Skip to main content

Behavioral ecology of conservation in traditional societies

Human Nature volume 7, pages 353–379 (1996)Cite this article

Abstract

A common exhortation by conservationists suggests that we can solve ecological problems by returning to the attitudes of traditional societies: reverence for resources, and willingness to assume short-term individual costs for long-term, group-beneficial sustainable management. This paper uses the 186-society Standard Cross-Cultural Sample to examine resource attitudes and practices. Two main findings emerge: (1) resource practices are ecologically driven and do not appear to correlate with attitude (including sacred prohibition) and (2) the low ecological impact of many traditional societies results not from conscious conservation efforts, but from various combinations of low population density, inefficient extraction technology, and lack of profitable markets for extracted resources.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  • Alvard, M. 1993 Testing the Noble Savage Hypothesis: Interspecific Prey Choice by Piro Hunters of Amazonian Peru.Human Ecology 21:355–387.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 1994 Conservation by Native Peoples: Prey Choice in Depleted Habitats.Human Nature 5:127–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alvard, M., and H. Kaplan 1993 Procurement Technology and Prey Mortality among Indigenous Neotropical Hunters. InHuman Predators and Prey Mortality, M. Stiner, ed. Pp. 79–104. Boulder: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, A. 1984 The Extinction of the Moa in Southern New Zealand. InQuaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric Revolution, Paul S. Martin and Richard G. Klein, eds. Pp. 728–740. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Atran, S. 1993 Itza Maya Tropical Agro-forestry.Current Anthropology 34:633–689.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barry, H. III, L. Josephson, E. Lauer, and C. Marshall 1976 Traits Inculcated in Childhood, 5: Cross-Cultural Codes.Ethnology 15:83–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bodley, J. H. 1990Victims of Progress, third ed. Mountain View, California: Mayfield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Budianski, S. 1995Nature’s Keepers. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bunyard, P. 1989 Guardians of the Amazon.New Scientist 17:38–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callicott, J. B. 1989In Defense of the Land Ethic. Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassels, R. 1984 Faunal Extinctions and Prehistoric Man in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. InQuaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric Revolution, Paul S. Martin and Richard G. Klein, ed. Pp. 768–782. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chagnon, N. 1982 Sociodemographic Attributes of Nepotism in Tribal Populations: Man the Rule- breaker. InCurrent Problems in Sociobiology, Kings’ College Sociobiology Group, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1988 Life Histories, Blood Revenge, and Warfare in a Tribal Population.Science 239:985–992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clay, J. W. 1988Indigenous Peoples and Tropical Forests. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cultural Survival.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connor, R. 1986 Pseudo-reciprocity: Investing in Mutualism.Animal Behaviour 34:1562–1566.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conover, W. J. 1980Practical Non-parametric Statistics, second ed. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crosby, A. W. 1986Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900–1900. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daly, M., and M. Wilson 1983Sex, Evolution, and Behavior, second ed. Boston: Willard Grant.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawkins, Richard 1982The Extended Phenotype: The Gene as the Unit of Selection. Oxford: W. H. Freeman.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1989The Selfish Gene, new ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deevey, E. S., D. S. Rice, P. M. Rice, H. H. Vaughan, M. Brenner, and M. S. Flannery 1979 Mayan Urbanism: Impact on a Tropical Karst Environment.Science 206:298–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Denevan, W. M. 1992 The Pristine Myth: The Landscape of the Americas in 1492.Annals of the Association of American Geographers 82:369–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, J. M. 1984 Historic Extinction: A Rosetta Stone for Understanding Prehistoric Extinctions. InQuaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric Revolution, Paul S. Martin and Richard G. Klein, eds. Pp. 824–864. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember, C. R., and M. Ember 1992 Resource Unpredictability, Mistrust, and War: A Cross-Cultural Study.Journal of Conflict Resolution 36(2):242–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finney, D. J. 1971Probit Analysis, third ed. London: Cambridge University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Flinn, M. V., and Bobbi S. Low 1986 Resource Distribution, Social Competition, and Mating Patterns in Human Societies. InEcological Aspects of Social Evolution, D. Rubenstein and R. Wrangham, eds. Pp. 217–243. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haines, F. 1970The Buffalo: The Story of American Bison and Their Hunters from Prehistoric Times to the Present. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hames, R. 1979 A Comparison of the Shotgun and the Bow in Neotropical Forest Hunting.Human Ecology 7:219–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 1987 Garden Labor Exchange among the Ye’kwana.Ethology and Sociobiology 8:259–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 1988 Game Conservation or Efficient Hunting? InThe Question of the Commons: The Culture and Ecology of Communal Resources, B. J. McCay and J. M. Acheson, eds. Pp. 192–207. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1989 Time, Efficiency, and Fitness in the Amazonian Protein Quest.Research in Economic Anthropology 11:43–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1991 Wildlife Conservation in Tribal Societies. InBiodiversity: Culture, Conservation, and Ecodevelopment, M. L. Oldfield and J. B. Alcorn, eds. Pp. 172–199. Boulder: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, W. D. 1964 The Genetical Evolution of Social Behaviour I, II.Journal of Theoretical Biology 7:1–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hardin, G. 1968 The Tragedy of the Commons.Science 162:1243–1248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hargrove, E. C. 1988Foundations of Environmental Ethics. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkes, K. 1993 Why Hunter-gatherers Work: An Ancient Version of the Problem of Public Goods.Current Anthropology 34:341–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawkes, K., and E. L. Charnov 1988 Human Fertility: Individual or Group Benefit?Current Anthropology 20:469–471.