Doctoral Dissertation Research: Management of Useful Palms: Ethnobotany of the Waorani in Eastern Ecuador

人们充当植物管理者的概念，积极地操纵他们的资源，而不仅仅是收集它们供使用，这正在成为民族植物学研究的一个中心主题。许多研究人员特别感兴趣的是对亚马逊盆地土著人民的研究，在那里，一系列研究建立了一个比较框架，以考察不同社会如何管理和使用不同的植物资源。例如，关于棕榈树资源，其中许多来自野生林分，研究人员已经确定了至少九种具体的植物管理做法。这项博士论文研究项目将集中在厄瓜多尔东部亚马逊低地的Waorani(Huorani)人对香角棕榈(Astrocaryum ChamBira)的管理和使用的案例研究。根据之前的研究，这个项目假设Waorani人通过有意识和无意的操纵来管理他们的棕榈树资源。这项研究将探讨经济地理学的一般前提，即人们将旅行更远(尽管不那么频繁)，以获得价值相对较高的产品，而不是获得可能更频繁需要的价值较低的产品。该项目将研究Waorani人照顾特定棕榈树所花费的时间，将其生产率与离家、路径或其他人类活动场所的距离联系起来。数据将通过家庭调查以及与不同类型的工厂经理的非正式访谈来收集。还将收集和分析Waorani定居点周围一系列分层地块中的角果棕榈树的生态数据。在该项目的这一部分中收集的植物标本将保留在旧金山基多大学和德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的植物标本馆中。该项目将为棕榈树的使用及其对管理和使用棕榈树的土著人民生计的意义提供有价值的新见解，棕榈树是一种在世界各地许多不同地点提供产品的植物。该项目还将提供对一群传统上抵制外部影响的人的空间行为的洞察。对Waorani植物管理实践的分析为探索更广泛的政策提供了有价值的背景，在任何人们使用天然植物材料的国家鼓励或劝阻类似类型的植物操纵活动。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

The concept that people act as plant managers, actively manipulating their resources instead of just gathering them for use, is becoming a central theme in ethnobotanical studies. Of particular interest to many researchers have been the study of indigenous people in the Amazon Basin, where a series of studies has built a comparative framework for examining how different societies have managed and used different plant resources. For example, with respect to palm resources, many of which are derived from wild stands, researchers have identified at least nine specific plant-management practices. This doctoral dissertation research project will focus on a case study of management and use of the chambira palm (Astrocaryum chambira) by the Waorani (Huaorani) people in the Amazon lowlands of eastern Ecuador. Drawing on previous studies, this project hypothesizes that the Waorani manage their palm resources through both conscious and inadvertent manipulation. The study will address the general premise of economic geography that people will travel farther (although less frequently) to obtain products of relatively high value than they will to obtain products of lesser value that may be needed more frequently. The project will examine the amount of time that Waorani people spend caring for particular palms, relating its productivity with its distance from home, paths, or other places of human activity. Data will be gathered through household surveys as well as through informal interviews with different kinds of plant managers. Ecological data on chambira palms in a series of stratified plots around the Waorani settlement also will collected and analyzed. Plant specimens gathered during this part of the project will remain at the herbariums of the Universidad San Francisco de Quito and the University of Texas at Austin. This project will provide valuable new insights into the use of palms and their significance for the livelihood of an indigenous people who manage and use palms, a plant that provides products in many different locales through the world. The project also will provide insights into the spatial behavior of a group of people who traditionally have been resistant to outside influence. Analyses of the plant-management practices of the Waorani provides a valuable setting for exploring a broader range of policies encouraging or dissuading similar kinds of activities regarding flora manipulation in any country in which people use natural plant materials. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.