scholarly journals Ecological variation and institutionalized inequality in hunter-gatherer societies

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (13) ◽  
pp. e2016134118
Author(s):  
Eric Alden Smith ◽  
Brian F. Codding
Keyword(s):  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Population Pressure ◽  
Wild Plant ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Social Ranking ◽  
Plant Resources ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Distribution Of Resources ◽  
Scalar Stress ◽  
Resource Patches

Research examining institutionalized hierarchy tends to focus on chiefdoms and states, while its emergence among small-scale societies remains poorly understood. Here, we test multiple hypotheses for institutionalized hierarchy, using environmental and social data on 89 hunter-gatherer societies along the Pacific coast of North America. We utilize statistical models capable of identifying the main correlates of sustained political and economic inequality, while controlling for historical and spatial dependence. Our results indicate that the most important predictors relate to spatiotemporal distribution of resources. Specifically, higher reliance on and ownership of clumped aquatic (primarily salmon) versus wild plant resources is associated with greater political-economic inequality, measuring the latter as a composite of internal social ranking, unequal access to food resources, and presence of slavery. Variables indexing population pressure, scalar stress, and intergroup conflict exhibit little or no correlation with variation in inequality. These results are consistent with models positing that hierarchy will emerge when individuals or coalitions (e.g., kin groups) control access to economically defensible, highly clumped resource patches, and use this control to extract benefits from subordinates, such as productive labor and political allegiance in a patron–client system. This evolutionary ecological explanation might illuminate how and why institutionalized hierarchy emerges among many small-scale societies.

Prehistoric and Traditional Agriculture in Lowland Mesoamerica

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clarissa Cagnato
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Fruit Trees ◽  
Traditional Agriculture ◽  
Wild Plant ◽  
Plant Resources ◽  
Starch Grain Analysis ◽  
Ancient Agriculture ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The Rich

Mesoamerica is one of the world’s primary centers of domestication where agriculture arose independently. Paleoethnobotany (or archaeobotany), along with archaeology, epigraphy, and ethnohistorical and ethnobotanical data, provide increasingly important insights into the ancient agriculture of Lowland Mesoamerica (below 1000 m above sea level). Moreover, new advances in the analysis of microbotanical remains in the form of pollen, phytoliths, and starch-grain analysis and chemical analysis of organic residues have further contributed to our understanding of ancient plant use in this region. Prehistoric and traditional agriculture in the lowlands of Mesoamerica—notably the Maya lowlands, the Gulf Coast, and the Pacific Coast of southern Chiapas (Mexico) and Guatemala—from the Archaic (ca. 8000/7000–2000 bc) through the Preclassic/Formative (2000 bc–ad 250) and into the Classic (ad 250–900) period, are covered. During the late Archaic, these lowland regions were inhabited by people who took full advantage of the rich natural biodiversity but also grew domesticates before becoming fully sedentary. Through time, they developed diverse management strategies to produce food, from the forest management system (which includes swidden agriculture), to larger scale land modifications such as terraces, and continued to rely on semidomesticated and wild plant resources. Although lowland populations came to eventually rely on maize as a staple, other resources such as root crops and fruit trees were also cultivated, encouraged, and consumed. The need for additional research that includes systematic collection of paleoethnobotanical data, along with other lines of evidence, will be key to continue refining the understanding of ancient subsistence systems and how these changed through time and across lowland Mesoamerica.

scholarly journals Deciphering Substrate-Specific Methane Yields of Perennial Herbaceous Wild Plant Species

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 451
Author(s):  
Moritz von Cossel ◽  
Lorena Agra Pereira ◽  
Iris Lewandowski
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Cropping Systems ◽  
Wild Plant ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Wild Plant Species ◽  
Global Demand ◽  
Bioenergy Cropping Systems

The global demand for plant biomass to provide bioenergy and heat is continuously increasing because of a growing interest among many industrialized and developing countries towards climate sound and renewable energy supply. The exacerbation of land-use conflicts proliferates social-ecological demands on future bioenergy cropping systems. Perennial herbaceous wild plant mixtures (WPMs) represent an approach to providing social-ecologically more sustainably produced biogas substrate that has gained increasing public and political interest only in recent years. The focus of this study lies on three perennial wild plant species (WPS) that usually dominate the biomass yield performance of WPM cultivation. These WPS were compared with established biogas crops in terms of their substrate-specific methane yield (SMY) and lignocellulosic composition. The plant samples were investigated in a small-scale mesophilic discontinuous biogas batch test for determining the SMY. All WPS were found to have significantly lower SMY (241.5–248.5 lN kgVS−1) than maize (337.5 lN kgVS−1). This was attributed to higher contents of lignin (9.7–12.8% of dry matter) as well as lower contents of hemicellulose (9.9–11.5% of dry matter) in the WPS. Only minor, non-significant differences to cup plant and Virginia mallow were observed. Thus, when planning WPS as a diversification measure in biogas cropping systems, their lower SMY should be considered.

