Abstract
A survey was conducted of Caicara farmers from Ubatuba in the Brazilian coastland between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro States regarding the folk-taxonomy for cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) landraces they cultivate and cassava evolutionary dynamics in swidden cultivation. The accuracy of their folk taxonomy was assessed. Cluster analysis was used to make comparisons between names given by the farmers to sampled individuals and their isozyme phenotypes obtained with four isozyme systems. Interviews with farmers were done and ethnobiological data collected. These farmers possess a loose taxonomic system and tend to underestimate cassava genetic diversity in their gardens. However, classification skills vary considerably among them. The accuracy of their taxonomy along with the results of interviews with farmers and ethnobiological data are discussed in light of a proposed evolutionary dynamics model for cultivated cassava and its ecology in tropical swidden cultivation.
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