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Tropical rainforest ecosystems support the maximum expression of biocultural diversity on Earth and preserving them requires understanding and working with the needs of their inhabitants. Here, we combine traditional knowledge with ecological data to quantify cross-scale variation in the ecosystem services of palms (Arecaceae), the most useful plant family in northwestern South America. We sampled two very large datasets in northwestern South America: one on traditional knowledge ( n = 1494 interviews) and one on palm ecology ( n = 197; 0.25 ha-transects) collected in four countries and 47 communities inhabited by >10 Amerindian and non-Amerindian groups, spanning 21° latitude and 14° longitude. We grouped the 47 communities into 15 localities on the basis of geographic proximity and ethnic composition and grouped localities into four sub-regions: northwestern and southwestern Amazon basin, the Andes, and the Chocó. We asked which palm species are most important to villagers and how usefulness is related to the morphological traits of palms, about the cross-scale patterns in palm-based forest usefulness in different sub-regions, localities, and habitats, the relative contribution of different palm growth forms to forest usefulness, and the most valued use categories. We found that despite high geographical variation in traditional knowledge, only a few species were highly important at most localities. On all scales and in most areas, usefulness significantly correlated with stem height, mid-leaf length and fruit diameter, but not with palm abundance. Palm-based forest usefulness peaked in northwestern Amazon and was highest in the Amazon floodplain habitat, but there was large variation on all analyzed scales. Forest usefulness was significantly determined by three palm growth forms and by human food and construction uses. We conclude that palms are key ecosystem service providers that secure the well-being of thousands of inhabitants across northwestern South America. We advocate the need for alliances between forest-dependent people and conservation practitioners to manage these highly useful resources and the ecosystems where they grow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Lands inhabited by indigenous peoples often have low population density but abundant natural resources. For those reasons, many actors have historically attempted to occupy those lands or use the resources in them. Increasing pressures over lands occupied by indigenous peoples have resulted in the awakening of indigenous peoples over their rights to land and resources generating many debates over indigenous peoples' rights to land and self-governance. In this article, we provide a historical and geographical overview of territorial and governance issues among the Tsimane', an indigenous group native to the Bolivian Amazon. We examine how the Bolivian state economic policies implemented during the 20th century affected the Tsimane' ancestral lands, and how – over the late-20th century – the Bolivian state accommodated Tsimane' claims to lands in between multiple interests. We show how national policies led to the reconfiguration of Tsimane' territoriality and to a fragmented institutional representation. Current indigenous territories and indigenous political representation are an expression of conflictive policies that have involved multiple actors and their specific interests on indigenous lands and its resources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: As biological and linguistic diversity, the world’s cultural diversity is on decline. However, to date there are no estimates of the rate at which the specific cultural traits of a group disappear, mainly because we lack empirical data to assess how the cultural traits of a given population change over time. Here we estimate changes in cultural traits associated to the traditional knowledge of wild plant uses among an Amazonian indigenous society. We collected data among 1151 Tsimane’ Amerindians at two periods of time. Results show that between 2000 and 2009, Tsimane’ adults experienced a net decrease in the report of plant uses ranging from 9% (for the female subsample) to 26% (for the subsample of people living close to towns), equivalent to 1% to 3% per year. Results from a Monte Carlo simulation show that the observed changes were not the result of randomness. Changes were more acute for men than for women and for informants living in villages close to market towns than for informants settled in remote villages. The Tsimane’ could be abandoning their traditional knowledge as they perceive that this form of knowledge does not equip them well to deal with the new socio-economic and cultural conditions they face nowadays. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: An ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants marketed in La Paz and El Alto cities in the Bolivian Andes, reported medicinal information for about 129 species, belonging to 55 vascular plant families and one uncertain lichen family. The most important family was Asteraceae with 22 species, followed by Fabaceae s.l. with 11, and Solanaceae with eight. More than 90 general medicinal indications were recorded to treat a wide range of illnesses and ailments. The highest number of species and applications were reported for digestive system disorders (stomach ailments and liver problems), musculoskeletal body system (rheumatism and the complex of contusions, luxations, sprains, and swellings), kidney and other urological problems, and gynecological disorders. Some medicinal species had magic connotations, e.g. for cleaning and protection against ailments, to bring good luck, or for Andean offerings to Pachamama, ‘Mother Nature’. In some indications, the separation between medicinal and magic plants was very narrow. Most remedies were prepared from a single species, however some applications were always prepared with a mixture of plants, e.g. for abortion, and the complex of luxations and swellings. The part of the plant most frequently used was the aerial part (29.3%) and the leaves (20.7%). The remedies were mainly prepared as a decoction (47.5%) and an infusion (28.6%). Most of species were native from Bolivia, but an important 36.4% of them were introduced from different origins. There exists a high informant consensus for species and their medicinal indications. The present urban phytotherapy represents a medicinal alternative to treat main health problems and remains closer to the cultural and social context of this society. