Advancing ethnobiology for the ecological transition and a more inclusive and just world: a comprehensive framework for the next 20 years.

This opinion piece, written by ethnobiologists from different parts of the world, emphasizes the importance of ethnobiology research in advancing contemporary biology, natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, and, especially, contributing to the ecological transition and more just and inclusive world. To achieve these goals, it is essential to develop research and collaborate with social groups that live in close relationship with nature in research activities, such as Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC), as well as Afro-descendants and other Marginalized, Minority or Minoritized Communities (AMMC). Ethnobiology can identify and provide locally appropriate solutions to local problems, enabling sustainable resource management at the landscape level. The text explores important aspects that need to be considered to guide the future of ethnobiology in the next 20 years, aiming to integrate and amplify previous discussions held in the discipline and identify points that demand ongoing attention. This paper highlights reflections from diverse researchers, emphasizing how ethnobiology can embrace different perspectives and employ rigorous analysis of complex phenomena toward effective policies and practices. This approach holds the potential to address the challenges the planet is currently facing in the coming decades.

Haitian women in New York City use global food plants for women's health.

BACKGROUND: Despite the availability of mainstream biomedical healthcare in New York City (NYC), community-based ethnomedicine practices remain a low-cost, culturally relevant treatment for many immigrants. Previous urban ethnobotany research in NYC has established that several Caribbean communities continue using medicinal plants for women's health after immigration. This study sought to address to what extent: (1) NYC Haitian women continue using medicinal plants for women's health after migration; (2) their plants and the conditions treated were similar to those identified in an earlier survey with NYC immigrants from the Dominican Republic. METHODS: Through an ethnobotanical survey, 100 Haitian women living in NYC and born in Haiti were interviewed about their knowledge of medicinal plants for women's health conditions. Reported species were purchased based on local names in NYC Haitian stores and markets, vouchered, and identified. RESULTS: Nearly all Haitian women (97%) reported using medicinal plants while living in Haiti. Most Haitian women continued using medicinal plants after coming to the USA (83%). The 14% decrease, although significant (z = 3.3; p = 0.001), was mainly due to logistical difficulties with sourcing plants after recent immigration. Popular medicinal plant species reported were primarily global food plants, re-emphasizing the intertwined food-medicine relationship in Caribbean diasporas. Comparison with data from NYC Dominicans identified childbirth and puerperium, gynecological infections, and vaginal cleansing as priority Haitian women's health concerns treated with plants. CONCLUSION: Our findings support the global nature of Caribbean migrant plant pharmacopeia, predominantly centered around food plants and adapted to transnational urban settings. They underscore cultural diversity, dispelling the notion of one uniform traditional knowledge system labeled "Caribbean." The importance of preventative medicine for women's health, particularly the regular consumption of "healthy" foods or teas highlights the role food plants play in maintaining health without seeking treatment for a particular condition. Cross-cultural comparisons with other NYC Caribbean immigrants emphasize the importance of conducting ethnobotanical surveys to ground-truth plant use in the community. Such surveys can also identify culture-specific health priorities treated with these plants. Healthcare providers can leverage these insights to formulate culturally relevant and community-tailored healthcare strategies aligned with Haitian women's health beliefs and needs.

Fostering greater recognition of Caribbean traditional plant knowledge.

The Caribbean is a hotspot of biological and cultural diversity, manifested in traditional plant knowledge of Afrodescendant peoples and other ethnicities. To strengthen the visibility of this knowledge in research, education, and policy making, we propose an eight-step action plan centered on reciprocal relationships with Caribbean plant stewards, especially subsistence farmers.

Understanding interdisciplinary perspectives of plant intelligence: Is it a matter of science, language, or subjectivity?

BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that plants can behave intelligently by exhibiting the ability to learn, make associations between environmental cues, engage in complex decisions about resource acquisition, memorize, and adapt in flexible ways. However, plant intelligence is a disputed concept in the scientific community. Reasons for lack of consensus can be traced back to the history of Western philosophy, interpretation of terminology, and due to plants lacking neurons and a central nervous system. Plant intelligence thus constitutes a novel paradigm in the plant sciences. Therefore, the perspectives of scientists in plant-related disciplines need to be investigated in order to gain insight into the current state and future development of this concept. METHODS: This study analyzed opinions of plant intelligence held by scientists from different plant-related disciplines, including ethnobiology and other biological sciences, through an online questionnaire. RESULTS: Our findings show that respondents' personal belief systems and the frequency of taking into account other types of knowledge, such as traditional knowledge, in their own field(s) of study, were associated with their opinions of plant intelligence. Meanwhile, respondents' professional expertise, background (discipline), or familiarity with evidence provided on plant intelligence did not affect their opinions. CONCLUSIONS: This study emphasizes the influential role of scientists' own subjective beliefs. In response, two approaches could facilitate transdisciplinary understanding among scientists: (1) effective communication designed to foster change in agreement based on presented information; and (2) holding space for an interdisciplinary dialogue where scientists can express their own subjectivities and open new opportunities for collaboration.

Caribbean Women's Health and Transnational Ethnobotany.

Caribbean Women's Health and Transnational Ethnobotany. Immigrants from the Dominican Republic (DR) and Haiti are among the top foreign-born communities in New York City (NYC). As people migrate to new countries, they bring their ethnomedical beliefs and practices, and adapt their plant pharmacopoeias. Haiti and the DR share a flora on the island of Hispaniola. In NYC, the flora is limited to what is available in the city. We selected plants for future laboratory research based on ethnobotanical data from two surveys among Dominicans in the DR and NYC, and a Haitian literature review. In both Dominican datasets, gynecological infections were the top women's health condition treated with plants. We identified 10 species for this purpose reported by Dominicans that are also known medicines in Haitian culture, although not yet documented for women's health. Plants for gynecological infections potentially cause dysbiosis of the vaginal microbiota, and may increase rather than prevent disease. There is a public health need to assess traditional medicines for their ability to inhibit pathogenic bacteria, while causing minimal disruption to the vaginal flora. Several species are known antibacterials, but remain to be tested for their efficacy. These results also provide a foundation for a planned ethnobotanical survey among NYC Haitian women. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12231-021-09526-3.

Taming the pandemic? The importance of homemade plant-based foods and beverages as community responses to COVID-19.

Household responses to COVID-19 in different corners of the world represent the primary health care that communities have relied on for preventing and mitigating symptoms. During a very complex and confusing time, in which public health services in multiple countries have been completely overwhelmed, and in some cases even collapsed, these first-line household responses have been quintessential for building physical, mental, and social resilience, and for improving individual and community health. This editorial discusses the outcomes of a rapid-response preliminary survey during the first phase of the pandemic among social and community contacts in five metropolises heavily affected by the COVID-19 health crisis (Wuhan, Milan, Madrid, New York, and Rio de Janeiro), and in twelve rural areas or countries initially less affected by the pandemic (Appalachia, Jamaica, Bolivia, Romania, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Georgia, Turkey, Pakistan, Cambodia, and South Africa). We summarized our perspectives as 17 case studies, observing that people have relied primarily on teas and spices ("food-medicines") and that there exist clear international plant favorites, popularized by various new media. Urban diasporas and rural households seem to have repurposed homemade plant-based remedies that they use in normal times for treating the flu and other respiratory symptoms or that they simply consider healthy foods. The most remarkable shift in many areas has been the increased consumption of ginger and garlic, followed by onion, turmeric, and lemon. Our preliminary inventory of food medicines serves as a baseline for future systematic ethnobotanical studies and aims to inspire in-depth research on how use patterns of plant-based foods and beverages, both "traditional" and "new", are changing during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Our reflections in this editorial call attention to the importance of ethnobiology, ethnomedicine, and ethnogastronomy research into domestic health care strategies for improving community health.

Identity in a medicine cabinet: Discursive positions of Andean migrants towards their use of herbal remedies in the United Kingdom.

