Alimentos sagrados en la cosmovisión andina

Eating food for indigenous communities is not just putting something in your mouth; It is a sacred act because it involves contact with the earth, the wind, the sun, and nature. It is honest work, wisdom and communitarianism. Hence, it is important to rescue the knowledge of our ancestors, to learn from that integral vision of indigenous communities, where food is communion with Mother Earth. The objective of the research was to collect information about sacred foods for their revaluation and rescue. The methodology was qualitative with an anthropological-cultural approach, an interview was applied to the "elders" of Salasaca indigenous community. The sacred foods indicated by the elders are mainly corn, potatoes, quinoa, goose, mashua, sambo, among others. Sacred plants and trees such as Yahual, quishuar, capulí, la chilca. An important drink in the Salasaca community is the tzawar mishki obtained from the cabuya, present in the traditional festivals of the community as well as foods considered sacred, mainly corn, quinoa, potatoes, and beans. Currently, consumer thinking endangers the knowledge, traditions and customs of the community. Keeping those precepts of the Andean worldview should become the guiding principle of our livesAlimentarse para las comunidades indígenas no es sólo llevarse algo a la boca; es un acto sagrado, porque implica un contacto con la tierra, el viento, el sol, la naturaleza. Es el trabajo honesto, sabiduría y comunitarismo. De ahí que es importante rescatar los conocimientos de nuestros ancestros, aprender de esa visión integral de las comunidades indígenas, en donde el alimento es la comunión con la Madre Tierra. El objetivo de la investigación fue recopilar información acerca de los alimentos sagrados para su revalorización y rescate. Se trata de una investigación cualitativa, con enfoque antropológico-cultural, se aplicó una entrevista a los “ancianos“ de la comunidad indígena de Salasaca. Los alimentos sagrados señalados por los ancianos son principalmente el maíz, papa, quinua, oca, mashua, sambo, entre otros. Plantas y árboles sagrados, como el Yahual, quishuar, capulí, la chilca. Una bebida importante en la comunidad de Salasaca, es el tzawar mishki obtenida de la cabuya, presente en las fiestas tradicionales de la comunidad a igual que alimentos considerados sagrados, principalmente maíz, quinua, papa, haba. Actualmente, el pensamiento consumista pone en peligro el conocimiento, tradiciones y costumbres de la comunidad. El guardar aquellos preceptos de la cosmovisión andina, debería constituirse en el eje rector de nuestras vida

Alimentos sagrados en la cosmovisión andina

Eating food for indigenous communities is not just putting something in your mouth; It is a sacred act because it involves contact with the earth, the wind, the sun, and nature. It is honest work, wisdom and communitarianism. Hence, it is important to rescue the knowledge of our ancestors, to learn from that integral vision of indigenous communities, where food is communion with Mother Earth. The objective of the research was to collect information about sacred foods for their revaluation and rescue. The methodology was qualitative with an anthropological-cultural approach, an interview was applied to the "elders" of Salasaca indigenous community. The sacred foods indicated by the elders are mainly corn, potatoes, quinoa, goose, mashua, sambo, among others. Sacred plants and trees such as Yahual, quishuar, capulí, la chilca. An important drink in the Salasaca community is the tzawar mishki obtained from the cabuya, present in the traditional festivals of the community as well as foods considered sacred, mainly corn, quinoa, potatoes, and beans. Currently, consumer thinking endangers the knowledge, traditions and customs of the community. Keeping those precepts of the Andean worldview should become the guiding principle of our livesAlimentarse para las comunidades indígenas no es sólo llevarse algo a la boca; es un acto sagrado, porque implica un contacto con la tierra, el viento, el sol, la naturaleza. Es el trabajo honesto, sabiduría y comunitarismo. De ahí que es importante rescatar los conocimientos de nuestros ancestros, aprender de esa visión integral de las comunidades indígenas, en donde el alimento es la comunión con la Madre Tierra. El objetivo de la investigación fue recopilar información acerca de los alimentos sagrados para su revalorización y rescate. Se trata de una investigación cualitativa, con enfoque antropológico-cultural, se aplicó una entrevista a los “ancianos“ de la comunidad indígena de Salasaca. Los alimentos sagrados señalados por los ancianos son principalmente el maíz, papa, quinua, oca, mashua, sambo, entre otros. Plantas y árboles sagrados, como el Yahual, quishuar, capulí, la chilca. Una bebida importante en la comunidad de Salasaca, es el tzawar mishki obtenida de la cabuya, presente en las fiestas tradicionales de la comunidad a igual que alimentos considerados sagrados, principalmente maíz, quinua, papa, haba. Actualmente, el pensamiento consumista pone en peligro el conocimiento, tradiciones y costumbres de la comunidad. El guardar aquellos preceptos de la cosmovisión andina, debería constituirse en el eje rector de nuestras vida

