Human Ecology

https://link.springer.com/journal/10745

List of Papers (Total 272)

The Role of Religion, Wealth, and Livelihoods in the Hunting Practices of Urban and Rural Inhabitants in Western Amazonia

Hunting by rural and urban populations is essential for securing access to protein and other nutrients throughout the tropics. The hunting patterns of urban hunters in Amazonia, and the similarities with those of rural hunters, are unclear, as are the social factors that influence hunting practices. We analyze the effects of socioeconomic and cultural factors on hunting frequency...

Biocultural Diversity in Italy

As an initial step in more extensive research into the links between biological and cultural diversity in present-day Italy, we reviewed Biocultural Diversity studies that explore the relationship between biological and cultural patterns of diversity to determine whether any direct causal relationships or common drivers could be inferred. We found no significant attempts to...

Agrobiodiversity, Social Institutions, and Indigenous Farming Practices: A Case Study of the Rukai in Wutai, Taiwan

Agrobiodiversity plays a crucial role in maintaining sustainable agricultural systems and supporting local livelihoods, but its integration into indigenous social institutions and cultures remains under-researched. We used a qualitative approach entailing in-depth interviews and participant observation to conduct research among the Rukai indigenous farmers in Taiwan focusing on...

Argan Oil Trade and Access to Benefit Sharing: A Matter of Economic Survival for Rural Women of the Souss Massa, Morocco

Poverty eradication, environmental conservation, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals cannot be achieved without the input and participation of disadvantaged communities in developing mitigation strategies. Over the last few decades, the markets for natural resources as niche products have grown exponentially. Morocco’s production and international sales of argan...

Can Coral Reef Restoration Programmes Facilitate Changes in Environmental Attitudes? A Case Study on a Rural Fisher Community in North Bali, Indonesia

There is currently limited research assessing the ecological potential of coral restoration programmes of habitat enhancement and restoration of benthic and mobile populations for influencing the attitudes (and subsequent behaviours) of the communities where they are based. Our qualitative study investigated the impact of a coral reef restoration programmes on local environmental...

Exploring the Relationship Between Fishing Actors and Network Prominence in information-sharing Networks in Jamaican small-scale Fisheries

Information-sharing social networks support the adaptive capacity of small-scale fishers in the face of social and environmental change by allowing them to increase access to unique knowledge critical to their fishing success. The facilitation of information exchange may be supported and influenced by persons in key positions. Within these networks, centralized actors often...

“People Gathered by Sorghum”: Cultural Practices and sorghum Diversity in Northern Ethiopia

Sorghum is an important crop in the livelihoods of Kunama and Tigrayan farmers in Northern Ethiopia and we present here a study of what factors have shaped the genetic diversity of the varieties cultivated in neighboring communities of the two ethnolinguistic groups. Using a combination of methods from crop science and cultural anthropology, we investigate patterns of historical...

Archival Analysis of Slash-And-Burn Agriculture in the Northern Ural Mountains at the End of the Nineteenth Century

At the end of the nineteenth century, the northern territories of the Russian Plain and western piedmont of Northern Ural Mountains were under various land-use systems, including slash-and-burn (SAB) agriculture. Using archival materials for the years 1880–1910 as data sources, we analyse the the location and extent of SAB agriculture, it timing, and its impact on the landscapes...

Marine sense. The Sea beyond Explicit Knowledge

I explore what is known as “marine sense” to highlight the specificity of tacit understandings of the environment in which intuition is pivotal to practical action. I argue that the concept of “marine sense” affords a finer and more nuanced understanding of the ways in which populations interact with marine environments and posit that the fishers’ knowledge is operative because...

Local Knowledge, Perceptions, and Uses of the Potentially Conflict-Generating Plant Species, Moringa oleifera Lam.: A case Study in Limpopo Province, South Africa

Moringa oleifera Lam. is listed In South Africa as Species Under Surveillance for Possible Eradication or Containment Targets (SUSPECT) under the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act 10 of 2004 (NEM:BA), although it is widely used in some communities. We conducted this study to investigate local ecological knowledge (LEK) and perceptions about moringa in the rural...

Untangling Biocultural and Socioeconomical Drivers of African Plum Tree (Dacryodes edulis) Local Nomenclature Along a Rural-Urban Gradient in Central Cameroon

In Cameroon, the African plum tree (Dacryodes edulis [G. Don] H. J. Lam) is widely cultivated for its fruits, which contribute significantly to household food security and economy. In order to analyze the links between the social and ecological systems that result in the remarkable fruit diversity, we focused on how the important varietal diversity of African plums was perceived...

