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Andablo-Reyes ADC, Moreno-Calles AI, Cancio-Coyac BA, Gutiérrez-Coatecatl E, Rivero-Romero AD, Hernández-Cendejas G, Casas A. Agri-silvicultures of Mexican Arid America. JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE 2023; 19:39. [PMID: 37710240 PMCID: PMC10503103 DOI: 10.1186/s13002-023-00612-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Accepted: 09/07/2023] [Indexed: 09/16/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Agri-silvicultures (ASC) are biocultural practices procuring either the maintenance of wild diversity in predominantly agricultural spaces or introducing agrobiodiversity into forests. In the Mesoamerican region, ASC contribute to food sovereignty and territorial conservation and provide strategies for dealing with global changes. Previous inventories of ASC identified gaps in information about these systems in the Mexican Arid America region. This article raises the general question: How have human interactions between cultural, wild, and domesticated biodiversity in this territory? The particular questions in this paper are: (i) How have historical processes shaped human interactions between wild and domesticated biodiversity in the region? and (ii) What types of agri-silvicultures have emerged in Mexican Arid America since these relationships? METHODS We trace a methodological border where archaeologists have identified the Mesoamerican region to define our study area as Arid America northern of this line in Mexico. We analyzed agriculturalization processes in Arid America through a historical review. Then, we carry out an inventory of Arid America ASC based on academic papers and other documented experiences. We constructed a spatial database and a typology to understand what kinds of agri-silviculture occur in the region. RESULTS We identified several pre-Hispanic agri-silvicultural practices in the region, like hunting, fishing, terraces, gathering, and irrigation systems. The cultivation of native species of maize, beans, and squash even was registered. The Spanish colonization forced the agriculturization in arid northern Mexico, where itinerant hunting-gathering patterns predominated. In the twentieth century, the Green Revolution adopted this area as the principal setting for industrialized agriculture. The industrialized irrigated systems expansion and other political strategies provoked the simplification of productive landscapes. The practices that integrate wild and agricultural diversity systems were marginalized and invisibilized in such a context. Our research group proposes seven types of agri-silvicultural systems (natives agrisilvicultures, the oases agroforestry, Mesquite and Huisache ASC, homegardens and other traditional forms of agroforestry or agri-silvicultures). These agri-silvicultures provide food, medicine, fodder, and other contributions, as income to the families that practice them and protect native and exotic species. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The agriculturization of the arid environments initiated during Spanish colonization and the subsequent modernizing projects shaped dominant actors and ideologies in the arid north of Mexico. However, aridity has favored ancestral and agroecological relationships between cultures and biodiversity, emerging and subsisting Arid American agri-silvicultures. These agri-silvicultures deserve to be understood, adopted, and adapted to new contexts. They could be essential alternatives in the context of environmental changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Araceli Del Carmen Andablo-Reyes
- Consejo Nacional de Humanidades Ciencias y Tecnologías (CONAHCYT), Av. Insurgentes Sur 1582, Col. Crédito Constructor, C.P. 03940, Alcaldía Benito Juárez, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
| | - Ana Isabel Moreno-Calles
- Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores (ENES), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Campus Morelia, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro, 8701, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico.
