Verónica S. Lema

Local Botanical Knowledge and Agrobiodiversity: Homegardens at Rural and Periurban Contexts in Argentina

Homegardens are defined as those cultivated spaces, generally of reduced extension, located in the surroundings of the house. Garden produce is mainly consumed at home, or given away to related families, but exceptionally devoted to commercialization as a supplementary resource of domestic economy (Buet et al., 2010; Pochettino, 2010, Wagner, 2002). Homegardens study constitutes a subject of increasing interest in Ethnobotany, as this approach contributes to both agrobiodiversity conservation (in particular to the infraspecific level) and to the preservation of cultural diversity: management strategies as well as species and varieties selection are not market-oriented, but they are regulated by preferences and culinary uses, linked with family traditions. So, these homegardens could be considered as real adaptative responses of local human groups arising from their own experience in the environment. This subject has been approached by diverse authors all over the world (Albuquerque et al., 2005; Blanckaert et al., 2004; Das & Das, 2005; Lamont et al., 1999; Nazarea, 1998; Vogl et al., 2002; Vogl et al., 2004; Vogl-Lukasser et al., 2002; Wagner, 2002; Watson & Eyzaguirre, 2002) even in Argentina, many of them developed by the research team of Laboratorio de Etnobotanica y Botanica Aplicada (LEBA), Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina (Buet et al., 2010; Del Rio et al., 2007; Lema, 2006; Maidana et al., 2005; Martinez et al., 2003; Perez et al., 2008; Pochettino et al., 2006; Pochettino, 2010; Turco et al., 2006).

HACIA UNA CARTOGRAFÍA DE LA CRIANZA: DOMESTICIDAD Y DOMESTICACIÓN EN COMUNIDADES ANDINAS

An analytical comprehension of the native ways of perceiving the relationship and management practices that societies have with plant communities at the Andes, conduces us to highlight the place that the local practices of mutual nurturing have, as a relational metapattern between humans and non humans. Studying these practices leads us to consider a new optic to address domestication processes and management practices of plants, being the analysis of its spatiality an essential aspect. In this paper we will look at the way in which the exercise of nurturing redefines domestic spaces in a broader sense that the “household” has in a restrictive meaning, allowing the domestic –although not always domesticated- status of some plant populations at a local level, having an impact in the evolutionary trajectories of those taxa involved. Plant nurturing will take us to consider different spots which are essential in the reproduction of the network of amplified sociability, being necessary to analyze not only the places of cultivation but also the places for storage and their role in the nurturing of seeds.

From weeds to wheat: a diachronic approach to ancient biocultural diversity in the Santa María valley, northwest Argentina

The aim of this paper is to analyse continuities and changes in plant diversity and use in the southern part of the Santa María valley in northwest Argentina, from the 1st millennium ad up to the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century. Variable degrees of association between people and plants (wild, weedy and domesticated), as well as various management practices (gathering, cultivation, tolerance, eradication, protection and encouragement) were studied to investigate the biocultural history of this region through the analysis of plant macroremains from archaeological sites. Samples were obtained from four archaeological sites located in the valley, Rincón Chico 1, Rincón Chico 15, Soria 2 and El Colorado. As a result, we identified 628 macroremains belonging to 20 taxa and determined whether they were either wild plants, weeds or crops, related to strategies of gathering and cultivation. The results suggest that there were changes through time, with a dominance of ruderal weeds in the earliest of the archaeological sites along with a diversity of association degrees, while a division was found between wild and domesticated plants, represented by maize and Prosopis (algarrobo), in the sites of the Late period. This last scenario suggests that the growing of trees and shrubs together with crops and pasture (agroforestry), or woodland management together with grazing (silvopasture), could have been part of the past land management practices in the area. Chenopodium remains indicate past complexes of wild plants, weeds and crops growing together in the cultivated plots; the newly introduced crops brought from Spain, such as wheat and barley, did not replace the local plants, mainly Prosopis (algarrobo) and Zea mays (maize), which were still grown during early colonial times. This paper offers a diachronic perspective on plant management in a particular region, considering a plant record that is still limited, but which allows us to get a first glimpse of how plant management strategies may have changed in this part of South America.

Multidisciplinary studies in Cucurbita maxima (squash) domestication

Plant domestication is a complex process in which natural and cultural factors play important roles delimiting evolutionary pathways of plants under cultivation. In order to deal with and understand the changes generated during this process, multi-disciplinary research is required, especially when a full picture of the domestication history of a taxon is to be assessed. We present here some advances in the study of Cucurbita maxima (squash) domestication from an integrated perspective, including experimental, morphometric and archaeobotanical approaches, which are discussed in the light of new data from physiological analyses. Modern material includes plants obtained from experimental fields, derived from crosses between domesticated (C. maxima ssp. maxima) and spontaneous/wild forms (C. maxima ssp. andreana), resulting in F1 and F2 generations. The archaeobotanical material includes remains recovered from sites in southern Peru and northwest Argentina ranging in date from 3,000 to 800 bp. Morphological and anatomical analyses were conducted on seeds, pericarps and peduncles (the stem of the flower or fruit) for reconstructing squash size and shape evolution under domestication. The results suggest the presence of hybrid forms, mainly from the earlier sites, but also from more recent ones. As expected, a linear evolutionary pathway was not found. Diversity and multiple crossings seem to have been a constant in squash cultivation over time, emphasising the role of gene flows between domestic and wild variants in the domestication process. Finally, we hypothesize the possible linkage between past gene flow and different dormancy patterns as part of management practices, allowing the maintenance of squash populations adapted to different environmental conditions.