Rodrigo Cámara-Leret

Palm Uses in Northwestern South America: A Quantitative Review

A thorough review concerning palm uses in tropical rainforests of north-western South America was carried out to understand patterns of palm use throughout ecoregions (Amazonia, Andes, Chocó), countries (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia), and among the different human groups (indigenous, mestizos, afroamericans, colonos) that occur there. A total of 194 useful palm species, 2,395 different uses and 6,141 use-reports were recorded from 255 references. The Amazon had the highest palm use, whereas fewer, but similar uses were recorded for the Andes and Chocó. Ecuador was the most intensively studied country. Most palms were used for human food, utensils and tools, construction, and cultural purposes. Indigenous people knew more palm uses than mestizos, afroamericans and colonos. The use of palms was not random and the main uses were the same throughout the studied ecoregions and countries. Palms satisfy basic subsistence needs and have great importance in traditional cultures of rural indigenous and peasant populations in our study area. Arecaceae is probably the most important plant family in the Neotropics, in relation to use diversity and abundance.ResumenSe realizó una revisión exhaustiva de los usos de las palmeras en los bosques tropicales lluviosos del noroeste de América del Sur para comprender los patrones de uso de las palmeras por ecorregiones (Amazonia, Andes, Chocó), países (Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia) y entre los diferentes grupos humanos (indígenas, mestizos, afroamericanos, colonos) existentes. Se registraron 194 especies de palmeras útiles, 2,395 usos distintos y 6,141 registros de uso a partir de 255 referencias. La Amazonia tuvo el uso más alto de palmeras, mientras que en los Andes y el Chocó se encontraron menores usos aunque similares. Ecuador fue el país que se estudió más intensamente. La mayoría de las especies se usaron para alimentación humana, utensilios y herramientas, construcción y usos culturales. Los indígenas conocieron más usos de palmeras que los mestizos, afroamericanos y colonos. El uso de las palmeras no fue al azar y los usos principales fueron los mismos en todas las ecorregiones y países estudiados. Las palmeras cubren necesidades básicas de subsistencia y tienen una gran importancia en las culturas tradicionales de las poblaciones indígenas y campesinas rurales en nuestra área de estudio. Arecaceae es probablemente la familia de plantas más importante del Neotrópico, en relación a su diversidad y abundancia de usos.

Ethnobotanical knowledge is vastly under-documented in northwestern South America.

A main objective of ethnobotany is to document traditional knowledge about plants before it disappears. However, little is known about the coverage of past ethnobotanical studies and thus about how well the existing literature covers the overall traditional knowledge of different human groups. To bridge this gap, we investigated ethnobotanical data-collecting efforts across four countries (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia), three ecoregions (Amazon, Andes, Chocó), and several human groups (including Amerindians, mestizos, and Afro-Americans). We used palms (Arecaceae) as our model group because of their usefulness and pervasiveness in the ethnobotanical literature. We carried out a large number of field interviews (n = 2201) to determine the coverage and quality of palm ethnobotanical data in the existing ethnobotanical literature (n = 255) published over the past 60 years. In our fieldwork in 68 communities, we collected 87,886 use reports and documented 2262 different palm uses and 140 useful palm species. We demonstrate that traditional knowledge on palm uses is vastly under-documented across ecoregions, countries, and human groups. We suggest that the use of standardized data-collecting protocols in wide-ranging ethnobotanical fieldwork is a promising approach for filling critical information gaps. Our work contributes to the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and emphasizes the need for signatory nations to the Convention on Biological Diversity to respond to these information gaps. Given our findings, we hope to stimulate the formulation of clear plans to systematically document ethnobotanical knowledge in northwestern South America and elsewhere before it vanishes.

New categories for traditional medicine in the Economic Botany Data Collection Standard

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.

Modelling responses of western Amazonian palms to soil nutrients

Summary Understanding the responses of individual plant species along different edaphic gradients is a key question in ecology, with implications to community assembly, functioning of forest ecosystems, niche theory, and conservation planning. In tropical rain forests, responses to soil nutrients have been described only for a handful of species. Even abundant and conspicuous components of the forest, such as the palms (Arecaceae), are largely unknown in this respect. We inventoried all palm species and analysed soil chemistry in 96 sites across western Amazonia to (i) assess the relative importance of some micronutrients vs. macronutrients as drivers of patterns in palm species composition, (ii) model the response shapes of 61 palm taxa and of canopy vs. understory palms along gradients of selected soil nutrients, (iii) determine if the response shapes of conspecific palm varieties differ in relation to the most important observed soil nutrient, and (iv) assess if the rank-order of the most abundant canopy species changes along edaphic gradients. Patterns in palm species composition were best explained by Mehlich-III extractable exchangeable bases (Ca, K, Mg) and phosphorus (P), with the different palm species clearly separating along the soil cation concentration gradient. All 61 palm taxa exhibited statistical responses along soil nutrient gradients. Response shapes in relation to exchangeable bases varied among bimodal skewed (51% of species), unimodal skewed (47%), and monotonic (2%). There were no significant differences between canopy vs. understory species in their mean response shapes to the exchangeable bases, but canopy species had significantly higher mean optimum value for soil P and greater mean niche width along the Ca, K, Mg, P, and boron (B) gradients. Varieties of the same species of Bactris, Desmoncus and Geonoma generally had different response shapes and different optima for the exchangeable bases. Synthesis: Among the soil variables we studied, macronutrients (especially exchangeable bases and P) emerged as more important than micronutrients in predicting species abundances in palm communities of western Amazonian non-inundated forests. Non-gaussian responses were predominant, conspecific palm varieties exhibited different response types, and the rank-order of dominance of canopy palms varied along the gradients of exchangeable bases and P. Together, these findings advance niche theory about palms and may be used for generating better predictive models of palm species distributions and for experimental studies that search for the physiological mechanisms underlying inter- and infra-specific trade-offs along edaphic gradients. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Patterns of Medicinal Use of Palms Across Northwestern South America

We carried out a comprehensive literature review of the medicinal use of palms in northwestern South America and complemented it with a large number of field interviews. We investigated patterns of medicinal use across three ecoregions (Amazon, Andes, Chocó), four countries (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia), and three human groups (indigenous, mestizos, and Afro-Americans). Overall, we reviewed 129 references with medicinal palm data and conducted 1956 field interviews, which yielded 93 medicinal palm species, 924 uses for the treatment of 157 diseases and ailments, and 1553 use-reports. The Amazon ecoregion showed the highest incidence of medicinal use, but overall use patterns were similar to those in the Andes and the Chocó. Ecuador was the most intensively studied country, whereas our fieldwork demonstrated that the Andes of all countries, and the Chocó of Colombia could still yield more information. The most common medicinal uses were associated to Digestive system, Skin and subcutaneous tissue, Infections and infestations, and Respiratory system. The medicinal use of palms was clearly more prominent among the indigenous than amongst mestizos and Afro-Americans. Medicinal palm use was not random, but rather showed similar patterns across ecoregions and countries, covering the livelihoods and needs of primary health care, often unmet by Western health systems.