Revue d'ethnoécologie (Nov 2013)
Perception des végétaux chez les Ribeirinhos d’Amazonie brésilienne
Abstract
This article deals with the perception that traditional people living in a protected area of the Brazilian Amazon (the Ribeirinhos of the Tapajós National Forest) have of the plants. It successively deals with the identification and naming of plants, the local categories of plants and the correspondence between local nomenclature (parataxonomy) and scientific nomenclature. We focused on spontaneous and cultivated plants, regardless of the criterion of utility for the local population, except however for the analysis of the overlay between taxonomy and parataxonomy which focused on forest plant species because they have been identified by various local informants during ethnobotanical inventories in forest plots.We developed an approach in ethnobiology and quantitative ethnobotany to analyze local ecological knowledge and put it in parallel with scientific knowledge. Particular attention has been paid to the analysis of speeches from local informants.This study shows that local nomenclature is rich and flexible. Such an heterogeneity of knowledge vis-à-vis plant diversity results from the variation of criteria used in the recognition and in naming the plants at individual and collective scales. Furthemore, in addition to a primary opposition between domesticated species and wild species, the Ribeirinhos distinguish nine categories of plants. The criteria used are mostly morphological but categories can overlap and fews species can change for other categories.In total, 439 morphotypes – also called ethnospecies that means minimum units of perception of biodiversity by local population - have been identified considering trees, palms, vines, grasses and herbs, and 257 basic terms were found. Nearly 77% of these morphotypes (337) occur exclusively in terrafirme forest. Among them, 206 were identified (61%) and correspond to 214 different plant species. The two taxonomies (scientific and popular) overlap partially: half of the morphotypes match the scientific taxonomy (with unique and exclusive correspondence) and the same morphotypes may refer to several species (sometimes different genera or families).
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