Wild food plants of Remote Oceania

Will C. McClatchey

doi:10.5586/asbp.2012.034

Abstract

Agricultural societies partly depend upon wild foods. Relationships between an agricultural society and its wild foods can be explored by examining how the society responds through colonization of new lands that have not been previously inhabited. The oldest clear example of this phenomenon took place about 5000 years ago in the tropical Western Pacific at the “boundary” interface between Near and Remote Oceania. An inventory of wild and domesticated food plants used by people living along “the remote side of ” that interface has been prepared from the literature. This was then assessed for the roles of plants at the time of original colonization of Remote Oceania. The majority of species are wild foods, and most of these are used as leafy vegetables and fruits. The wild food plants mostly serve as supplements to domesticated species, although there are a few that can be used as substitutes for traditional staples.

Highlights

Human-plant co-evolutionary relationships have been documented for processes of wild plant food domestication into socially critical crops [1,2]
More than 100 taxa are conservatively estimated to have been involved in the successful colonization of Remote Oceania
The majority of these, are wild plants with broad distributions across Oceania spanning the boundary between Near and Remote Oceania

Summary

Introduction

Human-plant co-evolutionary relationships have been documented for processes of wild plant food domestication into socially critical crops [1,2]. Major “food” plants consumed by humans were first derived from plants that have co-evolved with other animals. Wild food plants contrast to those that were domesticated in that populations of domesticated plants have gone through a selection process, by humans, that has resulted in a change in their genetic structure that benefits humans [3]. Wild plants persist without need of any selection or tending by humans and have genetics that reflect their original coevolutionary relationships. Speculation about human development of agriculture from wild plants has been based on observations that agriculture developed from seeds left in dump heaps [4] and/or wet river camp sites [5].

Results

Discussion

Conclusion