This study explores different rationales for using herbal remedies among people from Andean descent in the United Kingdom, using positioning theory as a conceptual framework. By analysing processes of positioning in narratives about healthcare choices conducted with 40 Bolivian and Peruvian migrants in London (between 2005 and 2009), we examine in which ways talking about personal preferences for herbal medicine can be constitutive of one's health identity. The results reveal three distinct discursive repertoires that frame the use of herbal remedies either as a tradition, a health-conscious consumer choice, or as a coping strategy, each allowing specific health identity outcomes. An enhanced understanding of how people make sense of their use of traditional, plant-based medicines enables healthcare professionals to better assist patients in making meaningful decisions about their health. Through illustrating how treatment choices are discursively linked with identity, the present results debunk the tendency to perceive patients with a migration background as one homogenous group and thus urge for a patient centred approach.

Medicinal plants used for menstrual disorders in Latin America, the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia and their uterine properties: a review.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Menstrual disorders are generally not perceived as major health concerns by global health organizations, despite being disruptive to women׳s daily activities, particularly when access to sanitary facilities or analgesics is limited. Improving menstrual health requires access to safe and effective medication, but many women in Latin America, Africa or Asia prefer traditional medicine above modern remedies (such as contraceptives), as they can cause physical symptoms associated with fertility loss. Many medicinal plants are used for menstrual disorders, but few have been examined for their pharmacological activities related to traditional uses. Plants that have a smooth muscle-relaxant effect could ease menstrual cramps, but there are indications that dysmenorrhea in low-income countries is commonly treated with emmenagogues. This review aims to assess the most salient plants used to treat menstrual morbidity in Latin America and the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia, their uterine properties and adverse effects. To test whether plants used for painful menstruation could have uterine contracting properties, we recorded whether these species were also used to ease birth, induce menstruation, abortion or expel the afterbirth, as these suggest spasmogenic activities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the literature documenting traditional plant use in the study area for dysmenorrhea, regulating or inducing menstruation, uterine cleansing, uterine fibroids, expelling the placenta and lochia and for easing childbirth. Thirty genera (59 species) used in at least two continents or frequently throughout one continent, where shortlisted from the 90 most salient plant species emerging from our literature review. Using Medline, we searched for pharmacological properties and/or mechanisms of action relevant to their traditional uses of the shortlisted species. We searched VigiBase™, the WHO global individual case safety report database, on reported adverse drug reactions associated with these species. RESULTS: More than 2000 plant species are used for menstrual disorders in the study area. The most salient uses are to treat painful menstruation, induce or regulate menses, and induce abortion. Around half (29) of the 59 most salient species have been tested for their pharmacological effects, of which 48% act as uterine spasmolytics and 31% as uterine spasmogenics. Several frequently used species contain toxic constituents, which may put women and their unborn children at serious risk. VigiBase(TM) listed adverse drug reactions for 18 of these species, but few reports came from the study area. CONCLUSIONS: Research into the risks and benefits of medicinal plants for menstrual complaints should be given a higher priority in reproductive health programs that respect traditional knowledge and practices. Increased data collection is needed on adverse drug reactions among women using herbal medicines for reproductive health, especially in countries with limited reproductive health facilities.

Evidence of the shifting baseline syndrome in ethnobotanical research.

BACKGROUND: The shifting baseline syndrome is a concept from ecology that can be analyzed in the context of ethnobotanical research. Evidence of shifting baseline syndrome can be found in studies dealing with intracultural variation of knowledge, when knowledge from different generations is compared and combined with information about changes in the environment and/or natural resources. METHODS: We reviewed 84 studies published between 1993 and 2012 that made comparisons of ethnobotanical knowledge according to different age classes. After analyzing these studies for evidence of the shifting baseline syndrome (lower knowledge levels in younger generations and mention of declining abundance of local natural resources), we searched within these studies for the use of the expressions "cultural erosion", "loss of knowledge", or "acculturation". RESULTS: The studies focused on different groups of plants (e.g. medicinal plants, foods, plants used for general purposes, or the uses of specific important species). More than half of all 84 studies (57%) mentioned a concern towards cultural erosion or knowledge loss; 54% of the studies showed evidence of the shifting baseline syndrome; and 37% of the studies did not provide any evidence of shifting baselines (intergenerational knowledge differences but no information available about the abundance of natural resources). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The general perception of knowledge loss among young people when comparing ethnobotanical repertoires among different age groups should be analyzed with caution. Changes in the landscape or in the abundance of plant resources may be associated with changes in ethnobotanical repertoires held by people of different age groups. Also, the relationship between the availability of resources and current plant use practices rely on a complexity of factors. Fluctuations in these variables can cause changes in the reference (baseline) of different generations and consequently be responsible for differences in intergenerational knowledge. Unraveling the complexity of changes in local knowledge systems in relation to environmental changes will allow the identification of more meaningful information for resource conservation.

