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Couée I. The importance of worldwide linguistic and cultural diversity for climate change resilience. Ecol Lett 2024; 27:e14410. [PMID: 38519453 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2023] [Revised: 01/22/2024] [Accepted: 03/06/2024] [Indexed: 03/25/2024]
Abstract
Local minority languages and dialects, through the local knowledge and expertise associated with them, can play major roles in analysing climate change and biodiversity loss, in facilitating community awareness of environmental crises and in setting up locally-adapted resilience and sustainability strategies. While the situation and contribution of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples are of emblematic importance, the issue of the relationships between cultural and linguistic diversity and environmental awareness and protection does not solely concern peripheral highly-specialized communities in specific ecosystems of the Global South, but constitutes a worldwide challenge, throughout all of the countries, whatever their geographical location, their economical development, or their political status. Environmental emergency and climate change resilience should therefore raise international awareness on the need to promote the survival and development of minority languages and dialects and to take into account their creativity and expertise in relation to the dynamics of their local environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Couée
- UMR 6553 Ecosystems-Biodiversity-Evolution, University of Rennes/CNRS, Rennes, France
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Hällzon P, Ötkür Z, Ståhlberg S, Svanberg I. Making the most of scarce biological resources in the desert: Loptuq material culture in Eastern Turkestan around 1900. JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE 2024; 20:25. [PMID: 38409040 PMCID: PMC10895719 DOI: 10.1186/s13002-024-00660-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2024] [Accepted: 02/09/2024] [Indexed: 02/28/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Most fisher-gatherer communities we know of utilized a limited number of natural resources for their livelihood. The Turkic-speaking Loptuq (exonym Loplik, Loplyk) in the Lower Tarim River basin, Taklamakan desert, Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang), were no exception. Their habitat, the Lop Nor marsh and lake area, was surrounded by desert and very poor in plant species; the Loptuq had to make the most of a handful of available biological resources for housing, furniture, clothing and fabric, fishnets and traps, tools and other equipment. The taxa used by the Loptuq were documented by foreign explorers at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, prior to the forced resettlement of the group in the 1950s and subsequent destruction of their language, lifestyle and culture. METHODS AND SOURCES Ethnobiology explores the relationship between humans and their environment, including the use of biological resources for different purposes. In several aspects, historical ethnobiology is more challenging; it studies this relationship in the past and therefore cannot verify results with informants. As the present study discusses an extinct culture on the basis of literary and material sources, we apply a method called source pluralism. This approach allows the inclusion and combination of a wide range of data and materials, even scraps of information from various sources, with the aim to understand phenomena which are sparsely mentioned in historical records. Travel reports by Swedish, British, German, American and Russian explorers together with linguistic data provide the most important sources for understanding Loptuq interaction with the environment and its biota. Especially the large number of toponyms and phytonyms recorded by the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin and materials from his expeditions, including voucher specimens kept in Stockholm in the herbarium of the Swedish Natural History Museum, and objects of material culture in the collections of the Ethnographical Museum, are crucial for our analysis about local knowledge among the Loptuq. Illustrations and photographs provide us with additional information. RESULTS The question of how the Loptuq managed to survive at the fringe of a desert, a marsh and a lake which changed its location, intrigued all foreign visitors to the Lop Nor. The Loptuq's main livelihood was fishing, hunting and gathering, and their material culture provided by plants and other organic materials included their usage, consumption and trade. Only a handful of species formed the basis of the Loptuq material culture, but they had learned to use these specific plants for a variety of purposes. The most important of these were Lop hemp, Poacynum pictum (Schrenk) Baill., the riparian tree Euphrates poplar, Populus euphratica Olivier, and the aquatic common reed, Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. Several species of tamarisk were used for fuel and building fences. A few plants were also harvested for making foodstuffs such as snacks and potherbs. In addition, the Loptuq also used fur, bird skins, down, feathers, mammal bones and fish bones for their material