New Interest in Wild Forest Products in Europe as an Expression of Biocultural Dynamics

In Europe, interest in wild forest products is increasing. Such products may be interpreted in a biological sense as deriving from autonomously growing forest species or in a biocultural sense as reflecting dynamics in human living with biodiversity through re-wilding of earlier domesticated species. In this article I elaborate the idea that the new interests reflect biocultural dynamics. First, I identify these dynamics as involving both domestication and re-wilding and characterize these processes as involving biological, environmental, and cultural dimensions. Next, I present a comparative review of two approaches to re-wilding forest production in the Netherlands: meat production from new types of natural grazing systems, and food production from plants re-introduced to the wild. The first approach is based on the stimulation of naturally occurring ecological processes and the second on the stimulation of new forms of experiencing bio-cultural heritage. The examples demonstrate that the new interests in wild forest products involve both a return to earlier stages of domestication in an ecological sense and a new phase of acculturation to evolving socio-cultural conditions.     

A comparison of the wild food plant use knowledge of ethnic minorities in Naban River Watershed National Nature Reserve, Yunnan, SW China

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Wild food plants (WFPs) contribute to the nutrition, economy and even cultural identity of people in many parts of the world. Different factors determine the preference and use of WFPs such as abundance, availability, cultural preference, economic conditions, shortage periods or unsecure food production systems. Understanding these factors and knowing the patterns of selection, use and cultural significance and value of wild food plants for local communities is helpful in setting priorities for conservation and/or domestication of these plants. Thus in this study knowledge of wild food plant use among four groups namely Dai, Lahu, Hani and Mountain Han in Naban River Watershed National Nature Reserve ((NRWNNR), Xishuangbanna were documented and analyzed to find the similarity and difference among their plant use. METHODS: Data on wild food plant use was collected through freelisting and semi-structured interviews and participatory field collection and direct observation. Botanical plant sample specimens were collected, prepared, dried and identified. RESULTS: A total of 173 species and subspecies from 64 families and one species of lichen (Ramalina sp.) are used as WFP. There were differences on the saliency of wild food plant species among four ethnic groups. Consensus analysis revealed that knowledge of wild food plant use for each ethnic group differs from others with some variation in each group. Among informant attributes only age was related with the knowledge if wild food plant use, whereas no significant relationship was found between gender and age*gender and informants knowledge of wild food plant use. CONCLUSION: Wild food plants are still used extensively by local people in the NRWNNR, some of them on a daily base. This diversity of wild food plants provide important source of nutrients for the local communities which much of their caloric intake comes from one or few crops. The results also show the role of ethnicity on the preference and use of wild food plants. There is a big potential for harvesting, participatory domestication and marketing of WFPs especially in the tourism sector in the area.     

Nontimber Forest Product Use in Two Human Populations from Northwest Patagonia: A Quantitative Approach

The ancestral tradition of gathering nontimber products in the Andean forests of Patagonia seems to be on the verge of disappearing. Edible wild plant knowledge and differential patterns of use have been compared in two populations of different economic and cultural backgrounds—a small rural Mapuche community (Rams), and an outlying population (El Frutillar). The first is located in an herbaceous steppe far from the nearest Andean forest while the second is located outside the town of Bariloche, near the forests of Nahuel Huapi National Park. Semistructured interviews and related ecological variables were compared in both communities. In the past, both communities utilized nontimber forest products from the Andean Temperate forests. However, today, cost and benefit trade-offs appear to affect when and what edible resources are collected. The people from El Frutillar gather fewer wild plants in spite of the high plant abundance and the notorious food scarcity they suffer. The Mapuche people use more nutritious resources, more native species, spend longer traveling to the gathering site, and longer handling time preparing edible plants.     

