Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, UNAM, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro 8711, 58190, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico.
UBIPRO, Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala, UNAM, Av. de los Barrios #1, Los Reyes Ixtacala, Mexico, Mexico.
J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2017 Oct 30;13(1):59. doi: 10.1186/s13002-017-0185-4.
Identifying factors influencing plant management allows understanding how processes of domestication operate. Uncertain availability of resources is a main motivation for managing edible plants, but little is known about management motives of non-edible resources like medicinal and ceremonial plants. We hypothesized that uncertain availability of resources would be a general factor motivating their management, but other motives could operate simultaneously. Uncertainty and risk might be less important motives in medicinal than in edible plants, while for ceremonial plants, symbolic and spiritual values would be more relevant.
We inventoried edible, medicinal, and ceremonial plants in Ixcatlán, Oaxaca, Mexico, and conducted in-depth studies with 20 native and naturalized species per use type; we documented their cultural importance and abundance by interviewing 25 households and sampling vegetation in 33 sites. Consumption amounts and preferences were studied through surveys and free listings with 38 interviewees. Management intensity and risk indexes were calculated through PCA and their relation analyzed through regression analyses. Canonical methods allowed identifying the main sociocultural and ecological factors influencing management of plants per use type.
Nearly 64, 63, and 55% of all ceremonial, edible, and medicinal wild plants recorded, respectively, are managed in order to maintain or increase their availability, embellishing environments, and because of ethical reasons and curiosity. Management intensity was higher in edible plants under human selection and associated with risk. Management of ceremonial and medicinal plants was not associated with indexes of risk or uncertainty in their availability. Other sociocultural and ecological factors influence management intensity, the most important being reciprocal relations and abundance perception.
Plant management through practices and collectively regulated strategies is strongly related to control of risk and uncertainty in edible plants, compared with medicinal and ceremonial plants, in which reciprocal interchanges, curiosity, and spiritual values are more important factors. Understanding how needs, worries, social relations, and ethical values influence management decisions is important to understand processes of constructing management strategies and how domestication could be started in the past and are operated at the present.
识别影响植物管理的因素可以帮助我们了解驯化过程是如何运作的。资源的不确定性是管理可食用植物的主要动机，但对于药用和仪式用植物等非食用资源的管理动机知之甚少。我们假设资源的不确定性是激励其管理的一个普遍因素，但其他动机也可能同时起作用。与食用植物相比，不确定性和风险可能不是药用植物的重要动机，而对于仪式用植物，象征和精神价值将更为相关。
我们在墨西哥瓦哈卡州的伊察塔兰（Ixcatlán）对可食用、药用和仪式用植物进行了清查，并对每种用途类型的 20 种本地和归化植物进行了深入研究；我们通过采访 25 户家庭并在 33 个地点进行植被采样，记录了它们的文化重要性和丰度。通过对 38 名受访者进行调查和自由列表，研究了消费数量和偏好。通过主成分分析（PCA）计算管理强度和风险指数，并通过回归分析分析它们之间的关系。典范对应分析（CCA）允许确定影响每种用途类型植物管理的主要社会文化和生态因素。
记录的所有仪式用、食用和药用野生植物中，分别有近 64%、63%和 55%进行了管理，以维持或增加其可用性、美化环境，以及出于伦理原因和好奇心。在人类选择下，食用植物的管理强度更高，与风险相关。仪式用和药用植物的管理与它们可用性的风险或不确定性指数无关。其他社会文化和生态因素影响管理强度，最重要的是互惠关系和丰度感知。
通过实践和集体调控策略进行植物管理与控制食用植物的风险和不确定性密切相关，而药用和仪式用植物中，互惠交流、好奇心和精神价值是更为重要的因素。了解需求、担忧、社会关系和伦理价值观如何影响管理决策对于理解管理策略的构建过程以及过去如何开始驯化以及当前如何运作非常重要。