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heinen, J. T., and Bobbi S. Low 1992 The Behavioral Ecology of Environmental Conservation.Environmental Conservation 19(2):105–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howell, Nancy 1986 Feedbacks and Buffers in Relation to Scarcity and Abundance: Studies of Hunter- gatherer Populations. InThe State of Population Theory: Forward from Malthus, D. Coleman and R. Schofield, eds. Pp. 156–187. London: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, A. 1989 How the Machiguenga Manage Resources: Conservation or Exploitation of Nature? InResource Management in Amazonia: Indigenous and Folk Strategies, D. A. Posey and W. Balée, eds. Advances in Economic Botany 7. New York: The New York Botanical Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, H., and K. Hill 1985 Hunting Ability and Reproductive Success among Male Ache Foragers: Preliminary Results.Current Anthropology 26:131–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keohane, R. 1984After Hegemony. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keohane, R., and E. Ostrom, eds. 1995Local Commons and Global Interdependence. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keohane, R., E. Ostrom, and M. McGinnis 1993 Linking Local and Global Commons: Monitoring, Sanctioning, and Theories of Self-organization in Common Pool Resources and International Regimes. InProceedings of a Conference on Linking Local and Global Commons, R. Keohane, M. McGinnis, and E. Ostrom, eds. Pp. 1–15. Bloomington: Indiana University Workshop in Political Analysis and Theory.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krebs, J. R., and N. B. Davies 1991Behavioural Ecology: An Evolutionary Approach, third ed. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewontin, R. C. 1970 The Units of Selection.Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 1:1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovelock, J. 1979Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1988The Ages of Gaia. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovelock, J., and L. Margulis 1974 Biological Modulation of the Earth’s Atmosphere.Icarus 21:471–489.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Low, Bobbi S. 1978 Environmental Uncertainty and the Parental Strategies of Marsupials and Placentals.American Naturalist 112:197–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 1988 Pathogens and Polygyny in Humans. InHuman Reproductive Behavior: A Darwinian Approach, L. Betzig, M. Borgerhoff Mulder, and P. Turke, eds. Pp. 115–127. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1989a Human Responses to Environmental Extremeness and Uncertainty: A Cross- Cultural Perspective. InRisk and Uncertainty in Tribal and Peasant Societies, E. Cashdan, ed. Pp. 229–255. Boulder: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1989b An Evolutionary Perspective on the Training of Children.Journal of Comparative Psychology 103:311–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 1990a Sex, Power, and Resources: Male and Female Strategies of Resource Acquisition.International Journal of Contemporary Sociology 27:45–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1990b Pathogen Stress and Human Marriage Systems.American Zoologist 30:325–339.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1992 Sex, Coalitions, and Politics in Preindustrial Societies.Politics and the Life Sciences 11(1):63–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1993a Ecological Demography: A Synthetic Focus in Evolutionary Anthropology.Evolutionary Anthropology 1(5):177–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 1993b An Evolutionary Perspective on War. InBehavior, Culture, and Conflict in World Politics, H. Jacobson and W. Zimmerman, eds. Pp. 13–54. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1995 We’re Not Environmental Altruists—But We Can Solve Environmental Problems. Guest Essay. InLiving in the Environment, by G. Tyler Miller. Pp. 189–190. Belmont, California: Wadsworth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Low, Bobbi S., and J. T. Heinen 1993 Population, Resources, and Environment: Implications of Human Behavioral Ecology for Conservation.Population and Environment 15(1):7–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowdermilk, W. C. 1953Conquest of the Land through 7000 Years. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, L. L. 1993 Common Dilemmas: Research Programs in Common-pool Resources and International Cooperation. InProceedings of a Conference on Linking Local and Global Commons, R. Keohane, M. McGinnis, and E. Ostrom, eds. Pp. 147–170. Bloomington: Indiana University Workshop in Political Analysis and Theory.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, P. S. 1984 Prehistoric Overkill: The Global Model. InQuaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric Revolution, P. S. Martin and R. G. Klein, eds. Pp. 354–402. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murdock, George Peter 1967Ethnographic Atlas. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1981Atlas of World Cultures. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murdock, George Peter, and D. O. Morrow 1970 Subsistence Economy and Supportive Practices: Cross-Cultural Codes I.Ethnology 9:302–330.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murdock, George Peter, and D. White 1969 Standard Cross-Cultural Sample.Ethnology 8:329–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murdock, George Peter, and S. Wilson 1972 Settlement Patterns and Community Organization: Cross-Cultural Codes, 3.Ethnology 11:254–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newman, P. C. 1989Empire of the Bay: An Illustrated History of the Hudson’s Bay Company. New York: Viking.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oelschlanger, M. 1991The Idea of Wilderness: From Prehistory to the Age of Ecology. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson, S. L., and H. F. James 1984 The Role of Polynesians in the Extinction of Avifauna of the Hawaiian Islands. InQuaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric Revolution, Paul S. Martin and Richard G. Klein, eds. Pp. 768–783. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom, E. 1990Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oye, K. A., and J. H. Maxwell 1995 Self-interest and Environmental Management. InLocal Commons and Global Interdependence, R. Keohane and E. Ostrom, eds. Pp. 191–221. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Putnam, R. D. 1993 Democracy, Development, and the Civic Community: Evidence from an Italian Experiment. InProceedings of a Conference on Linking Local and Global Commons, R. Keohane, M. McGinnis, and E. Ostrom, eds. Pp. 95–146. Bloomington: Indiana University Workshop in Political Analysis and Theory.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rattray, R. S. 1923Ashanti. New York: Negro Universities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Redford, K. 1991 The Ecologically Noble Savage.Cultural Survival Quarterly 15(1):46–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reichel-Dolmatoff, G. 1976 Cosmology as Ecological Analysis: A View from the Rain Forest.Man 11:307–318.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ridley, Matt, and B. Low 1993 Can Selfishness Save the Environment?Atlantic Monthly (September): 76–86.

