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The Influence of the Environment on Natural Resource Use: Evidence of Apparency

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Evolutionary Ethnobiology

Abstract

This chapter evaluates the mechanisms by which certain characteristics of a specific natural resource (particularly a plant), such as its environmental availability or chemical composition, can affect its local use. An evaluation of the factors that influence people’s decision to select and try a natural resource and, possibly, incorporate it in their social-ecological systems is the main guiding issue for this chapter. To address this issue, we explore the assumptions of the ecological apparency hypothesis (EAH), the optimal foraging theory (OFT) and the resource availability hypothesis (RAH). EAH, OFT and RAH were first introduced in classic ecological research but were subsequently adapted to the fields of human ecology and ethnobiology. We also discuss how these ideas can complement one another to explain people’s choices for plant resource use and management. Finally, we bring some evidence from the available literature in favor or against these assumptions, especially to what concerns the EAH.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We hereby adopt the concept of Berkes and Folke (1998:4). Thus, “the term ecological system (ecosystem) is used in the conventional ecological sense to refer to the natural environment. We hold the view that social and ecological systems are in fact linked, and that the delineation between social and natural systems is artificial and arbitrary. Such views, however, are not yet accepted in conventional ecology and social science. When we wish to emphasize the integrated concept of humans-in-nature, we use the terms social-ecological system and social-ecological linkages.”

  2. 2.

    The use value (UV) for a given plant is the simple ratio of the number of uses cited divided by that reported by people. We recommend Medeiros M et al. (2011) to access the different measures of the relative importance of a resource that have been designed by ethnobotanists over the last 20 years, as well as the variations that have been proposed for calculating the UV.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by funding from the Pernambuco State Foundation for Science and Technology (FACEPE - APQ - 1264-2.05/10) and the National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq - Proc. 471989/2012-6).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Applied and Theoretical Ethnobiology (LEA), Department of Biology, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Av. Dom Manoel de Medeiros, s/n, Dois Irmãos, Recife, 52171-900, Pernambuco, Brazil

    Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque, André Luiz Borba Nascimento & Washington Soares Ferreira Júnior

  2. Institute of Biological Sciences, Department of Botany, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Av. José Lourenço Kelmer, s/n, São Pedro, 36036-900, Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Gustavo Taboada Soldati

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pernambuco, Av. Amaro Maltez, 201, Centro, 55800-000, Nazaré da Mata, Pernambuco, Brazil

    Marcelo Alves Ramos

  4. Federal Institute of Alagoas - Matriz, Campus Maragogi, Maragogi, Alagoas, CEP 57955000, Brazil

    Joabe Gomes de Melo

  5. Center of Biological Sciences and Health, Federal University of Western Bahia, Estrada para o Barrocão, s/n, Morada Nobre, 47800-000, Barreiras, Bahia, Brazil

    Patrícia Muniz de Medeiros

Authors
  1. Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque
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  2. Gustavo Taboada Soldati
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  3. Marcelo Alves Ramos
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  4. Joabe Gomes de Melo
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  5. Patrícia Muniz de Medeiros
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  6. André Luiz Borba Nascimento
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  7. Washington Soares Ferreira Júnior
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil

    Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque

  2. Institute of Environmental Sciences and Sustainable Development, Universidade Federal do Oeste da Bahia, Barreiras, Pernambuco, Brazil

    Patrícia Muniz De Medeiros

  3. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabiilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico

    Alejandro Casas

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Albuquerque, U.P. et al. (2015). The Influence of the Environment on Natural Resource Use: Evidence of Apparency. In: Albuquerque, U., De Medeiros, P., Casas, A. (eds) Evolutionary Ethnobiology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19917-7_10

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