Do body size and diet breadth affect partitioning of species diversity? A test with forest Lepidoptera

Two of the major themes resulting from recent macroecological research are the central roles that body size and niche breadth may play as determinants of species geographical distribution. Unanswered questions, however, linger regarding how similarities in body size or niche breadth affect the allocation of α‐ and β‐diversity across spatial scales. Using data on moth diversity in the eastern deciduous forest of North America, we tested the predictions that smaller‐bodied and diet‐restricted species would have lower levels of α‐diversity within forest stands and greater β‐diversity at higher sampling scales compared to larger or more generalist species. Moths were sampled using a nested sampling design consisting of three hierarchical levels: 20 forest stands, 5 sites and 3 ecoregions. Body size for 492 species was estimated as mean forewing length, and diet breadth was assessed from the published literature. Moth species were then classified according to body size (small or large) or diet breadth (generalist or restricted), and partitioning was conducted on each group. Diversity partitions for large‐ and small‐bodied species yielded similar patterns. When observed diversity components differed from those derived from our null model, a consistent pattern was observed: α‐diversity was greater than expected, β‐diversity among forest stands was less than expected, and β‐diversity among sites and ecoregions was higher than expected. In contrast, diet‐restricted moths contributed significantly less to stand‐level α‐diversity than generalist feeders. Furthermore, specialists contributed to a greater proportion of β‐diversity across scales compared to generalist moths. Because absolute measures of β‐diversity among stands were greater for generalists than for restricted feeders, we suggest that regional β‐diversity of forest moths may be influenced by several possible factors: intraspecific aggregation of diet‐restricted species, local fluctuations in population size of eruptive generalists and small geographical distributions of generalist moths than predicted by the geographical extent of putative host plants     

Host and geographic structure of endophytic and endolichenic fungi at a continental scale

? Premise of the study: Endophytic and endolichenic fungi occur in healthy tissues of plants and lichens, respectively, playing potentially important roles in the ecology and evolution of their hosts. However, previous sampling has not comprehensively evaluated the biotic, biogeographic, and abiotic factors that structure their communities. ? Methods: Using molecular data we examined the diversity, composition, and distributions of 4154 endophytic and endolichenic Ascomycota cultured from replicate surveys of ca. 20 plant and lichen species in each of five North American sites (Madrean coniferous forest, Arizona; montane semideciduous forest, North Carolina; scrub forest, Florida; Beringian tundra and forest, western Alaska; subalpine tundra, eastern central Alaska). ? Key results: Endolichenic fungi were more abundant and diverse per host species than endophytes, but communities of endophytes were more diverse overall, reflecting high diversity in mosses and lycophytes. Endophytes of vascular plants were largely distinct from fungal communities that inhabit mosses and lichens. Fungi from closely related hosts from different regions were similar in higher taxonomy, but differed at shallow taxonomic levels. These differences reflected climate factors more strongly than geographic distance alone. ? Conclusions: Our study provides a first evaluation of endophytic and endolichenic fungal associations with their hosts at a continental scale. Both plants and lichens harbor abundant and diverse fungal communities whose incidence, diversity, and composition reflect the interplay of climatic patterns, geographic separation, host type, and host lineage. Although culture-free methods will inform future work, our study sets the stage for empirical assessments of ecological specificity, metabolic capability, and comparative genomics.     

乡村景观生物多样性研究进展

乡村景观是一种人文和自然共生的复合生态系统, 为生物多样性的维持提供了支持。目前, 中国传统乡村地区生物多样性的维持正面临着农业集约化、人工林树种单一化、非农业用地急剧扩张及生态传承机制解体等复杂多样的威胁, 亟待展开深入研究。本文在总结乡村景观生物多样性相关概念及特征的基础上, 通过文献分析概括了国际乡村景观生物多样性的热点研究方向, 包括农业集约化下的生物多样性管理、区域尺度乡村景观与生物多样性的协同关系、局地尺度不同乡村景观类型的物种多样性及乡村景观中的生物文化多样性, 进一步梳理了国内在相关研究方向上的主要进展并指出研究不足。在此基础上提出未来研究展望, 包括突出生物文化多样性特征、加强多时空尺度分析、深化动态维持机制研究、推进生物多样性研究在乡村生态景观规划中的全过程应用等建议。     

Patterns of use and knowledge of wild edible plants in distinct ecological environments: a case study of a Mapuche community from northwestern Patagonia

The multiple use of distinct ecological environments in the search for wild resources has been practiced since ancestral times in aboriginal communities inhabiting northwestern Patagonia. This paper examines the actual use and knowledge of wild edible plants in a Mapuche community presently settled in one of the most arid areas of Patagonia, far from the temperate forests where their ancestors used to live. The difference between knowledge of and use of wild plants is analyzed emphasizing that these differences could contribute to the understanding of eroding processes believed to be occurring in the community. These objectives are studied quantitatively by utilizing ethnobotanical indices, partially derived from ecological theory. Our results indicate that the Paineo dwellers still utilize multiple ecological gathering environments and have thorough plant knowledge of both native and exotic species. The Andean forest, more than 50km away from this community, is the environment from which the Paineo dwellers know the greatest total richness and the highest diversity of wild edible plants, followed by the Monte–Steppe species and lastly, those growing around their homes. The transmission of wild edible plant knowledge in the Paineo community diminishes with age, and the forest plants are the most vulnerable to loss. Our results have shown that the knowledge and consumption of wild edible plants follows a pattern according to ecological conditions of the gathering environments, as well as the cultural heritage of the Paineo people.     

An Ethnobotanical survey of the beypazari, ayas, and Güdül district towns of Ankara Province (Turkey)

Dietary, therapeutical, and other ethnobotanical uses of the wild plants grown in the Beypazari, Aya§, and Güdül district towns of Ankara were investigated. Information was collected by oral interviews, with 400 individuals participating in 25 selected sites. The demographic characteristics of the informants were cross-linked with the recorded plant data for purposes of statistical analysis by SPSS software. The results indicated that 82% of the informants recognized the use of wild plants for food and home remedies. Both the breadth and scope of knowledge on the use of wild plants increased significantly with the advancing age of the informants, but there was no significant correlation between the knowledge of the informants and their educational status. Altogether, the authors recorded 192 uses for wild plants in the surveyed area; these emanating from 85 plant species belonging to 31 plant families. Among the most popular uses for wild plants were for medicines (115 citations) or food (70 citations). Only 7 plants fell in the miscellaneous category.     

Traditional Plant Knowledge in the White Carpathians: Ethnobotany of Wild Food Plants and Crop Wild Relatives in the Czech Republic

This ethnobotanical study documents wild food plant use in the White Carpathians in the Czech Republic, a bio-culturally preserved mountain range adjacent to the border with Slovakia. Sixty informants from 25 villages were interviewed, and 78 species of wild plant from 30 botanical families were recorded. Crop wild relatives were of high cultural importance, demonstrating their unambiguous role in the traditional food system. Based on cross-cultural comparisons, the highest degree of similarity for species, genera, and uses was found with Ukrainians living in Romania. The greatest number of species was collected in anthropogenic environments; however, species with higher cultural importance occur in forests and meadows. The consumption of Impatiens parviflora seeds, Sambucus nigra green flower buds, and the sucking of Ajuga reptans nectar are novel findings for European ethnobotany. The results reinforce the idea that operating through social memory biocultural refugia safeguard important reservoirs of traditional ecological knowledge.     

云南高黎贡山怒族对植物传统利用的初步研究

采用民族生物学和文化人类学等方法,广泛调查和研究了云南西北部高黎贡山地区怒族对植物的传统利用形式。结果表明：怒族对植物的传统利用主要表现在食用、药用、观赏、宗教祟拜和文化利用等方面。讨论了怒族的传统文化在当地植物多样性利用和管理中的作用和意义,并探讨了在植物多样性管理中传统管理和现代管理之间的关系以及在我国利用文化多样性进行自然生态环境保护的可能性、必要性和可行性。此外,面对优秀的传统文化知识和文化多样性逐渐消失的现实,作者建议加以拯救和广泛的研究。     

