Three varieties of prickly pear Opuntia ficus-indica (Villanueva, Copena, and Jalpa varieties) were evaluated in their capacity to be host of the cochineal insect (Dactylopius coccus Costa) in two localities of northeastern Mexico. The experiment was carried out for two seasons, winter and summer, in 1998. Variables under evaluation were: fresh weight of grana, dry weight of grana, and number of insects. The Villanueva variety showed the highest production for the three variables and there were no differences between the other two varieties. Iturbide locality was superior to Linares for the three variables. Higher production (both dry and fresh weight of grana) was obtained during winter and there were no differences between seasons for number of insects. Figures obtained for the Villanueva variety are slightly higher than those reported in literature for the most productive cochineal areas in Mexico.

Four hundred years of chile (Capsicum annuum var. annuum) cultivation, together with concerns about losing genetic resources in their native agrohabitats, provide the pretext for collecting and preserving landraces of this species in New Mexico. The molecular analysis of these accessions provided a powerful means by which their genetic structures were characterized. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) molecular markers were used to compare the relative genetic diversity of native chile landraces to the genetic diversity found in commercially available cultivars in the United States as well as landraces from Mexico.

Isozyme analyses were conducted to study the geographic variation of Capsicum frutescens L. in Southeast and East Asia, and to investigate its dispersal routes into Japan. Eight enzymes (EST, FM, G6PD, GR, ME(A), PGI, PGM, ShDH) were variable among accessions of C. frutescens in Southeast and East Asia. Accessions from the Ryukyu Islands were closely related to those in Indonesia, whereas accessions from the Bonin Islands showed exactly the same isozyme patterns as those from Indonesia and Northern Thailand. Accessions in the Ryukyu Islands were different from those in the Bonin Islands, suggesting that there may be two independent dispersal routes into Japan. One route was from Indonesia via the Philippines or Taiwan, or directly to the Ryukyu Islands, and another was from Indonesia via the Mariana Islands, or other islands in the Pacific, to the Bonin Islands.

An ethnobotany study in collaboration with Q'eqchi' Maya healers of Southern Belize led to a collection of 169 medicinal plant species, belonging to 67 different families. The data show the use of a majority of species from primary or secondary semi-evergreen rainforests of Southern Belize, rather than weedy species. The medicinal uses of the plants were grouped into 17 usage categories. The frequency of use for each plant and the informant consensus factor for each usage category reveals a consensus among the healers on the use of plant species as well as on the diseases treated. These results suggest a well-defined medicinal tradition.

A survey of plant biodiversity and ethnobotanical studies was conducted in southern Ethiopia using an integrated approach of botanical collections, group discussions, interviews and questionnaires. Species richness, growth forms and uses of native wild plants are described. Borana pastoralists distinguished and named 86% of the plant species identified. A total of 327 plant species distributed among 197 genera and 69 families are documented: 40% are trees/shrubs, 30% forbs (non-woody plants other than grasses and sedges), 16% grasses, 10% climbers, 2% sedges and 2% succulents. Based on richness of species and usefulness, the most important families are Poaceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae and Asteraceae. Two hundred forty-eight species (76%) are used by Borana pastoralists, out of which 42% have multiple uses. Indigenous knowledge of pastoralists on use and management of their plant resources is a valuable source of information for conservation and sustainable utilization of the plant bio-diversity and, hence, conservation based on indigenous knowledge is recommended.

Small-scale wood harvesting from mangrove forests is a commonplace yet barely studied phenomenon. This paper integrates bio-ecological and ethnographic methods to examine local wood use and cutting of mangrove forests in two areas of the Philippines. Findings reveal considerable site variation in cutting intensity, with heavier cutting typically closer to settlements and in forest stands that are not effectively regulated by government or private interests. Overall, cutting is responsible for almost 90% of stem mortality in both natural and plantation forests. Field measurements confirm ethnographic evidence indicating that harvesting for construction wood, but not fuel-wood, is both species- and size-selective. Mangrove management and conservation efforts can be made more effective by better understanding how local people are harvesting wood resources from these forests.

Homegardens may serve as reservoirs of agro-biodiversity on highly fertile, anthropogenic Amazonian Dark Earth (ADE) soils of the Amazon basin. However, as these soils are used more intensively for market-oriented agriculture, we suspected a decrease in their agro-biodiversity. We present data obtained from surveys on 16 farms where ADE was present in the region of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil. When farms were separated into two groups by market orientation, species richness on the farms was not significantly influenced by market orientation, but there was less dominance (i.e., more diversity) for homegardens in the low-market orientation group (P < 0.1). The proportion of native species was not affected by market orientation. Hence, while the most market-oriented farms retained high species richness, homegardens located on them contained higher proportions of commercially interesting species.