Abstract
The utilitarian redundancy model (URM) enables a simple and objective evaluation of the functionality of knowledge systems based on species known to perform similar functions. It emerges from the redundancy model in ecology that analyzes, from a functional perspective, the use of natural resources by human populations. The model includes three basic assumptions. The first is that several species exist with the same function (redundancy), which leads to a shared use pressure among these similar species. Second, locally preferred species experience higher use pressure even if their function is redundant, and third, functional redundancy provides flexibility to cope with disturbances caused by local species loss and positively contributes to the resilience of social-ecological systems. The applicability of this model is explained in this chapter, primarily through examples of local medical systems, and its applicability to studies focusing on the resilience of traditional ecological knowledge systems is detailed.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Isabel Díaz Reviriego, a PhD student from the Ethnoecology Lab (ICTA-Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), for her helpful comments on the first draft of this chapter. This work was supported by funding from the Pernambuco State Foundation for Science and Technology (FACEPE—APQ—1264-2.05/10) and the National Council of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq—Proc. 471989/2012-6).
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Nascimento, A.L.B. et al. (2015). Utilitarian Redundancy: Conceptualization and Potential Applications in Ethnobiological Research. In: Albuquerque, U., De Medeiros, P., Casas, A. (eds) Evolutionary Ethnobiology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19917-7_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19917-7_9
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