Intercultural health and ethnobotany: how to improve healthcare for underserved and minority communities?

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The present conceptual review explores intercultural healthcare--defined as the integration of traditional medicine and biomedicine as complementary healthcare systems--in minority and underserved communities. This integration can take place at different levels: individuals (patients, healers, biomedical healthcare providers), institutions (health centers, hospitals) or society (government policy). BACKGROUND: Contemporary ethnobotany research of traditional medicine has primarily dealt with the botanical identification of plants commonly used by local communities, and the identification of health conditions treated with these plants, whereas ethnopharmacology has focused on the bioactivity of traditional remedies. On the other hand, medical anthropology seems to be the scholarship more involved with research into patients' healthcare-seeking itineraries and their interaction with traditional versus biomedical healthcare systems. The direct impact of these studies on public health of local communities can be contested. AIM OF THE REVIEW: To compare and discuss the body of scholarly work that deals with different aspects of traditional medicine in underserved and minority communities, and to reflect on how gaps identified in research can be bridged to help improve healthcare in these communities. KEY FINDINGS: The literature covers a broad range of information of relevance to intercultural healthcare. This information is fragmented across different scientific and clinical disciplines. A conceptual review of these studies identifies a clear need to devote more attention to ways in which research on traditional medicine can be more effectively applied to improve local public health in biomedical resource-poor settings, or in geographic areas that have disparities in access to healthcare. CONCLUSIONS: Scholars studying traditional medicine should prioritize a more interdisciplinary and applied perspective to their work in order to forge a more direct social impact on public health in local communities most in need of healthcare.

In search of the perfect aphrodisiac: parallel use of bitter tonics in West Africa and the Caribbean.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Enslaved Africans in the Americas had to reinvent their medicinal flora in an unknown environment by adhering to plants that came with them, learning from Amerindians and Europeans, using their Old World knowledge and trial and error to find substitutes for their homeland herbs. This process has left few written records, and little research has been done on transatlantic plant use. We used the composition of aphrodisiac mixtures across the black Atlantic to discuss the adaptation of herbal medicine by African diaspora in the New World. Since Africans are considered relatively recent migrants in America, their healing flora is often said to consist largely of pantropical and cultivated species, with few native trees. Therefore, we expected Caribbean recipes to be dominated by taxa that occur in both continents, poor in forest species and rich in weeds and domesticated exotics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To test this hypothesis, we compared botanical ingredients of 35 African and 117 Caribbean mixtures, using Dentrended Correspondence Analysis, Cluster Analysis, Indicator Species Analysis and Mann-Whitney U tests. RESULTS: Very few of the 324 ingredients were used on both continents. A slightly higher overlap on generic and family level showed that Africans did search for taxa that were botanically related to African ones, but largely selected new, unrelated plants with similar taste, appearance or pharmacological properties. Recipes from the forested Guianas contained more New World, wild and forest species than those from deforested Caribbean islands. We recorded few 'transatlantic genera' and weeds never dominated the recipes, so we rejected our hypothesis. CONCLUSIONS: The popularity of bitter tonics in the Caribbean suggests an African heritage, but the inclusion of Neotropical species and vernacular names of plants and mixtures indicate Amerindian and European influence. We show that enslaved Africans have reinvented their herbal medicine wherever they were put to work, using the knowledge and flora that was available to them with great creativity and flexibility. Our analysis reveals how transplanted humans adapt their traditional medical practises in a new environment.

Can Andean medicine coexist with biomedical healthcare? A comparison of two rural communities in Peru and Bolivia.

