Cultural Motives of Plant Management and Domestication

Abstract

We analysed the diversity of forms in which human communities of the Tehuacan Valley manage their plant resource, as well as the motivations and factors influencing how such management forms are and how intensely held. We explored and identified ecological, sociocultural, economic and technological factors that influence how the management forms and their intensity are, as well as the causal relationships between these factors and management decisions. Particularly, the factors mentioned were analysed in the context of scarcity and uncertainty in the availability of edible plant resources, as well as individual and collective responses that implement human beings to ensure their use. It was analysed with particular depth how people perceive uncertainty in availability of edible resources and the various ways in which they face it, how they build their decisions and develop techniques to mitigate the effects of such uncertainty. Most management forms involve artificial selection at different intensity levels. We characterized the type and intensity of management based on the following indicators: (1) complexity of the practices involved, (2) occurrence of artificial selection, (3) strategies, techniques and collective social regulations implemented in management, (4) energy invested in terms of labor, fossil energy and (5) amount of resources obtained per area unit. We found that the lowest values of management intensity corresponded to species under simple gathering or tolerance, mostly annual abundant plants occasionally consumed by few people. In contrast, the highest levels of management intensity were recorded in species with economic importance, mostly perennial with recognized variants whose management requires using tools, and which are protected by collective regulations. Nearly 67.6 % of variation of the management intensity was explained by risk variables, such as length-span of life cycle, reproductive system type, distribution, number of plant parts used, number of management forms and using regulations. Thus, people make decisions at individual or community levels involving strategies for controlling ecological and/or cultural factors in order to decrease uncertainty. Understanding current management processes seeks a better understanding of the history that led to the management and domestication of nature. It aims at providing more arguments for interpretations of archaeological data about the origin of management, domestication and agriculture. But also, it aims at contributing to the design and construction of future sustainable management strategies.