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Dynamics of knowledge and use of natural resources in expressions of popular culture in Northeast Brazil: influence of urbanization on biocultural heritage

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Abstract

We employed a biocultural approach to understand the dynamics of knowledge and use of natural resources associated with immaterial aspects of culture. We investigated how urbanization influences the richness of species known and used by “Caboclinho” practitioners, a carnivalesque manifestation of indigenous culture, which occurs in rural and urban areas of Northeast Brazil. We recorded a total of 103 ethnospecies (75 plant and 28 animals) based on information obtained from 18 local experts between July 2016 and August 2018. There were no differences between rural and urban informants in the richness of ethnospecies they knew and they used; rural informants demonstrated greater knowledge of the use of wild resources, while knowledge of native resource use did not differ between rural and urban groups; the market is the main immediate source of natural resources for the groups of “Caboclinhos” that occur in the rural area. Informants from rural and urban areas had similar relationships with natural resources, contrary to what has been reported for the use of resources for human subsistence. The maintenance of this biocultural heritage in the urban context has been ensured by the ease of urban informants to maintain the functions performed by natural resources in this practice, without abandoning the use of plants and animals.

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Notes

  1. Refers to the place where the meetings of the devotees of the cult of Jurema Sagrada are held, as well as the rituals and festivals of this religious complex.

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Acknowledgements

The author’s thank: Foundation of Support to Science and Technology of Pernambuco (FACEPE), for the scholarship granted to the first author (Processo no.—IBPG-0611-2.05/14); University of Pernambuco (UPE), for the partnership in conducting the research; members of Laboratory of Ecology and Evolution of Social-Ecological Systems—(LEA – UFPE), for their academic support; and the informants of the “Caboclinho” groups, for their invaluable support and permission to do the work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Etnobiologia e Conservação da Natureza, Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Av. Dom Manoel de Medeiros, S/N, Dois Irmãos, Recife, PE, 52171-900, Brazil

    Nylber Augusto da Silva

  2. Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Av. Dom Manoel de Medeiros, 97, Dois Irmãos, Recife, PE, 52171-900, Brazil

    Ângelo Giuseppe Chaves Alves

  3. Departamento de Botânica, Centro de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Av. Reitor Joaquim Amazonas, S/N, Recife, PE, 50740570, Brazil

    Ulysses Paulino de Albuquerque

  4. Laboratório de Estudos Etnobiológicos, Universidade de Pernambuco, Campus Mata Norte, Nazaré da Mata, PE, 55800-000, Brazil

    Marcelo Alves Ramos

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  1. Nylber Augusto da Silva
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da Silva, N.A., Alves, Â.G.C., de Albuquerque, U.P. et al. Dynamics of knowledge and use of natural resources in expressions of popular culture in Northeast Brazil: influence of urbanization on biocultural heritage. Environ Dev Sustain 26, 2385–2414 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02825-2

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