BACKGROUND: It is commonly assumed that indigenous medical systems remain strong in developing countries because biomedicine is physically inaccessible or financially not affordable. This paper compares the health-seeking behavior of households from rural Andean communities at a Peruvian and a Bolivian study site. The main research question was whether the increased presence of biomedicine led to a displacement of Andean indigenous medical practices or to coexistence of the two healing traditions. METHODOLOGY: Open-ended interviews and free listing exercises were conducted between June 2006 and December 2008 with 18 households at each study site. Qualitative identification of households' therapeutic strategies and use of remedies was carried out by means of content analysis of interview transcriptions and inductive interference. Furthermore, a quantitative assessment of the incidence of culture-bound illnesses in local ethnobiological inventories was performed. RESULTS: Our findings indicate that the health-seeking behavior of the Andean households in this study is independent of the degree of availability of biomedical facilities in terms of quality of services provided, physical accessibility, and financial affordability, except for specific practices such as childbirth. Preference for natural remedies over pharmaceuticals coexists with biomedical healthcare that is both accessible and affordable. Furthermore, our results show that greater access to biomedicine does not lead to less prevalence of Andean indigenous medical knowledge, as represented by the levels of knowledge about culture-bound illnesses. CONCLUSIONS: The take-home lesson for health policy-makers from this study is that the main obstacle to use of biomedicine in resource-poor rural areas might not be infrastructural or economic alone. Rather, it may lie in lack of sufficient recognition by biomedical practitioners of the value and importance of indigenous medical systems. We propose that the implementation of health care in indigenous communities be designed as a process of joint development of complementary knowledge and practices from indigenous and biomedical health traditions.

Globalization and loss of plant knowledge: challenging the paradigm.

The erosion of cultural knowledge and traditions as a result of globalization and migration is a commonly reported phenomenon. We compared one type of cultural knowledge about medicinal plants (number of plants reported to treat thirty common health conditions) among Dominican laypersons who self-medicate with plants and live in rural or urban areas of the Dominican Republic (DR), and those who have moved to New York City (NYC). Many plants used as medicines were popular Dominican food plants. These plants were reported significantly more often by Dominicans living in NYC as compared to the DR, and this knowledge was not age-dependent. These results contradict the popular paradigm about loss of cultural plant knowledge and is the first study to report a statistically measurable increase in this type of knowledge associated with migration.

The use of medicinal plants by migrant people: adaptation, maintenance, and replacement.

Given the importance of studying the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of migrant communities to understand the dynamics of plant resource use, we reviewed the scientific literature concerning the use of medicinal plants by migrant populations engaged in international or long-distance migrations. We considered the importance of two processes: (1) adaptation to the new flora of the host country (i.e., substitution and incorporation of plants in the pharmacopoeia) and (2) continued use and acquisition of the original flora from migrants' home countries (i.e., importation, cultivation, and/or continued use of plants that grow in both host and home environments). We suggest that, depending on the specific context and conditions of migration, different processes that determine the use and/or selection of plants as herbal medicines may become predominant.

Distribution and transmission of medicinal plant knowledge in the andean highlands: a case study from peru and bolivia.

This paper presents a study of patterns in the distribution and transmission of medicinal plant knowledge in rural Andean communities in Peru and Bolivia. Interviews and freelisting exercises were conducted with 18 households at each study site. The amount of medicinal plant knowledge of households was compared in relation to their socioeconomic characteristics. Cluster analysis was applied to identify households that possessed similar knowledge. The different modes of knowledge transmission were also assessed. Our study shows that while the amount of plant knowledge is determined by individual motivation and experience, the type of knowledge is influenced by the community of residence, age, migratory activity, and market integration. Plant knowledge was equally transmitted vertically and horizontally, which indicates that it is first acquired within the family but then undergoes transformations as a result of subsequent contacts with other knowledge sources, including age peers.

