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Tropical Ethnobotany

Instructor:

Dr. Bradley C. Bennett
Department of Biological Sciences
Florida International University
Miami, FL 33199
Phone: 305-348-3586
Fax: 305-348-1986
E-mail:bennett@fiu.edu

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Tropical ethnobotany introduces graduate students and advanced undergraduates to the diverse world of tropical vegetation its use by traditional cultures.  The first part of the course covers tropical botany, beginning with abiotic factors that influence tropical plants such as climate and soils.  The focus then turns to the diversity, taxonomy, ecological processes, and adaptations of tropical vegetation.  The second part of the course focuses on the relationship of plants and people in tropical forests, including indigenous plant use and resource management.   Lectures will provide an introduction to each topic but much of the time will be devoted to field exercises.  The course emphasizes development of appropriate methodologies for conducting ethnobotanical research.  In a series of group projects, students will formulate research questions and design experiments to answer them.  Each student will also design an individual research project that will be completed by the end of the course.

Required Texts

  • Whitmore, T.C. 1990. An introduction to tropical rainforests. Clarendon Press, Oxford, England.
  • Gentry, A. H. 1993. A field guide to the families and genera of woody plants of northwest South America (Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) with supplementary notes on herbaceous taxa. Conservation International, Washington, D.C.
  • Martin, G.J. 1995. Ethnobotany: A methods manual. Chapman and Hall, London.
  • Other readings will be provided.
Group Projects

All students participate in several group projects, which introduce basic field techniques and research methods. With help from the faculty, groups formulate a research question, design field methods, and collect data. Students then will analyze the results and present their findings in oral presentations and written reports.

Individual Projects

Each student will design and complete an individual research project. Each will be evaluated on the bases of scientific merit, feasibility, experimental design, rsults, and analysis. The final week of the course is dedicated to individual projects. Students will present their projects in both oral and written formats.

Grading

Students should arrange credit for the course through their home institutions. Grades wil be based on one written exam (25%), one field practical (25%), group project and participation (25%), and the individual project (25%).

Lectures and Field Schedule

Day

1

Orientation and Reading

1. Intro, defining the tropics, classification

1,2

2

Field:  Mangroves and Coastal Strand

2. Introduction to ethnobotany

3

3

Field:  Tropical Old Growth & 2o Forests

3. Soils and nutrient cycles

  

4

Field:  Tropical Soil  Characterization

4. Neotropical ethnobotany

  

5

Field:  Developing a question,  Passive Assessments

5. Species diversity:  patterns & processes

4-6

6

Field:  Measuring species richness

6. Tropical plant morphology & life forms

7

7

Field:  Life Forms

7. Vegetation dynamics in tropical forests

  

8

Field:  Tropical Pastures

9. Geography and climates of the tropics

  

9

Reading and free time

Reading and free time

  

10

10. Tropical plant families I

11. Tropical plant families II

8,9

11

Field:  Common Tropical Families

Field:  Common Tropical Families

  

12

12:  Pressing Plants

Practical Exam:  Taxonomy

10-14

13

13. The role of anthropology

14. Types of ethnobotanical studies

  

14

15. Ethnotaxonomy

16. Ethnobotany Methodology

  

15

Field:  Interviews Techniques

Written Exam

15-19

16

Reading and free time

Reading and free time

20-25

17

Mid-course trip

Mid-course trip

26

18

Mid-course trip

Mid-course trip

  

19

Mid-course trip

Mid-course trip

27

20

Field:  Diversity of gardens

18. Tropical Agriculture and  Agroforestry

28

21

19. Plant medicines

20. Plant medicines

29

22

Field:  Resource Inventories

21. Extractive reserves

 

23

Reading and free time

Reading and free time

  

24

22. Cognitive Meaning of Plants

23. Plants as hallucinogens

30-34

25

24.  Ethnobotany and Ethics

Projects

  

26

Projects

Projects

  

27

Project Presentations

Final Wrap-up

  

28

Departures

Departures

  

