What is Ethnobiology?

Ethnobiology is the scientific study of dynamic relationships among peoples, biota, and environments. Ethnobiology is a multidisciplinary field, including representatives from archaeology, geography, systematics, population biology, ecology, mathematical biology, cultural anthropology, ethnography, pharmacology, nutrition, conservation, and sustainable development. This diversity in Ethnobiology is our greatest strength, allowing us to focus on complex interactions and dynamic integrations among human and natural systems, enhancing our intellectual merit and broader impacts.

What are the research objectives of ethnobiology? In the past, Ethnobiology often concentrated on cataloging long lists of plants and animals with their associated preparations and uses. More recently our research objectives have become more process-oriented. For example, we now study the processes of cultivation and domestication and the origins and development of these practices, the management of useful plant and animal populations, and the process of traditional knowledge acquisition and organization.

What are the central priorities and concerns of ethnobiologists? Ethnobiology is a rapidly growing field of research, gaining professional, student, and public interest within North America and internationally. There is a need in Ethnobiology to explore modern methodology appropriate for studying people-biota-environment interactions; to quantitatively analyze our multidisciplinary data based on hypotheses; to integrate diverse lines of evidence for documenting ethnobiological knowledge and practices; to develop interdisciplinary education programs to train students and practitioners of Ethnobiology; and to obtain academic funding sources.

What kinds of methods do ethnobiologists use? Methodologies in Ethnobiology are varied and depend on the area of study. Participant observation and informant query are often coupled with techniques and data from archaeology, molecular, population, autecological, community, and ecosystem biology. Indigenous people are becoming increasingly empowered within Ethnobiology to define research, development, and conservation priorities and to participate in the research and education efforts associated with Ethnobiology.

What are the educational imperatives of ethnobiology? Education in Ethnobiology must be interdisciplinary, bridging the natural and social sciences. Interdisciplinary education needs to be developed systematically and with the flexibility to accommodate the interests of individual students and the variable strengths of different programs. Basic educational elements need to be defined, such as cultural anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, organismal biology, comparative methodologies, quantitative skills, and evolutionary and environmental ecology. Ethnobiological education within a research context needs to be developed so that research is an integral part of all educational approaches. Education and outreach are major strengths of modern Ethnobiology. Ethnobiology education is taking place at neighborhood garden clubs and preschools and at international workshops from Mount Kinabalu to Madagascar. Undergraduate, graduate, and teacher training workshops abound, with policy-makers taking advantage of recent Ethnobiology training. Texts and manuals are being published every year, and there is a constant stream of popular nonfiction on Ethnobiology including children’s books. The Internet is being used—and can be used more effectively—as a tool to spread information and augment relevant discussion in Ethnobiology.

What kinds of educational research programs have ethnobiologists targeted? For more than a decade, Ethnobiology has been easily incorporating research with broader impacts such as educational and community applications. Ethnobiology is integrating research and public needs for:

• enhancement of teaching, training, and learning;
• inclusion of underrepresented groups;
• improvement of educational infrastructure;
• dissemination of results to policy-makers, industry, media, and the general public;
• benefits to the community and imperatives for society.

*Text based in part on the 2002 NSF Biocomplexity Workshop Report: “Intellectual Imperatives in Ethnobiology”, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO, excerpted with permission by Jan Salick.