Plants with similar characteristics drive their use by local populations in the semi-arid region of Brazil

Kamila Marques Pedrosa (), Humberto Araújo Almeida, Maiara Bezerra Ramos and Sérgio Faria Lopes
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Kamila Marques Pedrosa: Bairro Universitário
Humberto Araújo Almeida: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
Maiara Bezerra Ramos: Bairro Universitário
Sérgio Faria Lopes: Bairro Universitário

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2021, vol. 23, issue 11, No 52, 16834-16847

Abstract: Abstract Similarity among plants is explained by evolutionary history and can mediate the selection that human populations make of such resources. Ethnobotanical data were collected through semi-structured interviews with a total of 25 key informants. Locally important plants were evaluated by calculating their Use Value. A phylogenetic tree of the entire set of species cited by the participants was generated to analyze the phylogenetic signal of useful plants. A total of 41 species were cited and classified into nine uses. Our data set indicated that the cited plants are not randomly distributed among botanical families. The use of plants may be driven by the similarity of attributes between species. The phylogenetic signal test indicated that there is high representation of phylogenetic lineages among ethnobotanical uses. We suggest that similar plants tend to have similar utilitarian functions, and perhaps this is the criterion which directs plant selection by local populations.

Keywords: Selection; Population locations; Ethnobotany; Phylogenetic signal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1007/s10668-021-01355-7

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