Resilience of Andean urban ethnobotanies: a comparison of medicinal plant use among Bolivian and Peruvian migrants in the United Kingdom and in their countries of origin.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Analysing why and how ethnobotanical traditions 'survive' is important for a better understanding of migrants' health care behaviour. This study investigates the use of traditional medicinal plants among first generation migrants from Bolivia and Peru in London, in relation to practices among their peers in their respective home countries in order to assess changes in traditional health care among newcomer communities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 98 semi-structured interviews were conducted in London (UK), Cochabamba (Bolivia) and Lima (Peru). Voucher specimens of all reported species were collected and identified. By comparing data on active plant uses and their applications, overlap and differences between health care practices before and after migration could be outlined. RESULTS: In London, people can rely on more biomedical alternatives and have access to less traditional herbal remedies as compared to their countries of origin. In general, Peruvians and Bolivians in London continued to use traditional medicine for common, self-limiting ailments that were also widespread in their countries of origin. The same widely used (either readily available cosmopolitan or culturally relevant) plant species appeared in the post-migration group. In general, less freshly available medicinal species were used in London and more edible, primary food species were consumed for medicinal purposes after migration. CONCLUSIONS: Bolivian and Peruvian migrants in London clearly proved to be resilient in their use of home-remedies when faced with the changes that come with migration. The observed ethnobotanical coping strategies are characterised by: (1) the preservation of culturally salient species (cultural key stone species); (2) a positive influence of the presence of cultural diversity (cultural edge effect), (3) a creative blending of different kinds of knowledge and resources, noticeable in an increased use of dried, processed alternatives and food species; and (4) a reliance on social networks for the exchange of plant material.

Human impact on wild firewood species in the rural Andes community of Apillapampa, Bolivia.

Firewood is the basic fuel source in rural Bolivia. A study was conducted in an Andean village of subsistence farmers to investigate human impact on wild firewood species. A total of 114 different fuel species was inventoried during fieldtrips and transect sampling. Specific data on abundance and growth height of wild firewood species were collected in thirty-six transects of 50 ×2 m(2). Information on fuel uses of plants was obtained from 13 local Quechua key participants. To appraise the impact of fuel harvest, the extraction impact value (EIV) index was developed. This index takes into account local participants' appreciation of (1) decreasing plant abundance; (2) regeneration capacity of plants; (3) impact of root harvesting; and (4) quality of firewood. Results suggest that several (sub-)woody plant species are negatively affected by firewood harvesting. We found that anthropogenic pressure, expressed as EIV, covaried with density of firewood species, which could entail higher human pressure on more abundant and/or more accessible species. The apparent negative impact of anthropogenic pressure on populations of wild fuel species is corroborated by our finding that, in addition to altitude, several anthropogenic variables (i.e. site accessibility, cultivation of exotics and burning practices) explain part of the variation in height of firewood species in the surroundings of Apillapampa.

The importance of botellas and other plant mixtures in Dominican traditional medicine.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Plant mixtures are understudied in ethnobotanical research. AIM OF THE STUDY: To investigate the importance of plant mixtures (remedies consisting of at least two plants) in Dominican traditional medicine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A Spanish language questionnaire was administered to 174 Dominicans living in New York City (NYC) and 145 Dominicans living in the Dominican Republic (DR), including lay persons (who self-medicate with plants) and specialists (traditional healers). Plants were identified through specimens purchased in NYC botánica shops and Latino grocery shops, and from voucher collections. RESULTS: The percentage of mixtures as compared to single plants in plant use reports varied between 32 and 41%, depending on the geographic location (NYC or DR) and participant status (lay person or specialist). Respiratory conditions, reproductive health and genitourinary conditions were the main categories for which Dominicans use plant mixtures. Lay persons reported significantly more mixtures prepared as teas, mainly used in NYC to treat respiratory conditions. Specialists mentioned significantly more botellas (bottled herbal mixtures), used most frequently in the DR to treat reproductive health and genitourinary conditions. Cluster analysis demonstrated that different plant species are used to treat respiratory conditions as compared to reproductive health and genitourinary conditions. Interview participants believed that combining plants in mixtures increases their potency and versatility as medicines. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrates the importance and complexity of plant mixtures in Dominican traditional medicine and the variation in its practices influenced by migration from the DR to NYC, shedding new light on the foundations of a particular ethnomedical system.