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• AGB of tropical forests are related with taxa that are abundant at a local scale. • The association between AGB and dominant species is stronger at lower elevations. • Species few frequent at the regional level contribute with more AGB to the region. • This is the first study over the AGB contribution of dominant species in the Andes. To determine whether species that contribute most to a plot's biomass are the most abundant (high local abundance at plot scale) or the most frequent (occur the most across plots at landscape scale), or both. In the tropical Andes, these patterns may change with elevation. This study assesses the contribution to plot's above-ground biomass (AGB) of the plant community abundance pattern –the prevalence of within-plot dominant species– and the over-occurrence of regionally frequent species, in an elevation gradient. We considered all trees ≥2.5 cm DBH from 446 0.1 ha plots in an Amazonia-Andes 260–4350 m elevation cline in N Bolivia. Plot AGB was calculated as the sum of AGBs for all stems contained. We grouped plots into four bins segregated by elevation and ran a bootstrap analysis over subsets of 58 random plots per bin with 100 iterations. Simpson evenness index (E D) for all species in each plot was used as a measure for its species abundance. Values for each plot's species frequency was calculated as the mean of all species' in the plot mean frequencies across the bin (i.e. the fraction of plots where each species occurs). We used linear models to correlate plot AGB with (1) elevation and mean annual precipitation (MAP), and (2) E D , plot species frequency and elevation. We performed all analyses at the species, genus and family levels. Plot AGB was related negatively with elevation, and thus positively with MAP, and also negatively with plot E D and plot species frequency, all significant. Plot species abundance therefore contributes positively to explain the relationship with AGB along elevational gradients, while plot species frequency does so negatively (i.e. less frequent species contribute more to a plot's AGB across elevation). AGB, for both generic and familial levels was also significantly and negatively correlated with E D , but not related with plot species frequency biomass at these taxonomic levels. Plot AGB was mainly associated with elevation and floristic composition where species, genera and families tended to be abundant at the local (plot) scale. Species that were less frequent at the regional scale contributed with more AGB regionally, while frequency at generic and familial scales did little to explain AGB patterns. This association seems stronger at lower elevations for all taxonomic levels while decreases toward higher elevation. Our study reveals a relationship between plot structural features like C stocks –influenced by species local abundances– and the distribution of taxa across the landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Economic Botany Data Collection Standard (EBDCS) has been successfully followed by ethnobotanists investigating plant uses in many parts of the world. However, we have encountered some cases in our study of traditional medicine where the standard seems incomplete and inaccurate when it is applied to plant uses of rural or indigenous societies in developing countries. We propose two categories to be added to the EBDCS: Cultural Diseases and Disorders, and Ritual/Magical Uses. Adding these categories, we believe will give a more accurate insight into traditional medicine and will contribute to developing an integrative ethnomedicinal data collection protocol, which will make ethnomedicinal studies more comparable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the study of mestizo people that share a common culture in a large geographic region and where traditional knowledge (TK) is still poorly documented, we compared medicinal plant use in the northern Andes of Peru. Aims of the study : (1) To compare patterns of the distribution of TK for a human group living between two ecoregions: high tropical montane forests vs. low tropical montane forests; (2) to understand the TK at the gender level; and (3) to analyse TK transmission over five generations. The study was conducted in two ecoregions, four areas and 12 localities. We gathered information with 600 participants through semi-structured interviews. We worked with 3–7 expert informants per locality using the "walk in the woods" methodology for gathering ethnomedicinal information in the field. We annotated local vernacular names, medicinal indications, and collected the plants in their habitats. Then we interviewed the rest of the participants in their homes. To evaluate significant differences between highlands and lowlands, we use general mixed linear models test and its corresponding post hoc LSD Fisher test of multiple comparisons (p < 0.05) at ecoregion, gender and generation level. A total of 416 species belonging to 107 plant families and 13,898 use-reports were found in both ecoregions. Overall, significant differences indicated that people in the highlands had higher TK than people in the lowlands for most of the medicinal categories. Women showed higher knowledge on medicinal plants in all medicinal categories and areas in both ecoregions. However, transmission of TK showed different patterns between ecoregions. In the highlands, the TK increased from the youngest to the senior group (51–60 years), with a slight decreasing for those over 60 years, whereas in the lowlands the findings were less clear and generations with highest TK were divergent across localities. TK on medicinal plants is still widely applied in the tropical montane forests of northern Peru. The localities with less prosperous socioeconomic development (highlands) were the areas with higher TK on medicinal plants. Women are mainly the depositories of the traditional medicine. The older generations maintain most of the TK in the highlands, whereas in the lowlands the TK is more widespread across generations. Future conservation programs on medicinal plants should understand who are the generations depositaries of the TK before dedicate any effort. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though subsistence hunting in tropical rainforests contributes to local food security and livelihoods, it also constitutes a major challenge to wildlife conservation. In this paper we examine different hunting practices of contemporary Tsimane', an Amazonian indigenous society native to Bolivia, and discuss their potential impact on wildlife. We also explore whether such different practices relate to greater integration into the national society and the market economy. Between 2009 and 2010, we conducted interviews with 344 Tsimane' adult men from 40 villages to collect information on their 1) hunting engagement, success, effort, offtake and prey profile and 2) their individual level of integration into the national society and the market economy. Overall, 71% of the interviewed men engaged in subsistence hunting albeit using different practices and achieving different outcomes. We used hierarchical cluster analysis to classify hunters into four groups according to their engagement and success in hunting. Two large groups of hunters had a diversified prey profile and targeted resilient species, whereas the two remaining groups were smaller, displayed high levels of offtake and efficiency, and targeted mainly ungulates and primates. We argue that the potential impact of expert hunters on wildlife is higher because they target more vulnerable species. Our results also suggest that there are no clear pathways relating hunting strategies and individual levels of integration into the national society and the market economy. However, our study provides evidence of how rapid and increasing contact with mainstream society affects hunting and subsistence livelihoods of contemporary indigenous peoples, posing severe potential impacts on biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• In tropical areas, due to data scarcity, biodiversity modelling is certainly required. • Species richness is accurately predicted at a detailed resolution. • This innovative methodology could be employed in other tropical areas. Disentangling the relative importance of different biodiversity drivers (i.e., climate, edaphic, historical factors, or human impact) to predict plant species richness at the local scale is one of the most important challenges in ecology. Biodiversity modelling is a key tool for the integration of these drivers and the predictions generated are essential, for example, for climate change forecast and conservation planning. However, the reliability of biodiversity models at the local scale remains poorly understood, especially in tropical species-rich areas, where they are required. We inventoried all woody plants with stems ≥ 2.5 cm in 397 plots across the Andes-Amazon gradient. We generated and mapped 19 uncorrelated biodiversity drivers at 90 m resolution, grouped into four categories: microclimatic, microtopographic, anthropic, and edaphic. In order to evaluate the importance of the different categories, we grouped biodiversity drivers into four different clusters by categories. For each of the four clusters of biodiversity drivers, we modelled the observed species richness using two statistical techniques (random forest and Bayesian inference) and two modelling procedures (including or excluding a spatial component). All the biodiversity models produced were evaluated by cross-validation. Species richness was accurately predicted by random forest (Spearman correlation up to 0.85 and explained variance up to 67%). The results suggest that precipitation and temperature are important driving forces of species richness in the region. Nonetheless, a spatial component should be considered to properly predict biodiversity. This could reflect macroevolutionary underlying forces not considered here, such as colonization time, dispersal capacities, or speciation rates. However, the proposed biodiversity modelling approach can predict accurately species richness at the local scale and detailed resolution (90 m) in tropical areas, something that previous works had found extremely challenging. The innovative methodology presented here could be employed in other areas with conservation needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how indigenous peoples’ management practices relate to biological diversity requires addressing contemporary changes in indigenous peoples’ way of life. This study explores the association between cultural change among a Bolivian Amazonian indigenous group, the Tsimane’, and tree diversity in forests surrounding their villages. We interviewed 86 informants in six villages about their level of attachment to traditional Tsimane’ values, our proxy for cultural change. We estimated tree diversity (Fisher’s Alpha index) by inventorying trees in 48 0.1-ha plots in old-growth forests distributed in the territory of the same villages. We used multivariate models to assess the relation between cultural change and alpha tree diversity. Cultural change was associated with alpha tree diversity and the relation showed an inverted U-shape, thus suggesting that tree alpha diversity peaked in villages undergoing intermediate cultural change. Although the results do not allow for testing the direction of the relation, we propose that cultural change relates to tree diversity through the changes in practices and behaviors that affect the traditional ecological knowledge of Tsimane’ communities; further research is needed to determine the causality. Our results also find support in the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, and suggest that indigenous management can be seen as an intermediate form of anthropogenic disturbance affecting forest communities in a subtle, non-destructive way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnopharmacological relevance Without an understanding of the geography of traditional knowledge, implementing the Nagoya Protocol and national or regional strategies for benefit-sharing with local and indigenous communities will be difficult. We evaluate how much traditional knowledge about medicinal palm (Arecaceae) uses is unique and how much is shared across (i) four countries (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia), (ii) two cultural groups (Amerindian and non-Amerindian), (iii) 52 Amerindian tribes, (iv) six non-Amerindian groups, (v) 41 communities, and (vi) individuals in the 41 communities. Materials and methods We first sampled traditional knowledge about palms from 255 references and then carried out 2201 field interviews using a standard