NEWS: Publicity on PALMS ethnobotanical paper

Ethnoecology of palms in northwestern South America

Rodrigo Camara Leret - Thesis Summary

The main objetive of this thesis is to analyse palm uses from both ecological and socioeconomic points of view. First part of the investigation will be a quantitative review on palm uses in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. This will be necessary to gain a broader perspective of human use patterns of the palm family. Second, through several case studies in different forest types of the Chocó, Amazonia and Andes habitats, we will analyse ethnoecological relationships between people and palms in all mentioned habitats in Colombia and Ecuador. More specifically we will study (1) ecological variables which influence human choices when using palms at both species and community level, (2), differences in usefullness between primary and secondary forest types, and (3), influence of cultural and ecological variables on the differenciation of traditional ecological knowledge related to palms.