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Ethnobotany and Effects of Harvesting on the Population Ecology of Syngonanthus nitens (Bong.) Ruhland (Eriocaulaceae), a NTFP from JalapĆ£o Region, Central Brazil

Authors :
Aldicir Scariot
Isabel Benedetti Figueiredo
Isabel Belloni Schmidt
Source :
Economic Botany. 61:73-85
Publication Year :
2007
Publisher :
Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2007.

Abstract

The handicrafts made from Syngonanthus nitens scapes have been an important source of income for rural communities in the Jalapao region of Brazil since the late 1990s. This study analyzed S. nitens harvest and management techniques and the economic importance of the handicrafts. We also tested the effects of harvest on S. nitens population ecology. Handicrafts provide about US$1,800/year per artisan, being especially important to women. Experimental scape harvesting in mid-October, which is when knowledgeable artisans harvest and when the seeds are mature, had no consistent effects on population density, plant survival, or reproduction (clonal or sexual) after one year. Since 40% of the new recruits come from seeds, harvest after seed maturation, combined with removal of only the scapes and not the flowerheads, can allow for S. nitens seeds to remain in the populations and help ensure sustainability of the growing S. nitens handicraft activity. Important economic aspects of S. nitens harvest sustainability include the high value of the handicrafts and the fact they are not perishable.

Details

ISSN :
00130001
Volume :
61
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Economic Botany
Accession number :
edsair.doi...........dda41ce64d7a41c9dfe4fe70019d3c8c
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1663/0013-0001(2007)61[73:eaeoho]2.0.co;2