scholarly journals Multilingualism in Vanuatu: Four case studies

2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692110231
Author(s):  
Mary Walworth ◽  
Amy Dewar ◽  
Thomas Ennever ◽  
Lana Takau ◽  
Iveth Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Language History ◽  
Speech Communities ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Original Contribution ◽  
B Mobility

Each of the 65 inhabited islands of Vanuatu hosts its own unique linguistic environment in which varying degrees of multilingualism are found. This paper defines various types of small-scale multilingual settings in Vanuatu and explores what sociohistorical factors have led to them. This paper is based on first-hand observations and primary data collected by the authors in four locations in the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu since 2016: two neighboring villages of Emae Island (Makatu and Tongamea), North Malekula, and on Maewo Island. The assessments of multilingualism in these examples from Vanuatu were qualitative, based on observations of sociolinguistic practices in each of these areas, as well as data from language history and language use surveys carried out in each place. Through defining and comparing the types of multilingualism present in the four case studies, we identify patterns in the social and historical processes that lead to various kinds of multilingualism: (a) interaction of linguistic and sociocultural identities and (b) mobility of both individuals and entire speech communities. The examples described in this paper are used to highlight the diversity of multilingualism found in Vanuatu and to explore how their differing linguistic environments and histories have contributed to their varying degrees of multilingualism. This paper makes an original contribution to knowledge about the small-scale multilingual situations in Vanuatu, offering descriptions of previously undocumented and endangered multilingual environments. Through an examination of the sociocultural motivations for multilingualism, alongside historical migrations of speaker groups and marked sociolinguistic identities, this paper contributes to research on why and how small-scale multilingualism can develop. Furthermore, this paper provides the foundation for future, more rigorous investigations into the small-scale multilingual situations of this highly understudied region.

Small-scale mantle convection system and stress field under the Pacific plate

1976 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 212-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han-Shou Liu ◽  
Edward S. Chang ◽  
George H. Wyatt
Keyword(s):  
Stress Field ◽  
Mantle Convection ◽  
Pacific Plate ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
The Pacific

Access rights, capacities and benefits in small-scale fisheries: Insights from the Pacific Coast of Canada

Marine Policy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 130 ◽  
pp. 104581
Author(s):  
Nathan J. Bennett ◽  
Natalie C. Ban ◽  
Anna Schuhbauer ◽  
Dacotah-Victoria Splichalova ◽  
Megan Eadie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Coast ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Small Scale Fisheries ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Access Rights

Sustainable use of wild plant species: A research bibliography

Social Change ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 204-221
Author(s):  
Ghazala Shahabuddin
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Wild Plant ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Nature Protection ◽  
Plant Resources ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Field Methods

During the last few decades, there has been a growing realisation that biodiversity conservation cannot be successful without the active involvement of the people living close to and dependent on natural ecosystems for their survival and livelihoods. Consequently, there has been a gradual broadening of the global conservation agenda from strict nature protection to include the sustainable use of natural resources, which is now reflected in governmental policy the world over. However, as conservationists strive today towards the harmonisation of people's needs with biodiversity conservation, one of the most elusive, yet critical, goals for them has been the sustainable extraction of plant resources from the wild. Hundreds of plant species continue to be extracted from natural habitats for use as food, medicine, fuel and fodder in households and for commercial sale, both legally and illegally. As a consequence of unmonitored extraction and over-exploitation, many plant species populations are reported to be declining in the wild. In the face of increasing pressure on forest resources, it has become more important than ever before to devise quantitative management policies for sustainable plant use so that both forests and the livelihoods of millions of rural people who are dependent on them, can be sustained. One of the major stumbling blocks for conservationists in developing countries, who are attempting to design and implement sustainable forest management systems, is the lack of information on the state-of-the-art in this field, especially that relating to field methods, data analysis, data recording and monitoring systems. In order to fill this lacuna, a comprehensive bibliography of studies undertaken so far in the science of sustainable use from terrestrial ecosystems is presented here. The scope of this bibliography includes sustainable

scholarly journals IUCN Guidelines for gathering of fishers’ knowledge for policy development and applied use

