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Valuation of Forests and Plant Species in Indigenous Territory and National Park Isiboro-Sécure, Bolivia

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Abstract

Valuation of Forests and Plant Species in Indigenous Territory and National Park Isiboro-Sécure, Bolivia. A quantitative ethnobotanical study was conducted in Indigenous Territory and National Park Isiboro-Sécure (TIPNIS), Bolivia, to assess the usefulness assigned by local Yuracaré and Trinitario ethnic groups to different terra firme and floodplain forests. Furthermore, we investigated which variables are good predictors for the use value attributed to plant species in the research area. Plants were collected during transect, walk-in-the-woods and homegarden sampling. Ethnobotanical and ethnoecological data of the inventoried plants were obtained from 12 Yuracaré and 14 Trinitario participants through semistructured interviews. On average, 84% of species in transects were claimed to be useful to people. The understorey (2.5 cm ≤ dbh < 10 cm) of the sampled forest types contained more useful species than the overstorey (dbh ≥ 10 cm), particularly for species with a medicinal and/or social use function. The local use value of plant species can be predicted, in part, from their botanical family, growth form, density, frequency, mean and maximum dbh, and ecological importance value. Our data confirm the hypothesis that density and frequency of plants in the landscape are both related to perceived plant accessibility. Accessibility of plants partly seems to guide their usefulness in TIPNIS. Indigenous assessment of accessibility and abundance of plants also covaried with their perceived usefulness and therefore has a potential for uncovering patterns in the perceived utility of plants.

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Acknowledgments

The present research was financed by a doctoral research grant of the Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds (BOF) of Ghent University to Evert Thomas (Grant Number: B/03801/01 FONDS IV 1). Logistic support in Bolivia was provided by the Centre of Biodiversity and Genetics and the Herbarium Martin Cardenas of the Universidad Mayor de San Simon in Cochabamba. We are grateful to Kim Torfs, Anouk Floren, Bert Wallyn, Jurgen Ceuppens, Reynaldo Berdeja, Roxana Baldelomar, Thiago Agustin, and Noel Altamirano for collaboration during data collection. Special thanks are due to all inhabitants of the indigenous communities San Jose de la Angosta, San Antonio, El Carmen de la Nueva Esperanza, Tres de Mayo, and Sanandita for their kind assistance in this project. We are also indebted to the professional botanists who identified many of the collections. They are P. Acevedo, W. Anderson, G. Aymard, S. Beck, C. Berg, R. Bianchini, A. Brant, T. Croat, D. Daly, S. Dressler, H.-J. Esser, R. Fortunato, A. Fuentes, R. Oritiz Gentry, C. Gustafsson, B. Holst, I. Jiménez, J. Kallunki, Liesner, R., L. Lohmann, J. Lombardi, P. Maas, J. Mitchel, M. Moraes, S. Mori, M. Nee, T. Pennington, G. Prance, J. Pruski, N. Raes, H. Rainer, S. Renner, J. Ricketson, L. Rico, C. Stace, C. Taylor, H. van der Werff, T. Wayt, J. Wen, J. Wood and F. Zenteno.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture and Ethnobotany, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Evert Thomas & Patrick Van Damme

  2. Institute of Economic Botany, The New York Botanical Garden, 2900 Southern Boulevard, New York, NY, 10458, USA

    Ina Vandebroek

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  1. Evert Thomas
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Correspondence to Evert Thomas.

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Thomas, E., Vandebroek, I. & Van Damme, P. Valuation of Forests and Plant Species in Indigenous Territory and National Park Isiboro-Sécure, Bolivia. Econ Bot 63, 229–241 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12231-009-9084-5

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