Laboratory of Basic and Applied Mycology and Scientific Dissemination (FungiLab), State University of Goiás, Anápolis, Goiás, Brazil.
J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2024 Feb 10;20(1):16. doi: 10.1186/s13002-024-00652-5.
Environmental perception involves the interpretation and interaction of individuals with their surroundings, influenced by cultural, social, and individual factors. Analyzing the environmental perception of children and adolescents contributes to fostering awareness and ethical behavior toward the environment. Indigenous communities, such as the Karajá from Brazil, possess significant environmental knowledge due to their connection with nature, providing distinctive insights into biodiversity and natural interconnections. In this study, the perception of fungi among Karajá indigenous children and adolescents was investigated.
The study involved 229 elementary school students from the Macaúba, Fontoura and Santa Isabel do Morro communities, located on Bananal Island, Brazil. Students were encouraged to draw what they knew about fungi and answer where they learned about fungi and what name they give to these organisms. The drawings were analyzed considering seven categories.
The term most used to refer to fungi was hedoro(u) (56%), followed by fungus (21%) and mushroom (11%). Most students said they had learned about fungi in nature (38%) and at school (36%). The most represented organisms were in fact fungi (93%), mainly being portrayed in nature (94%). Most participants did not attribute any ecological function to fungi (83%), although 16% of them recognized fungi as decomposers and 1% as phytopathogenic agents. Negative aspects, particularly food contamination, were more frequently represented (13%) than positive aspects (4%). The drawings identified two morphological types: mushrooms (87%) and mold (13%). Among these mushrooms, 68% possibly represent the Amanita muscaria species.
Although the children and adolescents showed that they noticed the fungi around them, the group's concept and understanding were limited to the figure of the mushroom and the negative aspects related to food contamination. Strong association of the fungi with the A. muscaria is noteworthy, since it does not occur in the environment in which the participants live, suggesting that external stimuli, such as TV or the internet, can influence their perception more than the nature they are exposed to.
环境感知涉及个体对周围环境的解释和互动，受文化、社会和个体因素的影响。分析儿童和青少年的环境感知有助于培养他们对环境的意识和道德行为。像巴西的卡拉雅人这样的土著社区由于与自然的联系而拥有重要的环境知识，为生物多样性和自然相互联系提供了独特的见解。在这项研究中，调查了卡拉雅土著儿童和青少年对真菌的感知。
该研究涉及巴西班纳纳尔岛马卡乌巴、丰图拉和圣伊莎贝尔德莫罗社区的 229 名小学生。鼓励学生画出他们所知道的关于真菌的知识，并回答他们在哪里了解真菌以及他们给这些生物起什么名字。这些画作是根据七个类别进行分析的。
最常用来指代真菌的术语是 hedoro(u)（56%），其次是 fungus（21%）和 mushroom（11%）。大多数学生说他们在自然（38%）和学校（36%）中了解了真菌。最具代表性的生物实际上是真菌（93%），主要是在自然环境中（94%）描绘的。大多数参与者没有赋予真菌任何生态功能（83%），尽管 16%的人认为真菌是分解者，1%的人认为真菌是植物病原菌。负面方面，特别是食物污染，比正面方面（4%）更常被描绘（13%）。画作中识别出两种形态类型：蘑菇（87%）和霉菌（13%）。在这些蘑菇中，68%可能代表鹅膏菌属的毒蝇伞物种。
尽管儿童和青少年表现出他们注意到了周围的真菌，但他们的概念和理解仅限于蘑菇的形态和与食物污染有关的负面方面。值得注意的是，真菌与 A. muscaria 的强烈关联，因为它不存在于参与者居住的环境中，这表明外部刺激，如电视或互联网，对他们的感知的影响可能大于他们所接触到的自然。