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Winston Cowie ◽  
Shaikha Al Dhaheri ◽  
Ahmed Al Hashmi ◽  
Vivienne Solis-Rivera ◽  
Claudio Baigun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Policy Development ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Small Scale Fisheries ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Broad Array ◽  
Fisheries Policy ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
International Conventions ◽  
Traditional Fishing

Small-scale fisheries provide food security, livelihoods and income to millions of people but their management still presents a challenge to managers and other stakeholders due to problems in gathering suitable information and its incorporation in fisheries policy. Fishers are a key source of knowledge for assessment of both extractive capacity and value in small-scale fisheries, in addition to providing a broad array of cultural knowledge. The increasing recognition of the value of incorporating traditional fishing knowledge in freshwater, riverine, lacustrine and coastal and marine fisheries management is now evident in international conventions and published literature. The purpose of these guidelines is to make it easier for users to recognise and include fishers’ knowledge as an important data stream in resource management. The report includes details on the breadth of knowledge that can be gathered, how it can be gathered, and how this information can be applied to support sustainable fisheries policy and broader applications in society. With case studies from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and the Pacific.

scholarly journals Diversity of wild edible plants traditionally used by the Galo tribe of Indian Eastern Himalayan state of Arunachal Pradesh

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Padma Raj Gajurel ◽  
Tajum Doni
Keyword(s):  
Relative Frequency ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Leafy Vegetables ◽  
Wild Edible Plants ◽  
Wild Plants ◽  
Wild Plant ◽  
Edible Plants ◽  
Arunachal Pradesh ◽  
Plant Resources ◽  
Edible Plant

Wild edible plants are found very useful in the fulfilment of food and nutritional requirements. Because of the availibity and cultural preference, the consumption of these plants among the tribes is high. To find out the diversity, utilisation pattern and sociocultural importance of the wild plants, a study was conducted in the state of Arunachal Pradesh selecting the Galo tribe, and accordingly the wild edible plants consumed are documented here. Data were collected through extensive field surveys and interviews with the community in the selected 12 villages in Upper Subansiri and West Siang districts of Arunachal Pradesh. Overall, 125 wild edible plant species under 99 genera and 54 families are reported. These species are consumed mostly as leafy vegetables, fruits, medicine, spices and condiments and as a substitute to food grains. The Urticaceae with ten species is the most utilised family followed by Asteraceae, Moraceae and Lamiaceae with at least five species in each. Herbs with 47 species were found to be the most dominant growth form followed by trees with 44 species. Based on parts used leaves with 66 species were recorded to be the most used plant parts followed by fruits. The highest edibility index of 50 % was reported in Solanum americanum. The analysis of relative frequency of citation revealed that total 78 species exhibits more than 0.50 relative frequency of citation value with highest value in Pouzolzia hirta (0.95). It has been found that the wild plant resources play a vital role in the socio-economic aspects of the Galo tribe.

scholarly journals Environmental heterogeneity decreases reproductive success via effects on foraging behaviour

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1904) ◽  
pp. 20190795 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice M. Trevail ◽  
Jonathan A. Green ◽  
Jonathan Sharples ◽  
Jeff A. Polton ◽  
Peter I. Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Environmental Heterogeneity ◽  
Optimal Foraging Theory ◽  
Gps Tracking ◽  
Heterogeneous Environments ◽  
Rissa Tridactyla ◽  
Distribution Of Resources ◽  
Resource Patches ◽  
Patch Density ◽  
The Cost

Environmental heterogeneity shapes the uneven distribution of resources available to foragers, and is ubiquitous in nature. Optimal foraging theory predicts that an animal's ability to exploit resource patches is key to foraging success. However, the potential fitness costs and benefits of foraging in a heterogeneous environment are difficult to measure empirically. Heterogeneity may provide higher-quality foraging opportunities, or alternatively could increase the cost of resource acquisition because of reduced patch density or increased competition. Here, we study the influence of physical environmental heterogeneity on behaviour and reproductive success of black-legged kittiwakes, Rissa tridactyla . From GPS tracking data at 15 colonies throughout their British and Irish range, we found that environments that were physically more heterogeneous were associated with longer trip duration, more time spent foraging while away from the colony, increased overlap of foraging areas between individuals and lower breeding success. These results suggest that there is greater competition between individuals for finite resources in more heterogeneous environments, which comes at a cost to reproduction. Resource hotspots are often considered beneficial, as individuals can learn to exploit them if sufficiently predictable. However, we demonstrate here that such fitness gains can be countered by greater competition in more heterogeneous environments.

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