Rethinking Precolonial Plant Cultivation on the Northwest Coast of North America

The indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast of North America are widely believed to have been true “hunter‐fisher‐gatherers,” lacking plant cultivation of any kind. This depiction of the region's indigenous inhabitants emerged within early colonial accounts and was perpetuated within the literatures of geography, anthropology, and archaeology. Still, there is ample evidence of plant cultivation available from archival, archaeological, and ethnographic sources. In particular, the peoples of coastal British Columbia created large gardens of edible estuarine plants, using sophisticated indigenous technologies. The oversight of these practices in written representations of the region reveals consistent patterns of bias, emanating from the agendas of colonial agents and early academics alike. In turn, this bias has undermined aboriginal traditions of cultivation and indigenous land claims.     

Rethinking Precolonial Plant Cultivation on the Northwest Coast of North America

The indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast of North America are widely believed to have been true “hunter-fisher-gatherers,” lacking plant cultivation of any kind. This depiction of the region's indigenous inhabitants emerged within early colonial accounts and was perpetuated within the literatures of geography, anthropology, and archaeology. Still, there is ample evidence of plant cultivation available from archival, archaeological, and ethnographic sources. In particular, the peoples of coastal British Columbia created large gardens of edible estuarine plants, using sophisticated indigenous technologies. The oversight of these practices in written representations of the region reveals consistent patterns of bias, emanating from the agendas of colonial agents and early academics alike. In turn, this bias has undermined aboriginal traditions of cultivation and indigenous land claims.     

Symbiosis of Biodiversity and Tea Production Through Chagusaba

Chagusaba, which is traditional tea-grass integrated system in Shizuoka, is one of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) sites in Japan. Chagusaba provide an important habitat for natural plant species. In this study, we investigated the flora in Chagusaba and environmental factors to affect the number of native species estimated their diversity. Fifty Chagusaba were classified in to five vegetation types by Two-way indicator species analysis. In addition, high number of native plant species Chagusaba had low soil pH, covered large areas, and were in places where the land had not been modified. Through statistical analysis (GLM), we found that land modification had an especially significant effect on the diversity of native plants, and that the diversity of native plants was reflected in the history of the use of the land.     

皖东地区药用植物资源可持续利用研究

皖东地区自然条件优越，药用植物资源优势明显，不仅种类多、储量大，而且品质好、分布广。文章在对皖东地区药用植物资源全面调查研究的基础上，以药用植物的药用价值、分类学价值、特有状况、分布范围、野生资源数量、栽培状况等作为评价指标，分别对其进行相应的等级划分和等级赋值，建立了药用植物综合价值评价指标体系，并以此将皖东地区目前重点普查的218种药用植物划分为价值高的5种、价值较高的74种、价值一般的76种，价值低的63种，最后，就皖东地区药用植物资源可持续利用提出了科学规划、综合开发、规模引种、有效保护等基本对策。     

Comparison of traditional wild plant knowledge between aboriginal communities inhabiting arid and forest environments in Patagonia, Argentina

The Mapuche people have a deeply rooted tradition of wild plant use for their subsistence. In this study we evaluated whether plant selection by the Mapuche is influenced by environmental constraints. Selection patterns of wild plant richness were compared in two Mapuche communities sharing the same traditions and beliefs but inhabiting different environments. Similarities and differences in the use patterns of wild medicinal and edible plants were quantitatively analyzed by using concepts derived from ecological theory. The Cayulef community is settled in the NW Patagonian (herbaceous) steppe while the Curruhuinca community is established near the Andean temperate forest, 100 km away from each other. Free-listing and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 families in Cayulef and 39 in Curruhuinca corresponding to 80% and 40% of each population, respectively. Data were analyzed by means of the Jaccard similarity index and statistical tests. The main results of this study showed that the home environment is a determinant factor that influences which plant species are utilized, as is the anthropic environment (with its high exotic species richness) in each community. However, similar patterns were found with respect to plant families, ways of utilization, plant parts and life forms utilized irrespective of where the communities are settled. In addition, in both populations, wild plant richness was significantly higher for medicinal than for edible species. Our results showed that the use of wild plants is primarily based on the utilization of species belonging to the nearest ecological environments that have both therapeutic and dietary functions.     