Readings

  1. Clark, D.B.  1996.  Abolishing virginity.  J. Tropical Ecology 12:735-739.
  2. Bennett, B.C.  (in press).  Ethnobotany:  A subject in search of a definition.  Pages xxx-xxx in B.C. Bennett and A. Paul, eds.  Building Bridges with traditional knowledge.  Columbia University Press, NY.
  3. Wyllie-Echeverria, S.  1998.  Seagrass ethnobotany:  Part one.  Estuarine Research Foundation Newsletter 24:7,17.
  4. Bennett, B.C.  1992.  Plants and people of the Amazonian rainforests:  The role of ethnobotany in sustainable development.  BioScience 42:599-607.
  5. Bennett, B.C.  1986.  Patchiness, diversity and abundance relationships of vascular epiphytes.  Selbyana 9:70-75.
  6. Hartshorn, G.S.  1989.  Gap-phase dynamics and tropical tree species richness.  Pages 65-73 in  L.B. Holms-Nielsen, I.C. Nielsen and H. Balslev, eds.  Tropical Forests:  Botanical dynamics, speciation and diversity.  Academic Press, San Diego, CA.
  7. Malcom, J.R.  1995.  Forest structure and the abundance and diversity of Neotropical mammals.  Pages 179-197 in  M.D. Lowman and N.M. Nadkarni, eds.  Forest Caopies.  Academic Press, San Diego, CA.
  8. Freifeider, R.R., P.M. Vitousek, and C. M. D’Antonio.  1998.  Microclimate change and effect on fire following forest-grass conversion in seasonally dry tropical woodland.  Biotropica 30:286-297.
  9. Fraver, S., N.V.L. Brokaw, and A.P. Smith.  1998.  Delimiting the gap phase in the growth cycle of a Panamanian forest.  J. Tropical Ecology 14:673-681.
  10. Oldeman, R.A.A.  1989.  Dynamics in tropical rain forests.  Pages 3-21 in  L.B. Holms-Nielsen, I.C. Nielsen and H. Balslev, eds.  Tropical Forests:  Botanical dynamics, speciation and diversity.  Academic Press, San Diego, CA.
  11. Prance, G.T.  1985.  The changing forest.  Pages 145-165 in G.T. Prance and T.E. Lovejoy, eds. Key Environments:  Amazonia.   Pergamon Press, New York.
  12. Prance, G.T.  1982.  Forest refuges:  Evidence from woody angiosperms.  Pages 137-158 in G.T. Prance, ed.  Biologial diversification in the tropics.  Columbia University Press, NY.
  13. Butler, B.J. and R.L. Chazdon.  1998.  Species richness, spatial variation, and abundance of the soil seed bank of a secondary tropical rain forest.  Biotropica 30:214-222.
  14. Miller, P.M.  1999.  Effects of deforestation on seed banks in a tropical forest of western Mexico.  J. Trpical Ecology 15:179-188.
  15. Vickers, W.T.  1991.  Hunting yields and game composition over ten years in an Amazon Indian territory.  Pages 53-81 in J.G. Robinson and K.H. Redford, eds.  Neotropical wildlife use and conservation.  The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
  16. Bennett, B.C.  1992.  Hallucinogenic plants of the Shuar and related indigenous groups in Amazonian Ecuador and Peru.  Brittonia 44:483-493.
  17. Bennett, B.C.  1992.  Uses of epiphytes, lianas, and parasites by the Shuar people of Amazonian Ecuador.  Selbyana 13:99-114.
  18. Bennett, B.C., R. Alarcón, and C. Cerón.  1992.  The ethnobotany of Carludovica palmata Ruíz & Pavón (Cyclanthaceae) in Amazonian Ecuador.  Econ. Bot. 46:233-240.
  19. Bennett, B.C. and R. Alarcón.  1994.  Osteophloeum platyspermum (A.DC.) Warburg and Virola duckei A.C. Smith (Myristicaceae):  Newly reported as hallucinogens from Amazonian Ecuador.  Econ. Botany 48:152-158.
  20. Grimes, A., R  Alarcón, P. Jahnige, S. Loomis, M. Burnham, K. Onthank, D. Neill, W. Palacios, C. Cerón, M. Balick, B. Bennett, and R. Mendelsohn).  The economic value of non-timber forest products in Ecuador.  Ambio 23:405-410.
  21. Dalling, J.W. and R. Wirth.  1998.  Dispersal of Miconia argentea seeds by the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica.  J. Tropical Ecology 14:705-710.
  22. Suarez, A.V., C. de Moraes, and A. Ippolito.  1998.  Defense of Acacia collinsii by an obligate and nonobligate ant species:  The significance of encraoching vegetation.  Biotropica 30:480-482.
  23. Bronstein, J.  1998.  The contribution of ant-plant protection studies to our understanding of mutualism.  Biotropica 30:150-161.
  24. Prance, G.T.  1985.  The pollination of Amazonian plants.  Pages 166-191 in G.T. Prance and T.E. Lovejoy, eds. Key Environments:  Amazonia.   Pergamon Press, New York.
  25. Kubitzki, K.  1985.  The dispersal of forest plants.  Pages 192-206 in G.T. Prance and T.E. Lovejoy, eds. Key Environments:  Amazonia.   Pergamon Press, New York.
  26. Janzen, D.H.  1985.  Plant defence against animals in the Amazonian rainforest.  Pages 207-217 in G.T. Prance and T.E. Lovejoy, eds. Key Environments:  Amazonia.   Pergamon Press, New York.
  27. Heinrich, M., A. Ankli, B Frei, C. Weimann, and O. Sticher.  1998.  Medicinal plants in Mexico:  Healers’ consensus and cultural importance.  Soc. Sci. Med. 47:1859-1971.
  28. Terborgh, J. and E. Andresen.  1998.  The composition of Amazonian forests:  patterns at local and regional scales.  J. Tropical Ecology 14:645-664.
  29. Peter, C.M. (in press).  Pre-Columbian silviculture and indigenous management of neotropical forests.  In D. Lentz, ed.  Imperfect balance:  Landscape transformations in pre-Columbian Americas.  Colombia University Press, New York.
  30. Bennett, B.C. and J. Hicklin.  1998.  Uses of Serenoa repens (Bartr.) Small (saw palmetto) in Florida Econ. Bot 52:365-375.
  31. Browder, J.O.  1992.  The limits of extractivism:  Tropical forest strategies beyond extractive reserves.  BioScience 42:174-182.
  32. Browder, J.  19XX.  Extractive reserves and the future of the Amazon’s rainforests:  some cautionary observations.
  33. Peres, C.A.  1994.  Indigenous reserves and nature canservation in Amazonian forests.  Cons. Biol. 8:586-588.
  34. Redford, K.H. and A.M. Stearman.  1993.  Forest-dwelling native amazonians and the conservation of biodiversity:  Interests in common or collision?  Cons. Biol. 7:248255.
  35. Peters, C.M.  199X.  Sustainable use of biodiversity:  Myths, realities, and potential.