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In recent times, ethnobiology has revived interest in cognitive aspects of humans' communities. A concept commonly used in this area is cognitive salience. In this paper we assess the wild animal salience meaning for the rural people from an area of the mountain range of the Córdoba province (Argentina). We also analyzed the relationship of cultural and ecological factors over wild animal domain salience. The values of cognitive salience, perception and cultural value were obtained by means of free lists to 16 collaborators, while semistructured interviews were used to inquire about local ecological knowledge and ease of observation about wild animals. The interdependence between the five variables elaborated was analyzed through a Principal Components Regression. The results show a qualitative relationship between Cognitive Salience and Cultural Value and a significant correlation between Cognitive Salience and Local Ecological Knowledge. Ease of Observation did not correlate with Cognitive Salience, but show a significant relationship with the Perceived Abundance. The results suggest a complex network of factors that are modeling the cognitive salience and local perceptions over wild animals. In our findings, highlight the Cultural Value given to harmful animals which reflects an increasing pattern in the region, the conflict between rural people and wild animals. In turn a mutual influences and causal feedback loops between cognitive salience and an ecological factor, the Perceived abundance, is proposed. Investigations over cognition and about how people perceived nature can give us an idea of how they act in it, a compelling factor when it comes to cultural and biological conservation issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different perceptions of wildlife are usually involved in decision-making processes on the use of environmental commons and in human choices; therefore, knowing how people value nature can enhance our understanding about human-wildlife relationships. We propose to broaden the concept of cultural value by considering the trade-offs between positive and negative nature's contributions to people (NCP), including trade-offs influenced by near-past contexts. Field work was conducted with inhabitants of a rural community of the Dry Chaco of Argentina, aiming at knowing the importance of fauna in people 's lives. We conducted free listings and semi-structured interviews and calculated the cognitive salience index and five cultural value indexes (differing in the number and types of NCP categories considered). Local inhabitants were found to assess wild species by considering the satisfaction of material needs, immaterial aspects, and/or the damages that certain species may cause. The ethnospecies most widely and frequently used with material purposes in the near past and at present, and those considered the most harmful showed the highest salience values. The cultural value index that integrates both positive and negative assessments was positively correlated with cognitive salience; this relationship supports the results, showing that cognitive salience not only is conditioned by positive assessments but also captures multiple fauna assessments, including the negative ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the reasons for the consumption of certain plant resources instead of others has important implications for biological conservation. This study aimed to answer the following question: What are the factors that determine the consumption and trade of certain wild fruit species among extractivists from two rural communities in northeastern Brazil? This study developed a participatory approach to identify the fruit species known and/or used by extractivists. The selected species were presented to the extractivists using semistructured interviews. A Likert scale (from 1 to 5) was used by interviewees to assign scores to 17 wild fruits in terms of local consumption, commercial potential, taste, nutritional potential, absence of adverse effects, postharvest durability, additional uses, temporal availability (fruit), spatial availability (fruit), spatial availability (plant), ease of collection, and ease of cultivation. Multiple regression analyses were performed to show the variables that best explained (1) the number of users, (2) the consumption intensity among users, (3) the number of traders, and (4) the commercial potential. The results showed that the spatial availability of the individual was the most outstanding variable to explain both the number of users and traders. However, for extractivists that trespass the availability barrier, taste is the most important driver of the consumption intensity and the commercial potential of plants. In contexts in which edible wild plants do not form the base of the local diet, taste may be more relevant in relation to other variables such nutritional potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firewood extraction and consumption are practices that require specific knowledge as well as detailed analysis of the cultural context in which they take place. The appropriation, use and selection of wood fuel resources were determined through open and semistructured interviews, guided walks, participant observation and recall. Currently, the rural inhabitants of the Sierra de Ancasti, Catamarca (Dry Chaco's forest) know about, manage, use, and appropriate firewood resources to meet their needs related to heating and preparing food in their homes. We identified 52 species (corresponding to 44 genera, 23 families) associated with the domestic use of fire. Among these, 42 species (81%) are currently used for food preparation, 23 species (44%) in heating and 16 species (31%) in fire ignition and production. Based on an analysis of frequency of mention and the Cognitive Salience Index, the most important and preferred species among the inhabitants are Condalia spp., Lithraea molleoides and Vachellia caven. Factors that determine the selection of the species include firewood quality, accessibility and distance. Additional factors such as the high richness of firewood species used and known in the region, the flexibility of the inhabitants in their choice of species, the exclusive use of firewood for domestic purposes, collection of dead wood, and the use of several adventitiouscultivated species associated with domestic spaces, could be reducing the pressure on the native species and on the Dry Chaco forest in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]