Ethnobotanical indices are widely used to quantify cultural importance of plants in social studies. This study aims to show users of ethnobotanical indices the effect of sample variation and what methodological approa...Ethnobotanical indices are widely used to quantify cultural importance of plants in social studies. This study aims to show users of ethnobotanical indices the effect of sample variation and what methodological approach can be used to circumvent the problems related to sample variation. The methods used are to write an algorithm and used to simulate different sample sizes from which four ethnobotanic indices selected for the present study were estimated. Results showed the instability of the ethnobotanical indices under variations in the size of informants. It proposes bootstrapping as a statistical aid tool to remove the sample size effect in quantitative ethnobotany. For the indices used in the present study 1000 re-samplings eliminated the effect of sample size on the value of the indices. Researchers will have to take this new approach into account in order to calculate more precise ethnobotanical indices in order to better appreciate the cultural importance of plants.展开更多
We examined demand and supply of Food Tree Species (FTS) products in Burkina Faso. The hypotheses were: 1) demand for FTS products by local communities exceeds what can be sustainably extracted, and 2) local communiti...We examined demand and supply of Food Tree Species (FTS) products in Burkina Faso. The hypotheses were: 1) demand for FTS products by local communities exceeds what can be sustainably extracted, and 2) local communities of the Sudanian zone have access to more diverse FTS products compared to Sahelian zone. Surveys were conducted in 300 households and 360 quadrats in landscapes surrounding 6 villages to determine the diversity, richness and availability of FTS. The results indicate that local communities tend to exploit FTS which are rare to find or absent in the landscape surrounding their village. While the range of FTS largely exploited tends to coincide across the two ecological zones, the diversity and density of the preferred FTS are discordant between the two zones. The results of the present study further support the need for conservation and restoration strategies to sustain the local communities demand for FTS products.展开更多
文摘Ethnobotanical indices are widely used to quantify cultural importance of plants in social studies. This study aims to show users of ethnobotanical indices the effect of sample variation and what methodological approach can be used to circumvent the problems related to sample variation. The methods used are to write an algorithm and used to simulate different sample sizes from which four ethnobotanic indices selected for the present study were estimated. Results showed the instability of the ethnobotanical indices under variations in the size of informants. It proposes bootstrapping as a statistical aid tool to remove the sample size effect in quantitative ethnobotany. For the indices used in the present study 1000 re-samplings eliminated the effect of sample size on the value of the indices. Researchers will have to take this new approach into account in order to calculate more precise ethnobotanical indices in order to better appreciate the cultural importance of plants.
文摘We examined demand and supply of Food Tree Species (FTS) products in Burkina Faso. The hypotheses were: 1) demand for FTS products by local communities exceeds what can be sustainably extracted, and 2) local communities of the Sudanian zone have access to more diverse FTS products compared to Sahelian zone. Surveys were conducted in 300 households and 360 quadrats in landscapes surrounding 6 villages to determine the diversity, richness and availability of FTS. The results indicate that local communities tend to exploit FTS which are rare to find or absent in the landscape surrounding their village. While the range of FTS largely exploited tends to coincide across the two ecological zones, the diversity and density of the preferred FTS are discordant between the two zones. The results of the present study further support the need for conservation and restoration strategies to sustain the local communities demand for FTS products.
