Abstract
Researchers have developed several indices to estimate the significance of plant species for humans. We build on previous methods in ethnobotany and anthropology to develop a new way to value plant species along three dimensions: cultural, practical, and economic. We used interview and observational data on the use of wild plants by the Tsimane’, a foraging-horticultural society in the Bolivian Amazon. We calculated the cultural, practical, economic, and total values of 114 plant species from 46 families. We found a low correlation between the practical and the cultural values of species: some species rarely used were frequently mentioned in interviews, whereas some species frequently used were rarely mentioned in interviews. Indices of cultural, practical, and economic value measure different dimensions of the importance of plant species to society. The combination of the three indices offers a more comprehensive valuation of the significance of plants for humans than the use of only one index.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature Cited
Begossi, A. 1996. Use of ecological methods in ethnobotany: Diversity indices. Economic Botany 50:280–289.
—, N. Hanazaki, and J. Tamashiro. 2002. Medicinal plants in the Atlantic Forest (Brazil): Knowledge, use, and conservation. Human Ecology 30:281–299.
Benz, B.F., J. Cevallos, F. Santana, J. Rosales, and S. Graf. 2000. Losing knowledge about plant use in the sierra de Manantlan Biosphere Reserve, Mexico. Economic Botany 54:183–191.
Byg, A., and H. Balslev. 2001. Traditional knowledge ofDypsis fibrosa (Aracaceae) in Eastern Madagascar. Economic Botany 55:263–275.
Byron, E. 2003. Market integration and health: The impact of markets on the nutritional status, morbidity, and diet of the Tsimane’ Amerindians of lowland Bolivia. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Florida, Gainesville.
Figueiredo, G. M., H. Leitao-Filho, and A. Begossi. 1997. Ethnobotany of Atlantic forest coastal communities: Diversity of plant uses at Sepetiba Bay (SE Brazil). Human Ecology 25:353–360.
Godoy, R., H. Overman, J. Demmer, L. Apaza, E. Byron, T. Huanca, W. Leonard, E. Perez, V. Reyes-García, V. Vadez, D. Wilkie, A. Cubas, K. Mc-Sweeny, and N. Brokaw. 2002. Local financial benefits of rain forests: Evidence from Amerindian societies in Bolivia and Honduras. Ecological Economics 40:397–409.
Gullison, E. 1995. Conservation of tropical forests through the sustainable production of forest products: The case of mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla King) in the Chimanes Forest, Beni, Bolivia. Ph.D. thesis, Princeton University, New Jersey.
—, S.N. Panfil, J. Strouse, and S. Hubbell. 1996. Ecology and management of mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla King) in the Chimanes Forest, Beni, Bolivia. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 122(l):9–34.
Hecht, S., A. Anderson, and P. May. 1988. The subsidy from nature: Shifting cultivation, successional palm forests and rural development. Human Organization 47:25–35.
Huanca, T. 1999. Tsimane’ indigenous knowledge. Swidden Fallow Management and Conservation. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Florida, Gainesville.
Hunn, E. S. 2002. Evidence for the precocious acquisition of plant knowledge by Zapotec children. Pages 604–613 in J.R. Stepp, F.S. Wyndham, and R. Zarger, eds. Ethnobiology and biocultural diversity. International Society of Ethnobiology, Athens, Georgia.
Killeen, T., E. García, and S. Beck. 1993. Guía de Arboles de Bolivia. Herbario Nacional de Bolivia y Missouri Botanical Gardens, La Paz, Bolivia.
Ladio, A., and M. Lozada. 2004. Patterns of use and knowledge of wild edible plants in distinct ecological environments: A case study of a Mapuche community from northwestern Patagonia. Biodiversity and Conservation 13:1153–1173.
Nate, A., D. Ista, and V. Reyes-García. 2000. Plantas útiles y su aprovechamiento en la comunidad Tsimane’ de Yaranda. CIDOB-DFID, Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
Ohmagari, K., and F. Berkes. 1997. Transmission of indigenous knowledge and bush skills among the Western James Bay Cree women of Subarctic Canada. Human Ecology 25:197–222.
Peters, C. M., A.H. Gentry, and R. Mendelsohn. 1989. Valuation of a tropical forest in Peruvian Amazonia. Nature 339: 655–657.
Phillips, O. 1996. Some quantitative methods for analyzing ethnobotanical knowledge. Pages 171–197 in M. Alexiades, ed. Selected guidelines for ethnobotanical research: A field manual. New York Botanical Garden, New York.
—, and A.H. Gentry. 1993. The useful plants of Tambopata, Peru: Statistical hypotheses tests with a new quantitative technique. Economic Botany 47:15–32.
Pieroni, A. 2001. Evaluation of the cultural significance of wild food botanicals consumed in northwestern Tuscany, Italy. Journal of Ethnobiology 21:89–104.
Pimentel, D., M. McNair, L. Buck, M. Pimentel, and J. Kamil. 1997. The value of forests to world food security. Human Ecology 25:91–120.
Reyes-García, V. 2001. Indigenous people, ethnobotanical knowledge, and market economy. A case study of the Tsimane’ Amerindians, Bolivia. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Florida, Gainesville.
—, R. Godoy, V. Vadez, L. Apaza, E. Byron, E. Pérez, W. Leonard, and D. Wilkie. 2003. Ethnobotanical knowledge shared widely among Tsimane’ Amerindians, Bolivia. Science 299:1707.
—, V. Vadez, T. Huanca, W. Leonard, D. Wilkie. 2005. Knowledge and consumption of wild plants: A comparative study in two Tsimane’ villages in the Bolivian Amazon. Ethnobotany Research and Applications 3:201–207.
Rossato, S.V.C., H. Leitao-Filho, and A. Begossi. 1999. Ethnobotany of Caicaras of the Atlantic Forest Coast (Brazil). Economic Botany 53:387- 395.
Ruddle, K., and R. Chesterfield. 1977. Education for traditional food procurement in the Orinoco Delta. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Stoffle, R.W., D.B. Halmo, M.J. Evans, and J.E. Olmsted. 1990. Calculating the cultural significance of American Indian plants: Paiute and Shoshone ethnobotany at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. American Anthropologist 92:416–432.
Turner, N.J., 1988. The importance of a rose: Evaluating the cultural significance of plants in Thompson and Lillooet Interior Salish. American Anthropologist 90:272–290.
Vadez, V., V. Reyes-García, L. Apaza, E. Byron, T. Huanca, W. Leonard, E. Pérez, and D. Wilkie. 2004. Does integration to the market threaten agricultural diversity? Panel and cross-sectional evidence from a horticultural-foraging society in the Bolivian Amazon. Human Ecology 32:635–646.
Zarger, R. 2002. Acquisition and transmission of subsistence knowledge by Q’eqchi’ Maya in Belize. Pages 592–603 in J.R. Stepp, F.S. Wyndham, and R. Zarger, eds. Ethnobiology and biocultural diversity. International Society of Ethnobiology, Athens, Georgia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Reyes-García, V., Huanca, T., Vadez, V. et al. Cultural, practical, and economic value of wild plants: A quantitative study in the Bolivian Amazon. Econ Bot 60, 62–74 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1663/0013-0001(2006)60[62:CPAEVO]2.0.CO;2
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1663/0013-0001(2006)60[62:CPAEVO]2.0.CO;2