The role of women in Brazilian ethnobiology: challenges and perspectives.

BACKGROUND: The article aims to analyze the representativeness of women in ethnobiological publications within the Brazilian context, as well as to relate the difficulties faced by women in their scientific careers in terms of gender bias. Biases found in publications are relevant themes to different areas of knowledge, considering the historical persistence of male privilege in these activities. We analyzed the role of women in ethnobiological scientific publications and sought to reflect on gender issues in academic practices and fieldwork. METHODS: We conducted a 28-year survey of academic publications in Brazil, through the Scopus and Web of Science databases, in order to infer the female representation in ethnobiological literature. We also sent 77 questionnaires to ethnobiologists associated with the Brazilian society of ethnobiology and ethnoecology or indicted by associates through snowball sampling. RESULTS: We observed that there are more articles where the senior author is male (p < 0.05). However, there are no differences in the number of publications led by men and women (p > 0.05), which shows a positive trend in terms of representation. Within subareas, ethnozoology had more male authors than other subareas of ethnobiology. Articles whose senior authors are men tend to be published in journals with a higher impact (p < 0.05). The interviews with Brazilian ethnobiologists showed that 53.2% of the interviewees reported feeling discriminated against in the academic environment because they were women. Moreover, 61.0% said they had disadvantages in collecting data because they were women. Additionally, most of the researchers reported having witnessed cases of sexism in the studied communities. CONCLUSION: In the current scenarios of female participation, it is possible to reflect and identify advances and challenges associated with gender bias in ethnobiological studies conducted by Brazilian, both in the emic and etic spheres of research and in our scientific practice. As researchers in the area, we deal directly with social problems in the studied communities, such as violence against women, sexism, and prejudice, as well as the many problems faced in the academic universe itself.

What Factors Guide the Selection of Medicinal Plants in a Local Pharmacopoeia? A Case Study in a Rural Community from a Historically Transformed Atlantic Forest Landscape.

The criteria that local people use for selecting medicinal plants have been a recurrent topic in pharmacology and ethnobotany. Two of the current hypotheses regarding this phenomenon, ecological apparency and diversification, attempt to explain the inclusion of "apparent" and "non-apparent" and native and exotic taxa, respectively, in local pharmacopoeia. This study addresses the following questions: Do "apparent" and "non-apparent" medicinal plants have the same importance in local pharmacopoeia? Do "non-apparent" plants occupy more local categories of diseases than "apparent" plants? Do native and exotic medicinal plants have the same importance? Do exotic and native plants occupy different local categories of diseases? This study was conducted with householders of a community from Northeastern Brazil. Out of the 66 plant species cited, most were herbs (39 species), followed by trees and shrubs (27). Herbaceous species also occupied more local categories of diseases (51) than tree and shrub species (28). Furthermore, most of the species cited by the informants were exotic (42). Out of the 94 therapeutic applications cited in this research, 65 were treated with exotic species and 29 with native species, distributed among 13 body systems. These results support both the hypotheses of ecological apparency and diversification.

Pressure indicators of wood resource use in an Atlantic forest area, northeastern Brazil.

Wood resources are often used to support the needs of the local population. In order to protect biodiversity and resources, conservation strategies need to consider what types of wood use have the strongest impacts on forested areas. This study aimed to identify the use categories that put higher pressure on an Atlantic forest region located in the municipality of Igarassu in Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil. To conduct the study, we measured the volume of all wood products in 62 surveyed residences and registered the average replacement time for such products. The fuelwood category was most important locally and accounted for 92% of annual wood consumption. However, the construction category harvests more destructively and concentrates on the consumption of a few wood species. Therefore we recommend the fuelwood category to be the main focus of conservation effforts. In addition, the most important species for construction purposes (e.g., Eschweilera ovata (Cambess.) Miers, Apuleia leiocarpa (Vogel) J.F. Macbr. and Pogonophora schomburgkiana Miers ex Benth) should also be considered as a priority for conservation.