Evolutionary biologists and ecologists increasingly appreciate the value of local knowledge of human communities for research into the past, present, and future of biodiversity. However, there are often significant problems accessing and interpreting this knowledge. Here, we argue that closer interaction with ethnobiologists, who study the relation between humans and the natural world, will enable local knowledge to be better applied in ecological and evolutionary biological research. This will provide more comprehensive answers to the scientific questions being asked, and will result in improved engagement with both academic and non-academic communities

Andrew C. Clarke

Bitocchi

Brook

C. Haris Saslis-Lagoudakis

Coghlan

Delêtre

Erickson

Gorenflo

Hibert

Huntington

Mueller

Saslis-Lagoudakis

Travis

Vandebroek

English

Saslis-Lagoudakis, C. Haris

Clarke, Andrew C.

Warwick Research Archives Portal Repository

http://go.warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications          Original citation: Saslis-Lagoudakis, C. Haris and Clarke, Andrew C (2013) Ethnobiology : the missing link in ecology and evolution. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Vol.28 (No.2). pp. 67-68.   Permanent WRAP url: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/52726    Copyright and reuse: The Warwick Research Archive Portal (WRAP) makes the work of researchers of the University of Warwick available open access under the following conditions.  Copyright © and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners.  To the extent reasonable and practicable the material made available in WRAP has been checked for eligibility before being made available.  Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge.  Provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way.  Publisher’s statement: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2012.10.017   A note on versions: The version presented here may differ from the published version or, version of record, if you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher’s version.  Please see the ‘permanent WRAP url’ above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription.  For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: wrap@warwick.ac.uk  1  Ethnobiology: the missing link in ecology and evolution 1  2 C. Haris Saslis-Lagoudakis1 and Andrew C. Clarke2 3  4 1. Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3DS, United 5 Kingdom 6 2. School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, West Midlands, CV4 7AL, 7 United Kingdom 8 Corresponding author: Saslis-Lagoudakis, C.H. (C.H.SaslisLagoudakis@gmail.com)  9 2  Evolutionary biologists and ecologists increasingly appreciate the value of local 10 knowledge of human communities for research on the past, present and future of biodiversity 11 [1-3]. However, there are often significant problems accessing and interpreting this 12 knowledge [3]. Here we argue that closer interaction with ethnobiologists, who study the 13 relationship between humans and the natural world, will enable local knowledge to be better 14 applied in ecological and evolutionary biological research. This will provide more 15 comprehensive answers to the scientific questions being asked, and will result in improved 16 engagement with both academic and non-academic communities. 17 Local knowledge encompasses historical and present beliefs, traditions, practices, and 18 views developed by local human communities [4]. Much of this knowledge is about the 19 natural environment, including agricultural and farming practices, the ways biodiversity is 20 used for food, drink, medicine, fuel, housing and clothing, the ecology of species and 21 communities, and local biodiversity and climatic patterns. We argue that collaboration 22 between ecologists/evolutionary biologists and ethnobiologists is the most effective and 23 meaningful way to incorporate local knowledge into biodiversity-related research. This 24 interdisciplinary interaction can provide mutual benefits for ethnobiologists and biodiversity 25 researchers. 26 Ethnobiologists, who often come from a social sciences background, are trained experts in 27 gathering, filtering, and managing local knowledge, and in fostering engagement with local 28 communities. All of these activities can be major obstacles for biologists wanting to access 29 local knowledge and integrate it into their research for the first time [3]. Through 30 collaboration, biologists can ensure issues such as prior informed consent, respectful use of 31 local community members’ time and resources, data ownership, and the sharing of results and 32 benefits with local communities are managed properly, and in accordance with agreements 33 like the Convention on Biological Diversity. For a number of reasons, it is important for 34 3  evolutionary biologists and ecologists to engage directly with local communities, but 35 ethnobiologists can assist this process by helping communicate local concerns and needs, 36 thereby enabling collaborative projects to be planned that benefit all parties. Additional 37 benefits of collaboration may come from joint field work. Study destinations are likely to be 38 similar for researchers from all these disciplines because regions with high biodiversity often 39 coincide with regions of high cultural diversity [5]. Planning projects and conducting 40 fieldwork collaboratively can maximise the outcomes from those efforts. 