Biological Diversity, Dietary Diversity, and Eye Health in Developing Country Populations: Establishing the Evidence-base

Human and ecosystem health converge around biological diversity issues. Cultivated and wild plants as food and medicine make essential contributions to human health, which in turn provides rationales for conservation. While wild and cultivated plant diversity reasonably facilitates dietary diversity and positive health outcomes, the challenges of demonstrating this relationship limit its impact in concept, policy, and practice. We present a rationale for testing the dietary contribution of biological diversity to improved eye health as a case study based on existing phytochemical, pharmacological, and clinical knowledge. We consider the empirical evidence needed to substantiate, interpret, and apply this relationship at a population and ecosystem level within a unified research framework. Epidemiological data strongly support the prevention of childhood vitamin A deficiency blindness, cataract, and age-related macular degeneration by fruit and vegetable consumption. Phytonutrients, including the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, protect the eye from oxidative stress and harmful light exposure. Laboratory, community, and population level research should prioritize food composition of dietary plants from both agriculture and the wild. Intervention studies, focus groups, and transmission of knowledge of local species and varieties within communities will further interpretation of epidemiological data. Population-based studies combining clinical data and measures of access and consumption of biological diversity are key to demonstrating the important relationships among biodiversity, dietary diversity, and health outcomes.     

Urban Forest Justice and the Rights to Wild Foods, Medicines, and Materials in the City

Urban forests are multifunctional socio-ecological landscapes, yet some of their social benefits remain poorly understood. This paper draws on ethnographic evidence from Seattle, Washington to demonstrate that urban forests contain nontimber forest products that contribute a variety of wild foods, medicines, and materials for the wellbeing of urban residents. We show that gathering wild plants and fungi in urban forests is a persistent subsistence and livelihood practice that provides sociocultural and material benefits to city residents, and creates opportunities for connecting with nature and enhancing social ties. We suggest that an orientation toward human-nature interactions in cities that conceptualizes the gathering of forest products as a legitimate social benefit may support and expand urban forest justice. Urban forest justice recognizes the rights of local people to have control over their own culturally appropriate wild food and health systems, including access to natural resources and to the decision-making processes affecting them.     

Comparison of wild edible plant diversity and foraging strategies in two aboriginal communities of northwestern Patagonia

We have compared edible plant richness, diversity and differential patterns of use in two Mapuche communities of Argentina. The populations of Rams and Cayulef are located in a herbaceous steppe, far from the temperate forests of northwestern Patagonia where their ancestors lived in the past. Ecological concepts and methods, such as diversity indices, niche breadth and optimal foraging theory have been used in this comparative study. Our results indicate that the diversity of wild plants used in Rams and Cayulef is associated with the variety of gathering environments they visit. When comparing diversity indices among the three environments within each community, in Cayulef we found the highest diversity indices for steppe species and the lowest for forest plants. In contrast, in Rams the niche breadth is similar in all environments, indicating an ample exploration and use of edible wild plants. Cost and benefit trade-offs seem to be considered in both communities when edible plants are collected. Nevertheless, we found that the people from Rams not only utilize a greater richness of wild plants than the Cayulef people, but also use more nutritious resources, spend more time traveling to the gathering sites and a longer handling time in preparing these edible plants. This study has quantitatively shown that the restricted access to Pehuen forest (Araucaria araucana) is the main factor which seems to limit wild plant diversity used in these Mapuche communities.     

Population differentiation and restricted gene flow in Spanish crossbills: not isolation-by-distance but isolation-by-ecology

Divergent selection stemming from environmental variation may induce local adaptation and ecological speciation whereas gene flow might have a homogenizing effect. Gene flow among populations using different environments can be reduced by geographical distance (isolation-by-distance) or by divergent selection stemming from resource use (isolation-by-ecology). We tested for and encountered phenotypic and genetic divergence among Spanish crossbills utilizing different species of co-occurring pine trees as their food resource. Morphological, vocal and mtDNA divergence were not correlated with geographical distance, but they were correlated with differences in resource use. Resource diversity has now been found to repeatedly predict crossbill diversity. However, when resource use is not 100% differentiated, additional characters (morphological, vocal, genetic) must be used to uncover and validate hidden population structure. In general, this confirms that ecology drives adaptive divergence and limits neutral gene flow as the first steps towards ecological speciation, unprevented by a high potential for gene flow.     