毛乌素沙地3种飞播植物种群分布格局的研究

在播区水平和群落水平上,讨论了毛乌素沙地3种沙丘类型区飞播后,沙地由流动到半固定和固定状态的变化过程中,籽蒿、羊柴和花棒3个主要飞播植物种群分布格局的变化,以及各种状态下决定种群分布格局的主导因素。研究表明:在沙地处于流动状态下,不论是播区水平还是群落水平上,幼苗的分布格局都是由环境的空间异质性决定的;在半固定状态下,种群的分布格局是植物自身的生物生态学特性和环境因素共同作用的结果;而在固定状态下,种群的分布格局几乎全部是由植物自身的生物生态学特性所决定的。     

半红树植物研究现状

半红树植物是既能生长于潮间带,但也能在陆地非盐渍土生长的两栖木本植物,具有重要的生态功能和独特的生境适应性。国内外对半红树植物的研究还较少。本文从国内外已有的对半红树植物的定义、分类、分布、分子生物学、育苗造林及其药用价值等方面的研究进行综述,并针对目前半红树植物的研究现状对今后的研究工作提出建议。     

山西关帝山野生植物资源研究

关帝山位于吕梁山脉中段，是著名的国家森林公园和山西省的旅游胜地之一。关帝山有着丰富的野生植物资源，据调查有野生维管束植物９３科，３４５属，７５２种。按照经济用途将它们分为１０类，其中：１．药用植物１３２种；２．饮料及食用植物７２种；３．纤维植物６９种；４．淀粉植物４９种；５．油脂植物９８种；６．观赏植物１２７种；７．蜜源植物１３２种；８．饲用植物１０１种；９．栲胶植物７２种１１０．芳香植物７９种。此外，还提出了关帝山野生植物资源保护利用的对策。     

秦岭石瓮山地药用植物资源分析

石瓮山区共有药用种子植物９９科,２０９属,２６２种．对２６２种药用植物分析基础上,制定了药用植物综合价值评价标准．提出了保护和利用建议．     

TROPICALITY AND TOPICALITY: PIERRE GOUROU AND THE GENEALOGY OF FRENCH COLONIAL SCHOLARSHIP ON RURAL VIETNAM

This article discusses the relevance of the work of Pierre Gourou for Vietnamese and non‐Vietnamese scholarship on colonial and postcolonial rural society in Vietnam. The term “tropicality” is used to situate Gourou's work within the framework of both French and Vietnamese regimes of truth. It is argued that Gourou was aware of the complex human geographies of the tropics and monsoon Asia and the challenges this posed to both Western and “tropical” peoples. Gourou and the issue of tropicality is used to show that Vietnamese scholars did not completely reject French colonial systems of knowledge, and that decolonisation did not herald a complete shift in knowledge about rural Vietnam. Rather, since the 1940s there has been antagonism and accommodation between colonial and postcolonial, French and Vietnamese modes of knowledge production. While Gourou underscored the otherness of the tropics, and there are colonial overtones in his work, he had an immense influence on indigenous ethnography and geography in Vietnam and elsewhere in the formerly colonised world. The article traces this important influence and how it has been both questioned and affirmed since independence in the Vietnamese context. It is suggested that the humanistic approach that Gourou pioneered in his 1936 study of the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam has outlived and been able to overcome the setbacks and drawbacks of both colonial and revolutionary/Vietnamese politico‐intellectual projects.     

The effects of loess erosion on soil nutrients, plant diversity and plant quality in Negev desert wadis

Severe erosion, initiated by climatic changes during the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene period and resultant declines in dust deposition, causes the formation of waterfalls during the winter floods in many wadi systems in the central Negev desert of Israel. In some areas, erosion of the original loess substrate has been complete, so that the underlying rock has been exposed. We examined the effects of this erosion in four wadis in the central Negev desert on soil nutrients, plant community structure and plant quality. We predicted that erosion has caused reductions in soil nutrients. Reductions in soil nutrients should result in reductions in plant cover. Furthermore, reduced soil nutrient availability should cause reductions in the nutrient status and quality of the plants growing there. In addition to the loss of biodiversity that may result, this erosion may result in economic hardship for the Bedouin peoples whose herds depend on these resources. In this study, there were significant negative effects of erosion on soil organic carbon, nitrate nitrogen and water-holding capacity, but not on soil phosphorus, conductivity or pH. Furthermore, there was a negative effect of soil erosion on an overall measure of soil quality derived from a principal components analysis in three of the four wadis we studied. Erosion resulted in an increase in plant species richness and significantly altered plant community structure in eroded areas of wadis. Increased plant species richness in eroded sites is consistent with the intermediate disturbance hypothesis of plant community structure. Plants growing in eroded areas did not differ in two quality indices (nitrogen content and digestibility), although plants typical of eroded areas had significantly lower levels of common digestion inhibitors (total polyphenols) and toxins (alkaloids) than plants from undisturbed sites. These last-mentioned results are contrary to our prediction and are consistent with the notion that plants growing in disturbed (e.g. eroded) sites maximize growth at the expense of investments in defense.     