needs. The habitat provided cultural ecological services such as motifs for their folklore, linguistic expressions and songs, and the Loptuq engaged in small-scale bartering of plant products and furs with itinerant traders, which ensured them with a supply of metal for making tools. CONCLUSION This article discusses the now extinct Loptuq material culture as it existed more than a hundred years ago, and how the scarce biological resources of their desert and marsh habitat were utilized. Loptuq adaptation strategies to the environment and local knowledge, transmitted over generations, which contributed to their survival and subsistence, were closely connected with the use of biological resources. For this study, a comprehensive approach has been adopted for the complex relationships between human, biota and landscape. The Loptuq are today largely ignored or deleted from history for political reasons and are seldom, if at all, mentioned in modern sources about the Lop Nor area. Their experience and knowledge, however, could be useful today, in a period of rapid climate change, for others living in or at the fringe of expanding deserts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Hällzon
- Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- Institut Für Slavistik, Turkologie Und Zirkumbaltische Studien, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | - Zulhayat Ötkür
- Department of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Sabira Ståhlberg
- Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Ingvar Svanberg
- Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
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Horvath L, Hegyi A, Lefler KK, Csorbai B, Kovacs E, Szabo T, Muller T, Urbanyi B. Review of Central-Eastern European Propagation and Larvae Nursing Method for Common Carp ( Cyprinus carpio L.). Life (Basel) 2023; 13:2334. [PMID: 38137935 PMCID: PMC10744875 DOI: 10.3390/life13122334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2023] [Revised: 10/31/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) as a cultivated fish species has huge importance all over the world. According to FAO statistics, carp is the third most widely bred freshwater pond fish species; only two other Cyprinids (silver carp and grass carp) are bred in higher amounts. Carp is native all over Asia and in a large part of Europe. As a result of human intervention, at present, carp are widespread all over the world, except for the Arctic region. Carp breeding was launched in the antique period, in the ancient Chinese Empire and the Roman Empire. The presently applied method of breeding of common carp has a long evolution. From the effectiveness point of view, the propagation and early-life nursing are crucial parts of carp production, as they provide seed stocks for the further growing section. Without effective propagation, there is no intensive carp production. Nowadays, more advanced propagation methods are available all over the world; however, in the current review, only the main milestones and production efficiency of the propagation and nursing method used in the ponds of Eastern Central Europe are discussed. In the historical overview of carp reproduction, first the natural reproduction, then the semi-extensive and intensive hatchery propagation are presented and investigated in detail. The analysis focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of the method. In particular, the different important milestones of the advanced hatchery method are shown and explained. The effectiveness is proven even with practical calculations. Not only the reproduction, but the pond nursing method is also presented and discussed, concentrating on the management of evolutionarily adapted natural feeds (Zooplankton) and their effect on the survival of fish larvae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laszlo Horvath
- Institute of Aquaculture and Environmental Safety, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE), 2100 Godollo, Hungary; (A.H.); (K.K.L.); (B.C.); (T.S.); (T.M.)
| | - Arpad Hegyi
- Institute of Aquaculture and Environmental Safety, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE), 2100 Godollo, Hungary; (A.H.); (K.K.L.); (B.C.); (T.S.); (T.M.)
| | - Kinga Katalin Lefler
- Institute of Aquaculture and Environmental Safety, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE), 2100 Godollo, Hungary; (A.H.); (K.K.L.); (B.C.); (T.S.); (T.M.)
| | - Balazs Csorbai
- Institute of Aquaculture and Environmental Safety, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE), 2100 Godollo, Hungary; (A.H.); (K.K.L.); (B.C.); (T.S.); (T.M.)
| | - Eva Kovacs
- Eurofish International Organisation, 1553 Copenhagen, Denmark;
| | - Tamas Szabo
- Institute of Aquaculture and Environmental Safety, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE), 2100 Godollo, Hungary; (A.H.); (K.K.L.); (B.C.); (T.S.); (T.M.)
| | - Tamas Muller
- Institute of Aquaculture and Environmental Safety, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE), 2100 Godollo, Hungary; (A.H.); (K.K.L.); (B.C.); (T.S.); (T.M.)
| | - Bela Urbanyi
- Institute of Aquaculture and Environmental Safety, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE), 2100 Godollo, Hungary; (A.H.); (K.K.L.); (B.C.); (T.S.); (T.M.)
