Ethnoindicators of Environmental Change: Local Knowledge used for Rangeland Management Among Smallholders of Patagonia |
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| Institution: | 1. IPSCH-CONICET, Chubut, Argentina;2. IPCSH-CONICET, Chubut, Argentina;3. INIBIOMA, CONICET-Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Río Negro, Argentina;1. PhD candidate, Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, NO-1432 Ås, Norway;3. Professor, Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, NO-1432 Ås, Norway;2. Lecturer, Department of Plant Science and Technology, Tibet Agriculture and Animal Husbandry College, Bayi, Nyingchi, 860000, Tibet Autonomous Region, China.;1. State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation, Ministry of Agriculture, and College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, China;2. Texas A&M Agrilife Research, Blackland Research and Extension Center, Temple, TX 76502, USA;1. Grassland Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology and Restoration, Ministry of Agriculture, 120 East Wulanchabu Street, Hohhot 010010, Inner Mongolia, China;2. Institute of Agricultural Information, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China;1. Department of Geography, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium;2. Department of Range and Watershed Management, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran;3. ISUMADECIP, Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Babe?-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania;4. Department of Management, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia;5. Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Department of Biology Ghent University, Belgium;6. Urban Development and Mobility department, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research, Esch-sur-Alzette/Belval, Luxembourg;7. Department of Geography, University of Tartu, Vanemuise 46, 51014 Tartu, Estonia;8. College of Civil Aviation, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 29 Yudao Street, Nanjing 210016, China |
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| Abstract: | The current degradation crisis in arid and semiarid lands is creating severe economic and social difficulties, aggravating the food situation and greatly affecting the least developed countries and small farmers around the world. However, little attention has been given to the wealth of knowledge held by rural livestock farmers on this phenomenon, particularly those linked to environmental indicators. The objective of this work was to investigate plant attributes used by smallholders as ethnoindicators of short- and long-term environmental change. Using an ethnoecological approach, the study was carried out along with rural livestock smallholders who inhabit the central-northern Patagonian plateau. Open and semistructured interviews were carried out with 35 informants who were strongly associated with subsistence livestock farming. A total of 23 plant species were registered as being involved in detection of environmental change. The types of environmental change recorded were short term (such as droughts) and long term (such as desertification). These plants presented 14 different indicators, involving various life forms: gramineous or graminoid plants (65%), woody species (30%), and plants that are not gramineous or graminoid (5%). The plant community attributes that functioned as indicators were presence/absence of species, species abundance, and visible plant characteristics such as exposed roots, changes in plant architecture, and/or changes in phenology. The traits used as indicators provide complex information that is essential to the understanding of plant development and the structure and functioning of the managed ecosystem. Key lessons from this work include the following: The integration of plant ethnoindicators is important for the successful diagnosis and permanent monitoring of arid lands; and development plans incorporating indicators constructed with the involvement of the local people, as well as the rangeland professionals, must help to mobilize knowledge and practice on an equal basis. |
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