Ethnoecology, Resource Use, Conservation And Development In A ...

Food plant Score Freq. Fruits
eaten
Felled Other
human
use
Anthropic
Habitats
Human
Interaction
Dyakara (Inga alba) 0.15 1 Y N Y Y Y
Autaka (Myrcia sp.) 0.15 1 Y N Y Y Y
Kodoi aridu’i (Inga
laterifolia)
0.15 1 Y N N N Y
Dido’u 0.15 1 N Y N N Y
Barotaba'u
(Aspidosperma
excelsum)
0.15 1 N Y N N Y
Kodoi autakan 0.15 1 N N N Y Y
Ma'aso (Andira
surinamensis)
0.15 1 N Y Y N Y
Pawpaw (Carica
papaya)
0.15 1 Y N N Y Y
Poorau 0.14 1 N N N N N
Marushobi
(Geissospermum
argenteum)
0.14 1 N N Y N Y
MEANS/TOTALS 0.90 2.71 32 24 33 13 53
For all but four of the fifty-seven major plant foods derived from the ethnoecological
data, a human interaction was recorded. Thirteen of these Wapishana categories were
reported to grow in fallows, and for two of these no human use was recorded. A
significant proportion of major food plants for game animals, therefore, exploit
anthropic habitats. Ethnoecological research thus suggests several hypotheses
concerning this relationship amenable to testing by ecological research methods.
First, that the densities of these plant species are positively affected by
environmental modifications resulting from human agriculture. Second, that this
affects the behaviour of game animals, which are attracted to the farming area by
the presence of these plants and thus are more readily available to hunters. Third, if it
is indeed the case that the densities of these plants are increased by human
intervention, that this raises the carrying capacity for their animal consumers and
thus increases the abundance of game.
Fifty-one of the major animal food sources have recorded human uses. In thirty-
two cases, the fruits are also eaten by humans. In twenty-four cases, ten of which
involve species whose fruits are also eaten, at least one of the uses involves felling of
the entire tree. For a further five useful species, none of the recorded uses fell into
either of these categories. The consumption of fruits by people can affect their
availability to animals in either a positive or a negative fashion. On the one hand,
fruits may be dispersed, deliberately or inadvertently, into the farming area, thus
enhancing the chances that individuals of that species will be amongst those that