Housing Policy for the Colonial City: The British and Dutch Experience Compared, 1901-19491

A comparison of the British and Dutch experience in the 20th century makes it possible to deepen our understanding of colonial urban housing policy, and hence of the colonial city in general. Both colonial powers expressed new concern about urban living conditions at the time when they began to promote colonial development. In the British case this began in the 1930s, largely in response to local unrest and partly because of international pressure. By the 1950s, British colonial governments used housing programs to placate nationalists and to help prepare colonial societies for self-rule. The Dutch undertook similar initiatives earlier, after 1901, by forming municipal governments, improving services in autonomous native settlements, and by bringing these kampongs under municipal control. Their initiatives were more a response to domestic considerations than to colonial unrest. The Dutch incurred expenditures beyond what Indonesians could afford, but were less active than the British in house-building. Their efforts flagged as nationalist sentiment grew. Neither colonial power responded directly to poor urban conditions. Although the colonial city might have existed, it did not shape colonial urban policy in a predictable way.     

山西中条山东部野生植物资源

调查了山西省中条山东部野生植物种类及属种区系成分,对野生经济植物资源进行了评价,并提出了利用和保护的对策。     

DEVISE AND RULE: COLONIAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF THE BORNEO DAYAK c.1860–1920

This paper considers some of the ways in which travellers, administrators and academics in the colonial period sought to categorise the indigenous groups of Borneo. It focuses on Sarawak and North Borneo between about 1850 and 1920, and examines the use of stereotypical images of exoticism, fear and loathing in constructing different categories of peoples in the region. The paper argues that such categorisations were important in structuring the relationships between ruler and ruled, and in the development of particular regional and local identities.     

The politics of greening unceded lands in the settler city

ABSTRACT

Urban greening is a buzz term in urban policy and research settings in Australia and elsewhere. In a context of settler colonial urbanism, like Australia, a first fact becomes clear: urban greening is always being practiced on unceded Indigenous lands. Recognising this requires some honest reckoning with how this latest urban policy response perpetuates dispossessory settler-colonial structures. In this paper, we listen to the place-based ontologies of the peoples and lands from where we write to inform understanding the city as an always already Indigenous place – a sovereign Aboriginal City. In so doing, the paper tries to practice a way of creating more truthful and response-able urban knowledge practices. We analyse three distinct areas of scholarly research that are present in the contemporary literature: urban greening and green infrastructure; urban political ecology; and more-than-human cities. When placed in relationship of learning with the sovereign Aboriginal City, our analysis finds that these scholarly domains of urban greening work to re-organise colonial power relations. The paper considers what work the practice and scholarship of ‘urban greening’ might need to do in order to become response-able and learn to learn with Indigenous sovereignties and ontologies.     

Winter establishment of the alien annual Schismus barbatus is not affected by insect herbivory in Northern-Central Monte Desert

We studied the effect of ant herbivory on the establishment and survival of the annual plant Schismus barbatus. We hypothesized that ants may control this species when biomass of native plants is generally low during their vegetative period. We predicted that ant herbivory will decrease plant survival and reproduction. We tested our prediction with an insect exclosure experiment in a sandy desert of Northern-Central Monte.We found more than 12 000 established seedlings per square meter on early May, after two consecutive rain pulses of ca. 20 mm each. Overall, we found that almost 75% of recruited plants survived by the end of the cool season (September), and that 22–24% of the initially established plants survived as mature reproductive plants by the end of the growing season (December). Contrary to our expectation, insect herbivory did not affect plant establishment, plant survival or the proportion of flowering and fruiting individuals of S. barbatus.The large number of seedlings reported, the ability to exploit a temporal window free of plant competitors and enemies, and the availability of microsites where this species can succeed, all suggest that S. barbatus may have the potential to become an important plant invader in the Monte Desert.     