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Iqbal KJ, Umair M, Altaf M, Hussain T, Ahmad RM, Abdeen SMZU, Pieroni A, Abbasi AM, Ali S, Ashraf S, Amjad N, Khan AM, Bussmann RW. Cross-cultural diversity analysis: traditional knowledge and uses of freshwater fish species by indigenous peoples of southern Punjab, Pakistan. JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE 2023; 19:4. [PMID: 36624457 PMCID: PMC9827695 DOI: 10.1186/s13002-022-00573-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2022] [Accepted: 12/23/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Fisheries have tremendous cultural and educational importance in human societies. The world is undergoing fast environmental and cultural changes, and local knowledge is being lost. Understanding how people interpret environmental change and develop practices in response to such change is essential to comprehend human resource use. This study was planned with the intent to document and conserve the knowledge about the uses of the freshwater fish fauna among the residents in South Punjab, Pakistan. METHODS Semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were conducted to collect data from informers (N = 88). Principal component analysis, relative frequency citation, fidelity level, relative popularity level, rank-order priority, and similarity index were used to analyze the fish data. RESULTS Overall, a total of 43 species of fishes were utilized in the study region, but only 26 species were utilized ethnomedicinally to treat a variety of illnesses such as asthma, body weakness, burn, chicken pox, cold, cough, eyesight, hepatitis, impotence, joint pain, night blindness, skin burn, spleen treatment, stomach infection, and weakness. The uses of fishes were analyzed employing various indices. The highest use value (UV) of 0.86 was calculated for spotted snakehead (Channa punctata), whereas the lowest UV of 0.05 was attained by karail fish (Securicula gora). Moreover, Channa punctata, Cyprinus carpio, Labeo rohita, Oreochromis niloticus, Wallago attu, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Rita rita, Sperata seenghala, Notopterus notopterus, Labeo dyocheilus, Systomus sarana, Puntius punjabensis, Securicula gora, Ompok bimaculatus, and Ompok pabda were the most popular species with RPL = 1.0. Out of the total, 20 species had a "zero" similarity index, while the ethnomedicinal use of 12 species (i.e., Labeo dyocheilus, Labeo boggut, Systomus sarana, Puntius punjabensis, Aspidoparia morar, Securicula gora, Crossocheilus diplochilus, Mastacembelus armatus, Ompok bimaculatus, Ompok pabda, Labeo gonius, and Sperata seenghala) was documented for the first time for a variety of diseases (i.e., body weakness, stomach infection, skin burn, joint pain, impotence, asthma, spleen treatment, and chicken pox). CONCLUSION Our findings showed that the local people of the study area hold noteworthy traditional knowledge about the medicinal and cultural uses of fish species. Furthermore, a comprehensive analysis of active chemicals and in vivo and/or in vitro activities of chemicals derived from ichthyofauna with the highest FC as well as UVs could be interesting for research on new drugs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Khalid Javed Iqbal
- Department of Zoology, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Umair
- College of Life Science, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, 321004, China.
| | - Muhammad Altaf
- Department of Forestry, Range and Wildlife Management, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
| | - Tanveer Hussain
- Department of Forestry, Range and Wildlife Management, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan
| | | | | | - Andrea Pieroni
- University of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II 9, 12042, Pollenzo, Italy
- Department of Medical Analysis, Tishk International University, Erbil, 4401, Iraq
| | - Arshad Mahmood Abbasi
- Department of Environment Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, Abbottabad, 22060, Pakistan
| | - Shahzad Ali
- College of Life Science, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, 321004, China
| | - Sana Ashraf
- Department of Zoology, University of Lahore, Sargodha Campus, Sargodha, Pakistan
| | - Naila Amjad
- Department of Zoology, University of Lahore, Sargodha Campus, Sargodha, Pakistan
| | - Abdul Majid Khan
- Department of Zoology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Rainer W Bussmann
- Department of Ethnobotany, Institute of Botany and Bakuriani Alpine Botanical Garden, Ilia State University, 0105, Tbilisi, Georgia
- Staatliches Museum Für Naturkunde, Erbprinzenstrasse 14, 76133, Karlsruhe, Germany
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Delpero A, Volpato G. Integrated pond aquaculture and regional identity: ethnobiology of the golden humped tench of Poirino highlands, Northwest Italy. JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE 2022; 18:31. [PMID: 35410243 PMCID: PMC8996491 DOI: 10.1186/s13002-022-00529-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2022] [Accepted: 03/10/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Social-ecological systems are based on particular species and on their direct and human-mediated interactions. The 'golden humped tench' or tinca gobba dorata, a variety of tench-Tinca tinca (L., 1758)-traditionally bred in artificial ponds called peschiere in Poirino highlands, northwest Italy, is one of such species. The aim of the study is to investigate the traditional farming of the golden humped tench, the associated knowledge, practices, and gastronomy, and to discuss the changes that the tench, the ponds, and their role in the local social-ecological system are going through. METHODS The data analyzed were collected in different locations of Poirino highlands during May-September 2021. Fieldwork included semi-structured interviews (n = 23) with current and former tench farmers about the breeding and gastronomy of the tench and the management of the peschiere. The interviewees' selection occurred through an exponential non-discriminative snowball sampling, and interview transcripts were qualitatively analyzed through inductive thematic content analysis. RESULTS The golden humped tench has been farmed for centuries in ponds used also to water livestock and to irrigate cultivated fields, and managed by every peasant household in the area. This integrated aquaculture system is underpinned by detailed knowledge on the peschiera ecosystem and on the tench life cycle and supports a gastronomic knowledge that is part of the local heritage. The ongoing process of gastronomic valorization of the tench is sustaining the role of the fish in locals' livelihoods and as a marker of regional identity, but it is also transforming tench farming, already threatened by livelihood change, pesticides, and invasive species, in controversial ways. CONCLUSIONS We argue that ponds and tenches are core elements of the local social-ecological system, defining the cultural landscape and engendering a form of regional identity around them. Studying integrated aquaculture systems and associated knowledge and practices is relevant to design sustainable systems of food production and to address possibilities of conservation of biodiversity and livelihoods in aquatic environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Delpero
- University of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele 9, 12042, Pollenzo, Bra, CN, Italy
| | - Gabriele Volpato
- University of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele 9, 12042, Pollenzo, Bra, CN, Italy.