Habitat fragmentation influences genetic diversity and differentiation: Fine‐scale population structure of Cercis canadensis (eastern redbud)

Forest fragmentation may negatively affect plants through reduced genetic diversity and increased population structure due to habitat isolation, decreased population size, and disturbance of pollen‐seed dispersal mechanisms. However, in the case of tree species, effective pollen‐seed dispersal, mating system, and ecological dynamics may help the species overcome the negative effect of forest fragmentation. A fine‐scale population genetics study can shed light on the postfragmentation genetic diversity and structure of a species. Here, we present the genetic diversity and population structure of Cercis canadensis L. (eastern redbud) wild populations on a fine scale within fragmented areas centered around the borders of Georgia–Tennessee, USA. We hypothesized high genetic diversity among the collections of C. canadensis distributed across smaller geographical ranges. Fifteen microsatellite loci were used to genotype 172 individuals from 18 unmanaged and naturally occurring collection sites. Our results indicated presence of population structure, overall high genetic diversity (H_E = 0.63, H_O = 0.34), and moderate genetic differentiation (F_ST = 0.14) among the collection sites. Two major genetic clusters within the smaller geographical distribution were revealed by STRUCTURE. Our data suggest that native C. canadensis populations in the fragmented area around the Georgia–Tennessee border were able to maintain high levels of genetic diversity, despite the presence of considerable spatial genetic structure. As habitat isolation may negatively affect gene flow of outcrossing species across time, consequences of habitat fragmentation should be regularly monitored for this and other forest species. This study also has important implications for habitat management efforts and future breeding programs.     

Agriculture and use of wild and weedy greens by thePiik AP Oom okiek of Kenya

This study documents patterns of use of wild and weedy greens in a previously little studied context among the Piik ap Oom Okiek of Kenya. The Piik ap Oom have a hunter-gatherer history and at the time of the study lived at low population densities in a high altitude forest habitat. Leafy greens, both wild and domesticated, were the most commonly eaten fresh plant food documented. Wild greens,Solanum nigrum L. andAmaranthus graecizans ssp.sylvestris L. were the most preferred. Patterns of harvesting wild greens, a few leaves from many plants and a variety of taxa together, resulted in greater dietary diversity associated with consumption of wild than domesticated greens. Greens provided contemporary Okiek households with nutritious and low maintenance plant food. Increased use of wild and weedy greens was an important benefit of the adoption of the agricultural complex by the Okiek.     

上海城市森林草本植物多样性的城乡分布格局

林下草本植物是城市森林生物多样性重要的保育层,敏感度高,可塑性强,能有效反映城市植被对城市化的响应策略。本研究在上海市范围内沿中心城区—近郊—远郊的城乡梯度,共选取16块林地共398个样方,分析了上海市森林草本群落区系特征和多样性格局沿城乡梯度的变化规律。结果表明:上海城市森林生态系统中共有草本植物144种,隶属47科118属;多年生草本74种,占半数以上(51.39%);属和种分别涵盖18和12个分布区类型和亚型,以热带和温带成分为主;外来植物28种,占比接近20%;物种丰富度和群落多样性指数均沿中心城区—近郊—远郊梯度先下降后上升,近郊最低,远郊最高;中心城区物种构成与远郊相似,与近郊差异最大。本研究揭示了城市森林生态系统中草本植物的分布格局以及多样性沿城乡梯度的变化规律,为深入开展城市化与城市植被的互作研究提供了理论支撑,为管理部门制定相关政策提供了科学依据。     

Diversity and distribution pattern of epiphyllous liverworts and its ecological determinants

Epiphyllous liverworts form a special group of bryophytes that primarily grow on leaves of understory vascular plants, occurring in constantly moist and warm evergreen forest in tropical and subtropical regions. Epiphyllous liverworts may influence ecosystem processes including carbon, nitrogen and water cycles. Furthermore, they are very sensitive to climate change and forest fragmentation, and can be used as bioindicators for changes in ecological conditions and escalating loss of biodiversity. In this paper, we reviewed studies on morphological traits, species diversity, geographical distribution and environmental conditions (including characteristics of hosts and habitats) of epiphyllous liverworts, discussed the possible reasons for the mechanisms underlying the diversity pattern of epiphyllous liverworts. According to these studies, we proposed that further ecological studies on epiphyllous liverworts should be more focused on their formation, mechanisms of matter exchange and energy flux, ecological functions in forest ecosystem, the response to climate changes and their broader-scale ecology.     

Genetic diversity, structure, gene flow and evolutionary relationships within the Sorghum bicolor wild�Cweedy�Ccrop complex in a western African region

Gene flow between domesticated plants and their wild relatives is one of the major evolutionary processes acting to shape their structure of genetic diversity. Earlier literature, in the 1970s, reported on the interfertility and the sympatry of wild, weedy and cultivated sorghum belonging to the species Sorghum bicolor in most regions of sub-Saharan Africa. However, only a few recent surveys have addressed the geographical and ecological distribution of sorghum wild relatives and their genetic structure. These features are poorly documented, especially in western Africa, a centre of diversity for this crop. We report here on an exhaustive in situ collection of wild, weedy and cultivated sorghum assembled in Mali and in Guinea. The extent and pattern of genetic diversity were assessed with 15 SSRs within the cultivated pool (455 accessions), the wild pool (91 wild and weedy forms) and between them. F (ST) and R (ST) statistics, distance-based trees, Bayesian clustering methods, as well as isolation by distance models, were used to infer evolutionary relationships within the wild-weedy-crop complex. Firstly, our analyses highlighted a strong racial structure of genetic diversity within cultivated sorghum (F (ST) = 0.40). Secondly, clustering analyses highlighted the introgressed nature of most of the wild and weedy sorghum and grouped them into two eco-geographical groups. Such closeness between wild and crop sorghum could be the result of both sorghum's domestication history and preferential post-domestication crop-to-wild gene flow enhanced by farmers' practices. Finally, isolation by distance analyses showed strong spatial genetic structure within each pool, due to spatially limited dispersal, and suggested consequent gene flow between the wild and the crop pools, also supported by R (ST) analyses. Our findings thus revealed important features for the collection, conservation and biosafety of domesticated and wild sorghum in their centre of diversity.     

Living on the edge: British and Irish woodland birds in a European context

This paper reviews broad geographical patterns in the species composition of breeding woodland bird communities from Ireland to eastern Europe and outlines how processes affecting woodland birds in Britain and Ireland may differ from those operating in mainland Europe. Bird communities in British and Irish woodlands consist of a subset of the species occurring within European forests at similar latitudes. The occurrence of virtually all groups of forest birds is lower in Britain, and strikingly lower in Ireland, than in other temperate areas of mainland Europe. This phenomenon appears to form part of a west–east gradient in species diversity and is probably not just a consequence of insularity. Across this gradient there appears to be broad geographical constancy in the types (taxonomic, ecological and life-history groups) of species present. There is considerable spatial variation in habitat use by forest species within Europe. Some species in Britain probably use habitats in different ways to elsewhere for reasons related to competition, predation and historical adaptation to landscape change. Several species appear to reach the limits of their geographical ranges within Britain (i.e. in the absence of physical barriers). We suggest that range contraction of one of these species, the Common Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos , in Britain may partially reflect redistribution into the highest quality areas in response to a wider population decline. It is argued that conclusions drawn from studies of forest birds in Britain do not necessarily apply in other regions and vice versa. There is a need for large-scale studies in Europe of the spatial variation in organization of forest bird assemblages, habitat use and the genetic structure of populations.