protocol. Using the combined data set, we quantified the number of “singletons” that were unique to one of the analyzed scales. For the 41 communities, we evaluated how many uses were cited by <10% and by ≥50% of informants. We performed a Kruskal–Wallis test to evaluate whether the number of unshared uses (cited by <10%) differed significantly in relation to the informants׳ gender and degree of expertise, and performed a two-way ANOVA to test for differences in the number of unshared and shared uses accounted for by the five birth cohorts. Results We found that most knowledge was not shared among countries, cultural groups, tribes, communities, or even individuals within them. Still, a minor knowledge component was widely shared, even across countries. General informants cited a significantly higher number of unshared uses than experts, whereas no significant differences were found in the number of unshared uses cited by men and women or by different age groups. Conclusion Our region-wide analysis highlights the geospatial complexity in traditional knowledge patterns, underscoring the need for improved geographic insight into the ownership of traditional knowledge in areas where biocultural diversity is high. This high geographic complexity needs consideration when designing property right protocols, and calls for countrywide compilation efforts as much localized knowledge remains unrecorded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Empirical research provides contradictory evidence of the loss of traditional ecological knowledge across societies. Researchers have argued that culture, methodological differences, and site-specific conditions are responsible for such contradictory evidences. We advance and test a third explanation: the adaptive nature of traditional ecological knowledge systems. Specifically, we test whether different domains of traditional ecological knowledge experience different secular changes and analyze trends in the context of other changes in livelihoods. We use data collected among 651 Tsimane' men (Bolivian Amazon). Our findings indicate that different domains of knowledge follow different secular trends. Among the domains of knowledge analyzed, medicinal knowledge and wild edible knowledge appear as the most vulnerable; canoe building knowledge and firewood knowledge seem to remain constant across generations; whereas house building knowledge seems to experience a slight secular increase. Our analysis reflects on the adaptive nature of traditional ecological knowledge, highlighting how changes in this knowledge system respond to the particular needs of a society in a given point of time. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: As land use change continues to increase throughout the Amazon basin, there is a pressing need to accurately map, quantify and assess the effects of different factors on forest cover change (FCC). Land tenure may sometimes have important effects on forest cover, yet such effects remain poorly understood in Amazonia, particularly outside Brazil. In this paper we assess whether significant differences in trends of FCC can be partially explained by different land tenure arrangements, using a case study in southwestern Beni (Bolivian Amazon). We examine spatio-temporal dynamics of FCC across four land tenure systems (indigenous titled territory, protected area, logging concession, and private land) by classifying forests using a time-series of Landsat satellite imagery consisting of four dates (1986, 1996, 2001, 2009). Specifically, we unravel (1) trends in early growth and old-growth forest extent, including changes in total cover area, annual change rates, and spatial change dynamics, and (2) trends in old-growth forest fragmentation. To better understand the association between land tenure and FCC, we qualitatively assess the potential role that other underlying and proximate drivers may have had in FCC over the study period. We found that private lands underwent, by far, the largest FCC, that indigenous territories and the protected area had little FCC, and that logging concessions were responsible for the lowest FCC. Our findings suggest that land tenure played a key role in FCC except in private areas, where many other drivers had operated. Our study sheds light into the potential role of land tenure in FCC and has important implications for public policies aimed at socioeconomic development and environmental conservation in the Amazon. We give some policy recommendations drawn from a biocultural conservation perspective that could contribute to implement more inclusive conservation policies in the region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Participatory mapping of indigenous lands and resources is increasingly seen as a precondition for securing legal recognition of indigenous land rights. But because participatory mapping might have unintended impacts on the functioning of rural communities, researchers have put a great effort in analyzing the effects of participatory mapping. In this article, we used a randomized evaluation to assess the effects of participatory mapping in conflicts with external actors and with neighbouring villages in the Tsimane'' indigenous territory, Bolivian Amazon. We randomly assigned villages to a treatment and a control group, conducted participatory mapping with villages in the treatment group, and evaluated the effects of mapping village resources on the number of reported conflicts with and attitudes towards a) external actors and b) indigenous peoples from other villages. The exercise allows us to assess the effect of participatory mapping on conflicts while controlling for the political context. Results from our study indicate that conducting participatory mapping in randomly selected villages did not produce any effect of real or statistical significance on either 1) the number of conflicts with outsiders entering Tsimane'' villages, 2) the number of conflicts with Tsimane'' from other villages, 3) negative attitudes or opinions of outsiders, or 4) negative attitudes or opinion of Tsimane'' from other villages. Our results suggest that some of the effects that have been attributed to participatory mapping are not the inevitable outcome of mapping per se; rather, they probably stem from other previous or ongoing processes that determine whether communities engage in mapping their lands and how they do so. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]