| | - Beatriz Adriana Cancio-Coyac
- Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores (ENES), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Campus Morelia, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro, 8701, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
| | | | - Alexis Daniela Rivero-Romero
- Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores (ENES), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Campus Morelia, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro, 8701, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
| | - Gerardo Hernández-Cendejas
- Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores (ENES), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Campus Morelia, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro, 8701, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
| | - Alejandro Casas
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Campus Morelia, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro 8701, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
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Sibeko L, Johns T, Cordeiro LS. Traditional plant use during lactation and postpartum recovery: Infant development and maternal health roles. JOURNAL OF ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY 2021; 279:114377. [PMID: 34192598 DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2021.114377] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2020] [Revised: 02/11/2021] [Accepted: 06/25/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE Evidence of phytochemical roles in infant development and maternal recovery offers insights into beneficial functions of traditional plant use during lactation and the postpartum period. Ethnopharmacological research has relevance to global priorities on maternal and child health, to understanding origins and determinants of human self-medication, and for reconciling traditional postpartum practices and mainstream healthcare. AIM OF THE STUDY Present emerging evidence, within evolutionary and socio-cultural contexts, on the role of maternal consumption on transfer of phytochemicals into breast milk with impacts on maternal and child health, and on infant development. Establish current state of knowledge and an ethnopharmacological research agenda that is attentive to cross-cultural and regional differences in postpartum plant use. MATERIALS AND METHODS An extensive literature review using Medline, Scopus, and Web of Science focused on traditional and contemporary use and socio-cultural context, as well as physiological, pharmacological, toxicological, and behavioral activities of plants used medicinally by women during postpartum recovery and lactation. RESULTS The most widely reported postpartum plants show antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, immunological, and neurophysiological activities, with low toxicity. Phytochemicals transfer from maternal consumption into breast milk in physiological concentrations, while animal studies demonstrate immunomodulation and other actions of medicinal plants during lactation. Reporting on the use and diverse traditional knowledge of women about plants during the postpartum period is obscured by the marginal place of obstetric issues and by gender biases in ethnobotanical research. In many contemporary contexts use is prejudiced by precautionary risk warnings in health literature and practice that confound lactation with pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS Although systematic investigation of postpartum plant use is lacking, known pharmacological activities support potential benefits on infant development and maternal health with immediate and long-term consequences in relation to allergic, inflammatory, autoimmune, and other diseases. An ethnopharmacological agenda focused on the perinatal period requires directed methodologies and a regional approach in relation to culturally-specific knowledge and practices, traditional plant use, and local health needs. Testing the hypothesis that phytochemicals transferred from medicinal plants into breast milk impact the human immune system and other aspects of infant development requires extended analysis of phytochemicals in human milk and infant lumen and plasma, as well as effects on gastrointestinal and milk microbiome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindiwe Sibeko
- Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA.
| | - Timothy Johns
- School of Human Nutrition, McGill University, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, QC, H9X 3V9, Canada.
| | - Lorraine S Cordeiro
- Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA.
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Narchi NE, Marlett CM, Hernández-Santana G. What Happened to Seri Sweets? Dietary Transition through Culinary Acculturation. J ETHNOBIOL 2020. [DOI: 10.2993/0278-0771-40.3.348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Nemer E. Narchi
- Centro de Estudios en Geografía Humana, El Colegio de Michoacán, Cerro de Nahuatzen 85, La Piedad, Michoacán, México, 59370
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Wurchaih, Huar, Menggenqiqig, Khasbagan. Medicinal wild plants used by the Mongol herdsmen in Bairin Area of Inner Mongolia and its comparative study between TMM and TCM. JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE 2019; 15:32. [PMID: 31269968 PMCID: PMC6609360 DOI: 10.1186/s13002-019-0300-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2019] [Accepted: 04/11/2019] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Ethnobotanical studies on folk medicinal plants used by Mongol herdsmen have been conducted in some areas of Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, China. However, ethnobotanical findings are preliminary and not comprehensive. Mongolian medicinal botanical knowledge has been gradually decreasing. One of the most important reasons is that Mongolian traditional medicine has become an alternative medicine in pasturing areas of China. Collection and analysis of Mongolian folk medicinal botanical knowledge have become extremely important. METHODS From 2008 to 2014, the authors have been to Bairin Right Banner seven times, and from 2016 to 2018, have been to Bairin Left Banner five times. Fieldwork was carried out in 18 villages, and 136 local Mongol herdsmen were interviewed. The methods of free-listing and open-ended questionnaires were used in field survey. Ethnobotanical interview and voucher specimen collections were organized in two ways: local plant specimens were collected beforehand and then interviews were organized; local Mongol herdsmen were invited to the field and were interviewed while collecting voucher specimens. Mongolian was used as the working language, and findings were recorded in Mongolian. Scientific names of plants were confirmed through collection and identification of voucher specimens. RESULTS Among the collected medicinal wild plants, 40 species are used by local Mongol herdsmen. Twenty-six species of folk medicinal plants have been recorded in the literature in the field of Traditional Mongolian Medicine (TMM), and 38 species have been recorded in the field of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The parts that have medicinal value include roots, whole plant, aerial parts, leaves, fruit, seeds, branches, bulb skin, and stem. For medicinal efficacy, among the collected medicinal plants, 8 species should be fresh. Thirteen species must be dried, and another 16 species can be fresh or dried. After a simple process of sorting and washing, local people soak, pulverize, and mash the medicinal plants. Nineteen species were externally used medicine, and 17 species were internally used medicine (taken orally). Generally, only one or two functions of folk medicine and indications associated with it were provided by local Mongol herdsmen. However, the functions of TMM and TCM and their indications show diversity and have systematic characteristics. More functions of TMM and TCM and their indications have been recorded. In the paper, we also discuss the correspondence between one or two functions of folk medicine with one or two functions of TMM and TCM. CONCLUSION Not many medicinal wild plant species are used by Mongol herdsmen in the Bairin Area. Fourteen species have not been recorded in the literature of TMM, and 2 species have not been recorded in the literature of TCM. Folk knowledge can provide a certain reference value for searching for new medicinal wild plant species. On the whole, fresh plants are commonly used by Mongol herdsmen in the Bairin Area; boiling is the most common preparation method. Most of the crude materials can be used alone. The externally used medicinal parts are more common than those taken orally. A folk medicinal bath may be regarded as a compound drug mixed with two to five species of plant materials. The local Mongol herdsmen fully understand the function of folk medicines and their indications.
