Multiple perspectives on a biocultural environment: Landscape ethnoecology in the Brazilian dry forest

Abstract

Landscape ethnoecology is the study of the classification, perception, and interaction of human populations with landscapes. The main goals of this study are to understand how the rural communities of the Brazilian dry forest (Caatinga) recognize and classify different landscape units and to compare the folk classification thus obtained with scientific classification systems of Caatinga landscapes. A combination of semi-structured interviews, participatory mapping, and guided tours conducted with 51 participants in ten municipalities allowed the identification of nineteen landscape units. The comparison between the folk and scientific classifications of this biome reveals a good correspondence in several cases. However, regular and poor correspondences between scientific and folk classifications have been recorded as well. One of the identified differences was the greater number of landscape units recognized by the interviewees, which is likely connected to a high number of landscapes with similar features, but different dominant species, as well as the presence of anthropogenic landscapes in the folk classification. Since most of the Caatinga is constituted of landscapes modified by human activity, landscape ethnoecological studies on this biome may offer a more realistic and dynamic classification, complementing former classifications based exclusively on academic knowledge.