Ethnobiology is increasingly recognized from within and outside of its boundaries as interdisciplinary. The Society of Ethnobiology defines the field as “the scientific study of dynamic relationships among peoples, biota, and environments.” Ethnobiologists are able to skillfully assess challenges of biocultural conservation across the divides of political ecology. They are situated to mediate between conservation programs that target biodiversity preservation with little concern for the needs of human communities, and those (such as the New Conservation movement) that privilege those needs. Ethnobiology also transcends the pervasive assumption in these fields that Western knowledge and economic goals should guide change. Because of ethnobiology's importance as a bridging discipline, it is important to ask what unifies ethnobiology. Is it common subject matter? Or, is there an underlying emphasis representing an “ethnobiological perspective?” Answers to these questions are explored here using content analysis and discourse-and-ideology analysis. We use the results to identify the unique roles ethnobiologists play in biocultural conservation. This analysis also proved useful in the systematic identification of four salient themes that unify ethnobiology—ethics in ethnobiology, shared environmental and cultural heritage, interdisciplinary science and non-science, and ecological understanding. How ethnobiologists conceive of themselves is critical for further enrichment of the field as interdisciplinary human-environmental scholarship, particularly in reference to biocultural conservation. Self-definition makes explicit the unique strengths of the field, which by its very nature integrates a sophisticated understanding of political ecology with appreciation of the value of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), social science, and the biological sciences.

Tree landscapes are a living testimony of local history and culture that evolve through human interactions with the environment. An example of such a landscape is the “farmed parkland” of the West African savanna region, in which trees are scattered throughout cultivated and recently fallowed fields. While the dominant woody composition of farmed parkland is known to vary regionally by ethnic group, little attention has been paid in the studies of farmed parklands to social components that shape the cultural landscape dominated by particular tree species. In order to examine the potential role of trees in social systems, this paper explores Parkia biglobosa (Jacq.) Benth.-dominated farmed parkland in the Dagomba areas of northern Ghana using an ethnohistorical analysis that combines ethnographic and geographic data. The results illustrate both the effects that an ethnically specific tree tenure system has had on shaping a P. biglobosa-dominated landscape, and also the coevolution of Dagomba social systems and P. biglobosa landscapes in northern Ghana since the fifteenth century. The implications for future management of farmed parklands as cultural landscapes are also discussed.

西アフリカのサバンナ地域には, 耕作地や休閑地に樹木が点在する「農地林」景観が広がっている。農地林の優占樹種はその土地の民族によって異なることが多いものの, 樹種の優占に影響を与えうる民族特有の社会的要素, および農地林の多様な景観に秘められた文化的,・歴史的価値はこれまでほとんど着目されてこなかった。本研究では, ガーナ北部のダゴンバの人々が居住する地域において, Parkia biglobosa (Jacq.) Benth. が優占する農地林景観が生み出され, 維持されてきた過程を, 民族誌と地理データの歴史分析によって明らかにする。調査から, P. biglobosa が優占する農地林景観は, 15世紀より先住民の土地が侵略され, 新たな支配者が P. biglobosaを権力の象徴として所有したことで形成されていったことが明らかになった。それ以降, P. biglobosa が優占する景観は, 社会·政治的環境の変化によって大衆化された政治文化のなかで, その象徴的意味を変容させながら, 人々と自然環境の長い相互関係の歴史を映し出すものとして存在し続けている。この価値ある農地林の文化景観を維持するため, 今後の保全のあり方を考察して結びとする。

Research on landrace in situ conservation has examined the socio-economic characteristics of landrace custodians and the social organizations where landrace diversity occurs. However, researchers have paid less attention to the distinctive features that result in landraces of some crops being preserved while others are abandoned. In this work, we analyze reasons behind landraces' in situ conservation or abandonment. We worked in temperate home gardens in Vall de Gósol, Catalan Pyrenees. Data collection included participant and non-participant observation, freelistings, garden inventories, structured interviews, and a workshop. We found ten strains that conform to the definition of landrace, a high number for the relatively small geographical area studied. Crop and landrace features are of key importance in explaining whether a landrace is maintained or abandoned. Features that promote in situ conservation include 1) crop and/or landraces intrinsic characteristics (e.g., propagule viability, productivity), 2) landraces socio-economic characteristics (e.g., commercial interest, uniqueness vs. substitutability), and 3) landraces cultural significance (e.g., tradition, local organoleptic perceptions). Viable landrace conservation plans should identify the specific features that affect in situ conservation at the landrace level.

We compare the etymologies of ethnobiological nomenclature in 130 hunter-gatherer and agriculturist languages in Australia, North America, and Amazonia. Previous work has identified correlations between systems of ethnobiological terminology and dominant means of community subsistence, relating stability of terminology to the “salience” of the items. However, the relevance of subsistence patterns to the development of ethnobiological nomenclature requires further investigation, as does the notion of “salience” and how it might relate to etymological stability. The current study probes the relationship between salience and stability and the variability within this relationship. We refine the notion of stability by studying both inheritance and loan rates. We refine the notion of “salience” by separately testing retention and loan rates in flora and fauna vocabulary that might be considered salient for different reasons. Results indicate that the most etymologically stable items are core foodstuffs (whether cultivated or wild). Psychotropic items were more likely to be loaned. There were no significant patterns for cultivar status or trade, though we note that the most frequently loaned items in the sample are also traded.

Food insecurity, often correlated with “food deserts,” affects migrant and seasonal farmworkers (MSFW) at greater rates than other populations. Our research evaluates the food desert experiences of MSFW communities in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Through GIS mapping, interviews with MSFW, and food retailer inventories, our research helps elucidate the degree to which the geographical distribution of food retailers and the products they carry affects MSFW. Access to food retailers was assessed for distances of 0.25, 1.5, 5, and 10 miles. Mapping locations of registered MSFW labor camps (n = 62) and food retailers (n = 215) in the Willamette Valley revealed access to a food retailer within 0.25 mile for one labor camp and 1.5 miles for 46% of camps. All MSFW camps had access to a food retailer within 5 miles. Our research further suggests that using distance alone to determine food deserts may be deceptive as these numbers do not show the types of food retailers and challenges that MSFW in rural labor camps, who often lack access to personal vehicles and public transit, encounter when shopping for nutritionally and culturally appropriate foods. Migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the Willamette Valley experience significant physical and economic barriers to food access, especially culturally appropriate foods.

The present paper examines the different types of plant and animal names used in Kakataibo (Pano, Peru) in terms of the typology of ethnobiological nomenclature proposed by Berlin et al. (1973; slightly modified in Berlin 1992). While doing so, this paper highlights and discusses the major issues posited by the Kakataibo ethnobiological lexicon, which mainly arise due to the pervasive presence of specific-folk generic polysemy in the language. More precisely, this paper shows that the pervasive presence of this type of polysemy creates a type of contrast set, whose members combine the taxonomic properties of secondary names and complex primary names of the productive type. This is a widespread property of the Kakataibo ethnobiological taxonomic system, which invites us to rethink the distinction between these two types of ethnobiological nomenclature. A comparison of the Kakataibo data with data from other Pano languages is also offered in this paper.