Beyond Animal Husbandry: The Role of Herders Among the Wayuu of Colombia

The territory of the Wayuu indigenous people comprises a small, low mountain range surrounded by a large desert that extends from Colombia to Venezuela in the Guajira peninsula. In pre-Columbian times, Wayuu livelihoods relied mainly on fishing and hunting in the littoral zone. Following the Spanish conquest, in their fight to maintain their territorial integrity they turned to...

The effects of mid-to-late Pliocene climatic fluctuations on the habitat and distribution of early hominins

The climatic fluctuations of the Pliocene played a substantial role in the emergence of Homo and Paranthropus. I studied the climatic suitability and affinity of hominins in Africa to understand how the regional effects of global climatic alternations influenced their occurrence in the mid-late Pliocene epoch. The modelled climatic suitability values indicate the existence of...

The Succession of Farmers’ Perceptions of Transitioning Landscapes – A Case Study of Agroforestry in the Middle Hills of Nepal

Out-migration from small-scale agricultural holdings in Nepal’s middle hills is resulting in forest succession on abandoned land. Such early landscape transitions are often guided by policy to maintain a productivist path. However, farming households in rural Nepal are themselves transitioning from their dependence and attachment to the land. The walk and talk methodology was...

Does International Environmental Certification Change Local Production and Trade Practices? A Case Study of Shrimp Farming in Southern Vietnam

Studies on international environmental certification (IEC) have primarily focused on how certification can sustainably “upgrade” local production and trading practices. However, not many studies view this market-based governance process from the perspective of local practices and location-specific factors. This study therefore examines how the upstream of the local supply chain...

Strategies Steering Intensification Pathways of Farmers in Central Malawi

Smallholder farmers face many challenges to improve their livelihoods and food security. Intensification of agricultural production can help to achieve these goals. Yet farmers are highly heterogenous in their strategies towards intensification, potentially following unsustainable intensification pathways. Using Q Methodology, we ascertain different strategies regarding farm...

Firewood and Energy Sovereignty on Navajo Nation

Climate-induced drought jeopardizes future access to sufficient energy sources for many people reliant on firewood, especially those underrepresented in forest management decision-making. To identify where interventions might be most effective in facilitating self-determination and sustained firewood harvest, we investigate the case of Diné firewood harvesters. Using data from...

Understanding the Rights of Nature: Working Together Across and Beyond Disciplines

Recognising the rights of nature is seen by many as the paradigm shift needed to truly embed ecology and the environment into nature-based policy and management solutions to address biodiversity loss, climate change, and sustainable development. However, despite its potential, research across and beyond disciplinary boundaries remains very limited, with most located in the...

Community Perceptions on the Transformation of a high-altitude Grassland Through Invasion by Leucosidea sericea at Vuvu, South Africa

We assessed perceptions of Leucosidea sericea, a woody plant that is increasing in density such that it may threaten rangelands among agro-pastoralists whose livelihoods rely on livestock (56%) and crop farming (36%) in Vuvu, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Using semi-structured questionnaires, we asked 198 respondents about the spread of the species in the last few decades, and its...

Our Neighbor the Beaver: Anthropomorphism to Facilitate Environmental Mediation in Rural France

The European Beaver came close to extinction in France at the beginning of the twentieth century. It has since been reintroduced across the country but its gradual expansion has caused conflicts linked to its behavior, exacerbated by strict enforcement of laws against poaching or the destruction of beaver dams. We conducted field research in 2021 in three municipalities, two in...

The Rise of Vancouver and the Collapse of Forage Fish: A Story of Urbanization and the Destruction of an Aquatic Ecosystem on the Salish Sea (1885–1920 CE)

Since its establishment as a Euro-Canadian settlement in the mid-nineteenth century, the marine ecology surrounding Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, has been negatively impacted by urban development, habitat destruction, poor fisheries practices, and pollution. Focussing on forage fish – herring, smelt, and eulachon – we present the results of an extensive meta-analysis...

A Family Systems Theory Approach to Hunters’ Chronic Wasting Disease-Related Perceptions and Behaviors

Perceived hunter health risks associated with chronic wasting disease (CWD) are well-documented at the personal level, yet little research explores how such risk dynamics function at the household level. To address this gap, we surveyed deer hunters from Texas, USA, to investigate how hunters perceive CWD-related health risks to and on behalf of their family members, and how this...

Conceptualizing Community-based Environmental Peacebuilding in Cesar, Colombia

In conflict studies, environmental peacebuilding (EPB) has become an established concept to explain how environmental cooperation among opposing parties provides a platform for peacebuilding. EPB literature has been shaped predominantly by political science perspectives, initially with a focus on interstate conflicts, and ecological dynamics have received little attention to date...