41 Synergies between ethnobiology, evolutionary biology and ecology are starting to appear 42 more frequently in the literature and have resulted in remarkable outcomes. For example, 43 ethnobotanical observations, coupled with DNA sequencing, have helped elucidate ecological 44 preferences of poorly known species, such as the South American tapir (Tapirus terrestris 45 Linnaeus, 1758) [6]. A combination of studies has shown how evolutionary biology and 46 ethnobiology can collaborate to ensure food security. For instance, a study of genetic 47 diversity revealed that the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is of Mesoamerican origin 48 and delineated local genetic groups in South America [7]. Ethnobiologists can use that 49 knowledge to highlight cultural factors influencing the distribution of different local varieties, 50 and this interdisciplinary knowledge can inform the efficient conservation of crop genetic 51 resources, as has been done in cassava/manioc (Manihot esculenta Crantz) [8]. Similar 52 approaches can help unearth past local knowledge. For example, ancient DNA amplification 53 techniques helped identify the contents of a medical preparation found in a 1st century 54 sunken Roman shipwreck [9],  providing historical ethnobiologists insights into ancient 55 practices. As these interdisciplinary approaches demonstrate the benefits of interdisciplinary 56 projects, we encourage the three scientific communities to consider other directions for 57 combined research efforts. These could include using local knowledge of biodiversity 58 patterns to prevent loss of natural biotas, and synthesising modern and novel sequencing 59 4  technologies with ethnobiological knowledge to better understand crop and livestock 60 domestication, as well as to identify species used and traded in traditional medicine [10]. 61 Further, this interdisciplinary collaboration can include research from other disciplines, such 62 as archaeology [11], as well as inform scientists from unrelated fields, such as those 63 conducting research on natural products and drug development [12].  64 Interdisciplinarity is increasingly recognised as being important. This is reflected in 65 funding agencies’ programmes worldwide, including the National Science Foundation’s 66 CREATIV scheme (US), the FP7 Marie Curie Actions (EU), the Leverhulme Trust (UK) and 67 the Australian Research Council. All these agencies call for proposals demonstrating 68 interdisciplinarity, with some supporting high-risk proposals. Research efforts spanning 69 ethnobiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology would successfully meet this criterion.  70 Ultimately, the proposed interaction can support the race against time to understand, 71 conserve, and responsibly utilise both the natural world and local knowledge. We urge 72 evolutionary biologists, ecologists and ethnobiologists to forge stronger and mutually 73 beneficial links.  74 Acknowledgments 75 For helpful comments on various aspects of this letter, we thank Olwen Grace, Laura Kelly, 76 Brian Mautz, Lynsey McInnes, Kristina Ramstad and Alice Storey. 77  78 References 79 1 Mueller, J.G., et al. (2010) Evaluating Rapid Participatory Rural Appraisal as an 80 Assessment of Ethnoecological Knowledge and Local Biodiversity Patterns. Conservation 81 Biology 24, 140-150 82 5  2 Brook, R. and McLachlan, S. (2008) Trends and prospects for local knowledge in 83 ecological and conservation research and monitoring. Biodivers Conserv 17, 3501-3512 84 3 Huntington, H.P. (2011) The local perspective. Nature 478, 182-183 85 4 Vandebroek, I., et al. (2011) Local knowledge: Who cares? Journal of Ethnobiology and 86 Ethnomedicine 7, 35 87 5 Gorenflo, L.J., et al. (2012) Co-occurrence of linguistic and biological diversity in 88 biodiversity hotspots and high biodiversity wilderness areas. Proceedings of the National 89 Academy of Sciences published ahead of print May 7, 2012, doi:10.1073/pnas.1117511109 90 6 Hibert, F., et al. (2011) Botany, Genetics and Ethnobotany: A Crossed Investigation on the 91 Elusive Tapir's Diet in French Guiana. PLoS ONE 6, e25850 92 7 Bitocchi, E., et al. (2012) Mesoamerican origin of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris 93 L.) is revealed by sequence data. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published 94 ahead of print March 5, 2012, doi:10.1073/pnas.1108973109 95 8 Delêtre, M., et al. (2011) Marriage exchanges, seed exchanges, and the dynamics of manioc 96 diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108, 18249-18254 97 9 Travis, J. (2010) Archaeologists See Big Promise In Going Molecular. Science 330, 28-29 98 10 Coghlan, M.L., et al. (2012) Deep Sequencing of Plant and Animal DNA Contained 99 within Traditional Chinese Medicines Reveals Legality Issues and Health Safety Concerns. 100 PLoS Genetics 8, e1002657 101 11 Erickson, D.L., et al. (2005) An Asian origin for a 10,000-year-old domesticated plant in 102 the Americas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102, 18315-18320 103 12 Saslis-Lagoudakis, C.H., et al. (2012) Phylogenies reveal predictive power of traditional 104 medicine in bioprospecting. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109, 15835-105 15840 106 

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Ethnobiology : the missing link in ecology and evolution

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