Towards a dynamic checklist of lichen-forming, lichenicolous and allied fungi of Ecuador – using the <i>Consortium of Lichen Herbaria</i> to manage fungal biodiversity in a megadiverse country

peer reviewedA checklist of Lichen-forming, Lichenicolous and Allied Fungi of Ecuador is presented with a total of 2599 species, of which 39 are reported for the first time from the country. The names of three species, Hypotrachyna montufariensis, H. subpartita and Sticta hypoglabra, previously not validly published, are validated. Pertusaria oahuensis, originally introduced by Magnusson as ‘ad interim’, is validated as Lepra oahuensis. The form Leucodermia leucomelos f. albociliata is validated. Two new combinations, Fissurina tectigera and F. timida, are made, and Physcia mobergii is introduced as a replacement name for the illegitimate P. lobulata Moberg non (Flörke) Arnold. In an initial step, the checklist was compiled by reviewing literature records of Ecuadorian lichen biota spanning from the late 19th century to the present day. Subsequently, records were added based on vouchers from 56 collections participating in the Consortium of Lichen Herbaria, a Symbiota-based biodiversity platform with particular focus on, but not exclusive to, North and South America. Symbiota provides sophisticated tools to manage biodiversity data, such as occurrence records, a taxonomic thesaurus, and checklists. The thesaurus keeps track of frequently changing names, distinguishing taxa currently accepted from ones considered synonyms. The software also provides tools to create and manage checklists, with an emphasis on selecting vouchers based on occurrence records that can be verified for identification accuracy. Advantages and limitations of creating checklists in Symbiota versus traditional ways of compiling these lists are discussed. Traditional checklists are well suited to document current knowledge as a ‘snapshot in time’. They are important baselines, frequently used by ecologists and conservation scientists as an established naming convention for citing species reported from a country. Compiling these lists, however, requires an immense effort, only to inadequately address the dynamic nature of scientific discovery. Traditional checklists are thus quickly out of date, particularly in groups with rapidly changing taxonomy, such as lichenized fungi. Especially in megadiverse countries, where new species and new occurrences continue to be discovered, traditional checklists are not easily updated; these lists necessarily fall short of efficiently managing immense data sets, and they rely primarily on secondary evidence (i.e. literature records rather than specimens). Ideally, best practices make use of dynamic database platforms such as Symbiota to assess occurrence records based both on literature citations and voucher specimens. Using modern data management tools comes with a learning curve. Systems like Symbiota are not necessarily intuitive and their functionality can still be improved, especially when handling literature records. However, online biodiversity data platforms have much potential in more efficiently managing and assessing large biodiversity data sets, particularly when investigating the lichen biota of megadiverse countries such as Ecuador

How do lichens, willow shrubs, meadow, and heath plant communities affect microclimate?

Increases in earth's surface temperature because of climate change in the last decades have already shown consequences in different ecosystems and in different taxonomic groups. Alpine environments are among the most threatened by the effects of climate change because the organisms that live there are conditioned to low temperatures. Several changes in alpine communities have already been observed, however, shrub encroachment is one of the most evident. This encroachment affects especially smaller organisms that are not good competitors, such as cryptograms. Leading to changes in the community that have shown to affect macro and microclimate. The most common way of reporting temperature is the mean annual temperature which does not reflect what plants and lichens are experiencing. Microclimate is the actual temperature that the organism is experiencing. Studies have shown that microclimate can impact community structure and its dynamics over time. Moreover, community structure can affect the microclimate via organisms’ interactions. Little is known about how functional groups of established plants affect the microclimate. In this project, we study and describe how different community types such as willow shrubs, meadow, heath, and lichen ridgetop, and environmental variables affect the microclimate through the use of thermal imaging. During June-July 2020 thermo-photographs were taken and environmental variables were measured in a heath, a lichen ridgetop, a meadow, and a willow dominated community in Dovrefjell. It was found that all the plots presented a higher temperature than that recorded for air temperature. The models showed that wind speed decreased decoupling and light intensity increased decoupling from air temperature. The willow, a community dominated by deciduous shrubs, and the meadow (dominated by grasses and forbs) were more coupled to air temperature while the heath (dominated by dwarf evergreen shrubs) and the lichen ridgetop (dominated by lichens) were more decoupled from air temperature. Deciduous shrubs presented the lowest and lichens presented the highest surface temperatures. No significant differences in surface temperature were found for lichen species, colouration nor growth form

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially