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IUCN/SSC Cycad Specialist Group

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Ethno-ecology Subgroup

The general objective of this subgroup is as follows:

To improve understanding of cycad-human relationships, specifically where these involve local human communities that interact with wild cycad populations.

The specific objectives, then, are the following:

1. To promote and support ethno-ecological research on cycads and encourage interactions between cycad researchers and other scientists involved in ethno-ecological research;

2. To maintain an up-to-date list of current vernacular names, with their accompanying ethno-ecological data, for use by conservation and CITES authorities (see below);

3. To formulate an ethno-ecological data sheet as well as an accompanying guide to describe protocols and ethics relevant to the documentation and analysis of ethno-ecological knowledge and practice;

4. To utilize this growing knowledge base to inform cycad conservation, both in cases where cycads occur within government-protected areas and where they occur on “unprotected” land (e.g., on private sites and communal lands);

5. To promote sustainable utilization of cycad populations through studying in situ relationships between people and cycads and supporting conservation of wild cycad populations based on these (where determined to be benign) or on some alteration of current vernacular practices (where determined to be harmful to cycads);

6. To encourage the recognition of relationships between local communities and cycads in conservation and/or management plans and relevant environmental legislation.

This subgroup formed as a result of CSG members’ recognition of the growing role of ethno-ecology in research presented at the CYCAD 2008 conference in Panama. Currently, field studies and conservation projects involving some aspect of the relationships between humans and cycads—e.g., decorative uses, symbolic functions, alimentary uses—are ongoing or recently completed in Mexico, Honduras, India, and Vanuatu.

Case Studies in Conservation

Overall, the Ethno-ecology Subgroup will encourage the recognition of relationships between local communities and cycads in conservation/management plans and relevant environmental legislation. The following three contemporary examples illustrate relationships between local human populations and cycads in the context of ethno-ecologically informed conservation.

Western Ghats, India

In a study conducted on the harvest, ecology, and trade of Cycas circinalis, Varghese and Ticktin (2006: see citation and link below) reported that seeds are hand picked, leached several times and made into flour which is cooked and eaten. This practice is common among the indigenous communities of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The leached seeds are also sold in markets in the state of Kerala and are consumed by local people. In some places they are reportedly used as a baby food. Structure and density analyses of seed-harvested populations in the area suggest that seed harvest, even at the levels harvested for local medicinal commercial trade in Kerala, appears to have little negative impact on rates of population regeneration.

The young leaves of Cycas circinalis are also processed and eaten after simple cooking. This practice seems restricted to the indigenous people. The mature leaves are harvested by traders for sale to the floriculture industry. Populations that are subject to this type of harvest show elevated mortality of adult plants as well as low population regeneration.

There has also been evidence of harvest of male cones for the medicinal plant industry. Harvesters are hired and enter clandestinely into the forests to extract the material. Pith has also been harvested using a similar method. Indigenous people are sometimes hired for these purposes, but they have no traditional uses for these parts. The population structure and density analysis shows a total lack of adult plants in populations affected by this practice. Though the traders seem to prefer 1.5-meter-high individuals, absence of older plants suggests that pith harvests have been going on for several years now.

This action research project was jointly initiated by the Keystone Foundation (www.keystone-foundation.org) and People & Plants International (www.peopleandplants.org) and was the first in the area to locate cycad populations and obtain a baseline on their status. Although understanding of the uses for the plants has grown, the vulnerability of the species is still unclear. Nevertheless, the process of talking with users and harvesters has lead to the establishment of community Cycas nurseries and an increase in local awareness of the need to conserve the species. The government forestry department has also taken action to seize illegal harvests of pith and male cones when they were informed of it by the indigenous communities. This reaction of the community to report and the forestry department to take action has happened only in the past three years since the research program began.

Click here for a recent summary article on the "Cycas Trail" in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Western Ghats, India.

Chiapas, Mexico

Another situation in Chiapas shows the importance of gathering ethno-ecological data and using it to positively impact conservation. Pérez-Farrera and Vovides (2006: see citation and link below) carefully documented the ritual use of Dioon merolae (‘nimalari’) leaves among the Chiapaneco ethnic group in an annual syncretic Catholic ceremony called Dia de la Cruz. Cycad leaf harvesting and dissemination to local altars is the focal activity of a multi-day pilgrimage from leaf source (wild populations of ‘nimalari’) to urban area. This apparently non-damaging traditional practice is quite important to the Chiapanecos, and its recent recognition and documentation by conservationists has resulted in enhanced local protection of the species.

Pérez-Farrera reports that community nurseries have been a success, and that the wild populations from which leaves are harvested are being protected as well. In this case, it is important to note that the impetus for protection is not economic- or market-oriented, but rather is based upon the need for maintenance of a traditional sacred practice.

Honduras

In Honduras, Bonta et al. (2006: see citation and link below) provided extensive documentation of traditional conservation practices involving Dioon mejiae (‘tiusinte’). Though the plant is valued for its production of leaves—which are used for various religious decorative purposes—the interest that local communities have had in protecting the species revolves on its value as a staple starch (female cones are harvested and processed into a variety of highly-regarded foods, including tamales, tortillas, etc.).

Economic development and modernization projects within the home range of this species prior to Bonta’s research had recognized neither the presence nor the importance of Dioon mejiae, and because the species did not occur within any protected areas, it had also been ignored by conservationists. Local practices controlling cone harvest and protecting cycad populations had become marginalized, and as a result the species was suffering from rapid decline due to a plethora of damaging land use practices.

Through the work of Bonta, Haynes, and others to promote traditional cycad uses and protection measures, the forgotten ‘tiusinte’ received more attention in Honduran society, and local communities began to garner support from conservationists, particularly those working in buffer zones and biological corridors (the species occurs near Pico Bonito National Park and a few other high-profile areas in the country). The support from communities is particularly strong because only the preservation of wild populations can guarantee the source of a highly-valued food source for thousands of people. ‘Tiusinte’ is traditionally a common-property resource, so its conservation based on this principle results in the strengthening of local communities’ stakes in protecting the environment and preventing others from doing it irreparable harm.

Subgroup Members

• Dr. Mark Bonta (Chair)
  mbonta (at) deltastate.edu
  markabonta (at) yahoo.com

• Anita Varghese
  anita (at) keystone-foundation.org

• Jody Haynes
  jody (at) cycadconservation.org

Below are some recent articles highlighting work being done in different parts of the world that falls into various sub-disciplines covered by this subgroup.

The following is a preliminary assessment of the impacts of harvest on the Indian endemic, Cycas circinalis, in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in Western Ghats, South India. It was prepared in a collaborative effort by representatives of People and Plants International and Keystone Foundation:

• Varghese, A. & T. Ticktin. 2006. Harvest, Trade, and Conservation of the Endemic Multi-use Cycad, Cycas circinalis L., in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, South India. People and Plants International & Keystone Foundation. Unpubl. report.

And below is a Cycad Newsletter article written by the same authors and describing their continuing work on Cycas circinalis in India:

• Saneesh, C.S. & A. Varghese. 2007. Mutualistic relationships involving the endemic Cycas circinalis L.: Field notes from the Appankappu Forests, Nilambur, Kerala, India. Cycad Newsletter 30(4):28-29.

The following article provides vernacular (common) names of many cycad species around the world:

• Bonta, M. & R. Osborne. 2007. Cycads in the vernacular: A compendium of local names. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Cycad Biology, Xalapa, Mexico, January 2005. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden 97: 143-175.

Below is a recent paper on the ethnobotany and conservation status of Dioon mejiae—known locally as ‘tiusinte’—in Honduras:

• Bonta, M. A., O. Flores Pinot, D. Graham, J. Haynes & G. Sandoval. 2006. Ethnobotany and conservation of tiusinte (Dioon mejiae Standl. & L.O. Williams, Zamiaceae) in Northeastern Honduras. Journal of Ethnobiology 26(2):228-257. (2.6 Mb)

The following is a recent article on the ethnobotany of Dioon merolae in Mexico:

• Pérez-Farrera, M.A. & A.P. Vovides. 2006. The ceremonial use of the threatened “espadaña” cycad (Dioon merolae, Zamiaceae) by a community of the central depression of Chiapas, Mexico. Bol. Soc. Bot. Méx. 78:107-113. (1.6 Mb)

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