discuss evidence from ethnobotanical studies that examine hypotheses about the ecology of plant defense against herbivory.

Materials And Methods: We focus on two hypotheses regarding defense patterns in plants-the plant apparency hypothesis and the resource availability hypothesis-and analyze how these can help us understand the use of medicinal plants by traditional communities.

Intracultural variation in the knowledge of medicinal plants in an urban-rural community in the atlantic forest from northeastern Brazil.

This study assessed the intracultural knowledge of the use of medicinal plants in an urban-rural community in an Atlantic forest fragment in northeastern Brazil. We examined the importance of native and exotic species and the effects of gender and age on that knowledge. We also compared data obtained from different groups of informants (local experts and general community).

The use of plants in the medical system of the Fulni-ô people (NE Brazil): a perspective on age and gender.

Objectives: The loss of traditional knowledge and practices is currently a widely discussed topic in the academic literature. From this perspective, this study was constructed with the main goals of evaluating Fulni-ô Indians' knowledge about medicinal plants and how this knowledge is influenced by age and gender. Additionally, this study seeks to identify the sites where these resources are collected.

Dynamics of medicinal plants knowledge and commerce in an urban ecosystem (Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil).

Given the importance of markets and fairs for the commerce of medicinal plants, an ethnobotanical study was undertaken at the Caruaru Fair (Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil) to compare the richness of species sold and their values of relative importance (RI) using two datasets collected with a 4-year interval. The seasonality of these plants' supplies was also analyzed. The Caruaru Fair is located in the 18 de Maio Park.

A comparison of knowledge about medicinal plants for three rural communities in the semi-arid region of northeast of Brazil.

Aim: The aim of this research was to understand the importance of native and exotic plants in local medical systems in the Caatinga of the Brazilian northeast, and the influence of socio-economic factors on the acquisition of knowledge about these resources.

Methods: A total of 55 people were interviewed in three rural communities using free list and semi-structured interviewes.

Results: A total of 108 ethnospecies were reported, 99 of which were identified; 43 of these were preferred by informants.

Medicinal and magic plants from a public market in northeastern Brazil.

Markets are public spaces in which many kinds of products are sold, as well as places of cultural information exchange. These spaces are distinctive for each given culture or society as they represent small-scale reproductions of that region's cultural and biological diversity. We carried out ethnobotanical studies in an important traditional market in the city of Recife (Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil) in two distinct years, 1995 and 2002.