Management of Fruit Species in Urban Home Gardens of Argentina Atlantic Forest as an Influence for Landscape Domestication.

Violeta Furlan,María L Pochettino,Norma I Hilgert

doi:10.3389/fpls.2017.01690

Abstract

Home gardens are considered germplasm repositories and places for experimentation, thus they are key sites for the domestication of plants. Domestication is considered a constant process that occurs along a continuum from wild to managed to domesticated populations. Management may lead to the modification of populations and in other cases to their distribution, changing population structure in a landscape. Our objective is focused on the management received in home gardens by perennial species of fruits. For this, the management practices applied to native and exotic perennial fruits species by a group of 20 women in the periurban zone of Iguazú, Argentina, were analyzed. In-depth interviews were conducted, as well as guided tours for the recognition and collection of specimens of species and ethnovarieties. Sixty-six fruit species managed in the home gardens were recorded. The predominant families are Rutaceae, Myrtaceae, and Rosaceae. The fruit species with the highest number of associated management practices are pitanga (Eugenia uniflora) and pindó (Syagrus rommanzoffiana). The 10 species with the highest management intensity are (in decreasing order of intensity) banana (Musa x paradisiaca), palta (Persea americana), pitanga (E. uniflora), mango (Mangifera indica), cocú (Allophylus edulis), mamón (Carica papaya), guayaba (Psidium guajava), limón mandarina (Citrus x taitensis), güembé (Philodendron bipinnatifidum), and mandarina (Citrus reticulata). Among the families with the greatest modifications in their distribution, abundance and presence of ethnovarieties in domestic gardens, are the native Myrtaceae and the exotic Rutaceae. The main management practices involved are cultivation, tolerance, transplant and enhancement in decreasing order. It can be concluded that in Iguazú, fruit species management shows both in plant germplasm as in environment a continuum that through tolerance, transplant and cultivation latu sensu has derived in a mosaic of species in different management situations, which in turn are representative of an anthropogenic landscape in constant domestication and change.

Highlights

The interactions between nature and culture formed the landscape, represented by the dynamic relationship between physical spaces, people, and natural resources throughout history
Tolerance -of plants previously existing in the spaces where people settled- and harvesting are the main management practices applied by the interviewees
According to results it is important to notice that sowing is the main management practice applied in general

Summary

Introduction

The interactions between nature and culture formed the landscape, represented by the dynamic relationship between physical spaces, people, and natural resources throughout history This relationship is constantly shaped by cosmovisions, values, and perceptions as well as by the biodiversity of the environment (Balée, 1998; Brodt, 2001; Pochettino et al, 2002; DavidsonHunt and Berkes, 2003; Berkes and Turner, 2006; Toledo and Barrera-Bassols, 2009; Capparelli et al, 2011; Ladio, 2011). From people and plants constant relationship, located biocultural entities arise which have the capacity of transforming each other and, the inhabited landscape (Lema, 2013) In this sense, home gardens are important places for experimentation as a part of an inhabited landscape (Pochettino et al, 2012). That is why they have international recognition as key sites for species domestication and germplasm repositories (Huai et al, 2011)

Objectives

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Results

Conclusion