Taste and chemical composition as drives for utilitarian redundancy and equivalence: a case study in local medical systems in Northeastern Brazil.

Autor: Reinaldo RCPDS; Laboratório de Ecologia e Evolução de Sistemas Socioecológicos, Departamento de Botânica, Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Cidade Universitária, Recife, PE, 50670-901, Brazil. rafaelreinaldo1988@yahoo.com.br.; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Botânica, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Rua Dom Manuel de Medeiros s/n, Dois Irmãos, Recife, Pernambuco, 52171-900, Brazil. rafaelreinaldo1988@yahoo.com.br., Santoro FR; Laboratório de Ecologia e Evolução de Sistemas Socioecológicos, Departamento de Botânica, Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Cidade Universitária, Recife, PE, 50670-901, Brazil.; Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal (IMBIV), CONICET - Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Avenida Vélez Sársfield 299, Córdoba, Argentina., Albuquerque UP; Laboratório de Ecologia e Evolução de Sistemas Socioecológicos, Departamento de Botânica, Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Cidade Universitária, Recife, PE, 50670-901, Brazil.; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Botânica, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Rua Dom Manuel de Medeiros s/n, Dois Irmãos, Recife, Pernambuco, 52171-900, Brazil., de Medeiros PM; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Botânica, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Rua Dom Manuel de Medeiros s/n, Dois Irmãos, Recife, Pernambuco, 52171-900, Brazil. patricia.muniz@gmail.com.; Centro de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Rio Largo, Alagoas, Brazil. patricia.muniz@gmail.com.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine [J Ethnobiol Ethnomed] 2022 Jan 25; Vol. 18 (1), pp. 4. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Jan 25.
DOI: 10.1186/s13002-022-00503-1
Abstrakt: Background: We aimed to verify whether the taste and chemical composition influence the selection of plants in each medicinal category, whether within a socio-ecological system or between different socio-ecological systems. To this end, we use the theoretical bases of the Utilitarian Redundancy Model and the Utilitarian Equivalence Model. We studied the local medical systems of four rural communities in northeastern Brazil, used as models to test our assumptions.
Methods: The data on medicinal plants and local therapeutic function were obtained from semi-structured interviews associated with the free-listing method, allowing to generate indexes of similarity of therapeutic use between the plants cited in each region. During the interviews, each informer was also asked to report the tastes of the plants cited. Subsequently, we classified each plant in each region according to the most cited taste. The data about the chemical composition of each plant were obtained from a systematic review, using Web of Knowledge and Scopus databases.
Results: Pairs of plants with similar tastes are 1.46 times more likely to have the same therapeutic function within a local medical system (redundancy), but not between medical systems (equivalence). We also find that chemical compounds are not primarily responsible for utilitarian redundancy and equivalence. However, there was a tendency for alkaloids to be doubly present with greater expressiveness in pairs of equivalent plants.
Conclusions: The results indicate that each social group can create its means of using the organoleptic characteristics as clues to select new species as medicinal. Furthermore, this study corroborates the main prediction of the Utilitarian Equivalence Model, that people in different environments choose plants with traits in common for the same functions.
(© 2022. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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