Habitat modeling for health sovereignty: Increasing indigenous access to medicinal plants in northern Maine,USA

Medicinal plants and fungi play important roles in the health of Maliseet people of northern Maine, USA. A critical aspect of exercising choice in health care for this community is the ability to locate and have access to these plants. Habitat suitability modeling is a form of geospatial technology that can enhance health sovereignty by identifying locations in which populations of medicinal plants can be conserved or established. However, use of this technology within indigenous communities has been limited. Focusing on the medicinal plant muskrat root, Acorus americanus (Raf.) Raf., we generate a habitat suitability model for eastern Aroostook County, Maine (1,055,653.659 ha) that also takes community needs into consideration. Drawing on participatory ethnographic data as well as environmental characteristics, our model combines ecological and sociocultural parameters to identify previously unknown populations of A. americanus that are accessible to tribal elders. Our model successfully predicted 95% of A. americanus locations in our field validation data set of ∼71,000 ha. Results suggest that approximately 0.6% of our study area contains suitable habitat to plant muskrat root that could also meet tribal members' gathering needs for the future. Increasing the number of potential collection sites gives communities options for gathering, thereby enhancing health sovereignty. Broadly, our work suggests that, when done in partnership with communities, different forms of geospatial technology can be beneficial tools for efforts to promote health sovereignty.     

黄土丘陵沟壑区乔灌草植物空间优化配置——以甘肃省定西地区为例

黄土丘陵沟壑区水土流失的影响因素有气候、植被、土壤、地形等,而乔灌草植物在空间上的不合理配置是造成该区水土流失严重的主要原因之一。本文选择研究区内限制植物生长与分布的4个关键环境因子 (高程、坡度、坡向和降雨量),利用多属性决策分析(MCDA)的方法,探讨乔灌草植物在空间上的优化配置,将整个研究区划分为5类乔灌草植物空间优化配置主模式和18类乔灌草植物空间优化配置子模式;同时,应用GIS聚类分析与统计分析方法,对所划分的乔灌草植物空间优化配置模式进行空间布局分析。结果显示:农民赖以生存的经济林/农林复合配置模式和农田/庭院经济配置模式是研究区的主要配置模式,占配置模式总面积的76.02％。     

Comparisons: colonial or cosmopolitan?

Editors' Note: The following is the ninth in the Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography Lecture Series. It is based on the plenary presentation of 3 September at the Annual Conference of the Royal Geography Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) held in London in 2010. In the search for a more international approach to theorizing cities, comparative methods hold considerable promise, although one concern might be that in their theoretical ambitions they foster a universalising approach rather than one appreciative of diverse and sometimes divergent urban experiences. The potentially universalizing ambitions of comparative methods lead some postcolonial theorists to question the extent to which comparativism carries the marks of colonial histories. Critics argue that some aspects of formal comparative methods can be traced to ambitious and geographically encompassing intellectual projects from the colonial era, when the interest and capacity to bring different parts of the world together within the same intellectual frame advanced significantly. This paper explores the complexities of these colonial lineages of comparative research with a view to assessing their implications for postcolonial comparative urbanism. It concludes by assessing the potential for more modest comparative experiments in a postcolonial vein through attending to the diverse vernacular cosmopolitanisms of cities. Following the spatialities of cities themselves has the potential to offer non‐universalizing but variously internationalizing theoretical engagements with different places.     

Alpine medicinal plant trade and Himalayan mountain livelihood strategies

Commercial alpine medicinal plants are collected from the wild by local rural households throughout the Himalaya and sold in order to increase household incomes. Recent studies indicate that this annual trade amounts to thousands of tonnes of roots, rhizomes, tubers, leaves, etc., worth millions of US dollars. The main market is in India. Based on a national survey, including the most commonly traded species, and a village study this paper investigates the importance of the alpine medicinal plant trade at national and local levels in Nepal. The national survey included standardized open-ended interviews with 232 harvesters, 64 local traders, 66 central wholesalers, 47 regional wholesalers, and 16 production companies. The village survey is based on the daily records of household activities in 15 households in a one-year period. The annual Nepalese alpine and sub-alpine medicinal plant trade is conservatively estimated to vary from 480 to 2500 t with a total harvester value of US$0.8–3.3 million; the average harvester value is estimated at US$66.0 ± 99.0. The trade in 1997/98 amounted to 1600 t with a harvester value of US$2.3 million and an export value equivalent to 2.5% of total export from Nepal. Medicinal plant harvesting was found to constitute an integrated part of local livelihood strategies, contributing from 3 to 44% (average of 12%) of the annual household income. Importance at household level depended on land and animal holdings, and the availability of adult male labour. The validity and reliability of methods and analyses is evaluated, and issues of conservation and management of alpine medicinal plant species under the community forestry scheme are discussed.