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

esearch later collaborated on biological research projects focusing on the ecology of
Tapirus terrestris and Tayassu tajacu. Various skills conventionally applied in hunting
were employed for this. The research site was selected on the basis of known
occurrence of the animals involved. The individuals involved elected to use a site
within their hunting grounds, which other people use only rarely, in order to minimise
the chances of any conflicts of interest arising over their activities. This also made
logistical sense, as the researchers already had a close familiarity with much of the
terrain covered.
During the research itself, skills in tracking and interpreting animal signs were
constantly employed. Under good conditions, Wapishana researchers were able to
determine the numbers of animals in a group, assign them to age-sex classes, and
often to determine behaviour. Almost all of the data collected was based upon
observations of tracks rather than the animals themselves, as the latter were
accustomed to being hunted and hence highly cautious and flighty. Tracking was also
used to locate and determine usage of feeding sites, resting places and other
locations used by the animals. Food plants were easily identified in the local language
thanks to the botanical skills of local researchers. I was able to assign scientific
identifications to many of these using field guides (Roosmalen 1985a; Gentry and
Vasquez 1996). The work involved in obtaining accurate scientific glosses of all
ethnobotanical lexemes relevant to the study would not be considerable. Within the
context of a more extensive programme of ecological research, it would be more than
compensated for by making local botanical expertise accessible for scientific usage.
Overall, the individuals involved adapted readily and speedily to the novel context
of scientific research. They were easily able to transfer their skills to the making of
observations, and with a small amount of training from me in recording observations
were able to maintain their field notebooks efficiently. Work progressed with a
minimum of supervision on my part, sufficient to keep me appraised of developments,
and the accumulation of field data was rapid. This proved a highly cost- and time-
effective way of initiating field studies in ecology, and it is hoped that short
ecological papers may be written based upon the results. I believe that further, more
prolonged and elaborate collaborations between indigenous and western-trained
scientists could be an effective means to harness more productively the economic
and human resources currently available for ecological research in neotropical forests.