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Esakkimuthu S, Mutheeswaran S, Arvinth S, Paulraj MG, Pandikumar P, Ignacimuthu S. Quantitative ethnomedicinal survey of medicinal plants given for cardiometabolic diseases by the non-institutionally trained siddha practitioners of Tiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu, India. JOURNAL OF ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY 2016; 186:329-342. [PMID: 27090346 DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2016.04.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2016] [Revised: 04/09/2016] [Accepted: 04/12/2016] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
ETHNOBOTANICAL RELEVANCE The burden of cardiometabolic diseases such as dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, hypertension, visceral obesity and atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases and the use of traditional medicine for the management of such diseases are high in India; hence there is a need to document and analyze such therapies. AIM OF THE STUDY This study documented and analyzed the medicinal plants prescribed for cardiometabolic diseases by the non-institutionally trained siddha practitioners of Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu, India. METHODOLOGY The field survey was conducted between December 2014 to November 2015. Successive free listing assisted with field-walks was used to interview the informants. After assessing the sampling sufficiency using rarefaction curve analysis, indices such as Informant Consensus Factor (Fic) and Index of Agreement on Remedies (IAR) were calculated for the data. The indicators of informant's medicinal plant knowledge such as Shannon's index, equitability index, etc., were regressed with the demographic profile of the informants. RESULTS For this study 70 non-institutionally trained Siddha medical practitioners were approached; the data from 36 practitioners who were treating cardiometabolic diseases were documented. This study recorded the use of 188 species which were used to prepare 368 formulations to treat illnesses categorized under cardiometabolic diseases. In this, 53.04% claims were singletons. Regression analysis showed that single species dominance was reduced and the diversity of medicinal plants was increased with the increase in the age and experience. Increase in the years of formal education increased the equitability in the uses. The plants such as Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. (cardiovascular diseases), Allium sativum L. (dyslipidemia), Cuminum cyminum L. (hypertension), Macrotyloma uniflorum Verdc. (obesity) and Azadirachta indica A. Juss. (type 2 diabetes) were the highly cited medicinal plants. CONCLUSION This survey has identified the plants most commonly used by Siddha practitioners of Tiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu, India for cardiometabolic diseases. The prevalence of chronic, non-communicable metabolic illnesses such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension and obesity are increasing worldwide due to the rapid changes in the lifestyle. These ailments require a life-long care and in such instances, people tend to use complementary therapies in most cases, alongside with conventional therapies. In view of the high use of traditional therapies for treating cardiometabolic illnesses, this study supports the need for more research to evaluate the potential benefits of the treatments and to identify any safety concern.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Esakkimuthu
- Division of Ethnopharmacology, Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600034, India
| | - S Mutheeswaran
- Division of Ethnopharmacology, Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600034, India
| | - S Arvinth
- Department of Botany, PSG College of Arts & Science, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641 014, India
| | - M Gabriel Paulraj
- Division of Ethnopharmacology, Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600034, India
| | - P Pandikumar
- Division of Ethnopharmacology, Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600034, India.
| | - S Ignacimuthu
- Division of Ethnopharmacology, Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600034, India; Visiting Professor Programme, Deanship of Scientific Research, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
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