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He J, Peng L, Li W, Luo J, Li Q, Zeng H, Ali M, Long C. Traditional knowledge of edible plants used as flavoring for fish-grilling in Southeast Guizhou, China. JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE 2022; 18:19. [PMID: 35303920 PMCID: PMC8933993 DOI: 10.1186/s13002-022-00519-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The local Dong people in Qiandongnan Prefecture, Guizhou Province, China, with rich biocultural diversity, have developed the traditional rice-duckweed-fish-duck agroecosystem (RDFDA) to support biodiversity conservation and to meet food and cultural needs. However, there is still not much research on traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in this area. In particular, there is a lack of traditional knowledge of edible plants used by the Dong people as flavoring to grill fish (Cyprinus carpio) collected from RDFDA, which is extremely valuable in their traditional culture. The study focused on documenting plant species used in grilling fish and analyzing the status of its TEK. METHODS Twenty-one sampling points of three Dong minority villages in Qiandongnan were selected for the research. The local TEK associated with plant resources for fish-grilling was recorded through free listing and semi-structured interviews. Fidelity level (FL) and ethnoecological importance value (EIV) indicators were designed to determine the socioeconomic influence of TEK. The non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) method was used to evaluate the differentiation of edible plant species distribution in dissimilar accessibility types. RESULTS A total of 430 people were interviewed about grilled fish, of whom 75% were men and 85% were farmers. Thirty-four edible plants were documented for fish-grilling in three Dong villages. They belong to 16 plant families, such as Apiaceae, and Asteraceae. The life forms included herbaceous (76%), shrubs (18%) and trees (6%). Leaves are the most commonly used part of for grilling fish, followed by aerial parts, and whole plants. Among these edible plants, Allium hookeri, A. macrostemon and Houttuynia cordata with the highest fidelity level (100%) were cited as edible plants for grilling fish by all informants. The NMDS showed different accessibility types of collection sites, with different importance values. Paddy rice field edge (2.03) has the highest value, followed by forest-farming ecotone (1.74), streamsides (1.71) and woodland (0.48). CONCLUSION The purpose of this study was to investigate the traditional knowledge of edible plant materials used by the Dong people for grilling fish. The results demonstrate the strong connection between local people, the bio-environment and agroecosystem services. The survey and comparative analysis revealed that plant species with high FL values may be potential sources of natural flavors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianwu He
- College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, Beijing, 100081 China
- College of Biology and Environmental Science, Jishou University, Hunan, 416000 China
| | - Liping Peng
- College of Mathematics and Statistics, Jishou University, Hunan, 416000 China
| | - Wei Li
- College of Geography and Tourism, Hunan University of Arts and Science, Hunan, 415000 China
| | - Jin Luo
- College of Biology and Environmental Science, Jishou University, Hunan, 416000 China
| | - Qiang Li
- College of Biology and Environmental Science, Jishou University, Hunan, 416000 China
| | - Hanyong Zeng
- College of Mathematics and Statistics, Jishou University, Hunan, 416000 China
| | - Maroof Ali
- College of Life Science, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, 241000 China
| | - Chunlin Long
- College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, Beijing, 100081 China
- Key Laboratory of Ecology and Environment in Minority Areas (Minzu University of China), National Ethnic Affairs Commission, Beijing, 100081 China
- Key Laboratory of Ethnomedicine (Minzu University of China), Ministry of Education, Beijing, 100081 China
- Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650201 China
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