  • Salisbury, R. F. 1962From Stone to Steel: Economic Consequences of a Technological Change in New Guinea. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, E. A. 1983 Anthropological Applications of Optimal Foraging Theory.Current Anthropology 24:625–651.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Speth, J. D. 1983Bison Kills and Bone Counts: Decision Making by Ancient Hunters. Prehistoric Archaeology and Ecology Series. Chicago: University of Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spoehr, A. 1956 Cultural Differences in the Interpretation of Natural Resources. InMan’s Role in Changing the Face of the Earth. An International Symposium under the Co-Chairmanship of Carl O. Sauer, Marston Bates, and Lewis Mumford, William L. Thomas, Jr., ed. Pp. 93–102. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stearman, A. M. 1994 Only Slaves Climb Trees: Revisiting the Myth of the Ecologically Noble Savage in Amazonia.Human Nature 5:339–357.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strong, D. H. 1988Dreamers and Defenders: American Conservationists. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, M., and S. Singleton 1993 The Communal Resource: Transaction Costs and the Solution of Collective Action Problems. InProceedings of a Conference on Linking Local and Global Commons, R. Keohane, M. McGinnis, and E. Ostrom, eds. Pp. 66–94. Bloomington: Indiana University Workshop in Political Analysis and Theory.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trotter, Michael M., and Beverley McCulloch 1984 Moas, Men, and Middeus. InQuaternary Extinctions: A Prehistoric Revolution, Paul S. Martin and Richard G. Klein, eds. Pp. 708–726. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tuan, Yi-Fu 1968 Discrepancies between Environmental Attitude and Behaviour: Examples from Europe and China.Canadian Geography 12:176–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • 1970 Our Treatment of the Environment in Ideal and Actuality.American Scientist 58:244–249.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, B. L. II 1982 Pre-Colombian Agriculture: Review of Maya Subsistence.Science 217:345–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Viazzo, Pier Paolo 1990Upland Communities: Environment, Population, and Social Structure in the Alps since the Sixteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wazir-Jahan, Begum Karim 1981Ma Betisek Concepts of Living Things. London and Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Athlone Press and Humanities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E. 1984 Small Wins: Redefining the Scale of Social Problems.American Psychology 39(1):40–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, A. T. 1988 The Effect of Community-Managed Marine Reserves in the Philippines on their Associated Coral Reef Fish Populations.Asian Fisheries Science 2:27–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whyte, Martin K. 1978 Cross-Cultural Codes Dealing with the Relative Status of Women.Ethnology 17:211–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, G. C. 1966Adaptation and Natural Selection. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1992 Gaia, Nature Worship, and Biocentric Fallacies.Quarterly Review of Biology 67(4):479–486.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, D. S., and E. Sober 1994 Re-introducing Group Selection to the Human Behavioral Sciences.Behavioral Brain Sciences 17:585–654.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wynne-Edwards, V. C. 1962Animal Dispersion in Relation to Social Behavior. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, 48109-1115, Ann Arbor, MI

    Bobbi S. Low

Authors
  1. Bobbi S. Low
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bobbi S. Low.

Additional information

Professor Emilio Moran, Director of the Anthropological Center for Training and Research on Global Environmental Change, Indiana University, kindly shared Marcos Terena’s words.

Bobbi Low is Professor of Resource Ecology, School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan. Her research interests include sex differences in resource use, patterns in resource use and reproduction/family formation, and demographic transition patterns.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Low, B.S. Behavioral ecology of conservation in traditional societies. Human Nature 7, 353–379 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02732899

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02732899

Key words

  • Cross-Cultural studies
  • Ecology
  • Resource attitudes
  • Resource use