- Title
- The prevalence, uses and cultural assimilation of shrub and tree invasive alien plants in a biodiversity hotspot along the Wild Coast, South Africa
- Creator
- Wootton, Oscar, Shackleton, Charlie M
- Subject
- To be catalogued
- Date
- 2023
- Type
- text
- Type
- article
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/401314
- Identifier
- vital:69725
- Identifier
- xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2023.2216804"
- Description
- Invasive alien plant species (IAPS) frequently offer both ecosystem services and disservices to rural communities with high livelihood dependency on local landscapes. However, biocultural relationships with IAPS may go deeper than just provisioning uses, as they may be assimilated into local belief systems manifest in them becoming embedded in cultural constructions such as naming, stories, songs and ceremonies. It is likely that IAPS that are culturally assimilated will represent a greater conflict of interest in the face of proposed controls of IAPS in biodiversity hotspots where conservation priorities are frequently deemed paramount by external agencies. Using a mixed-methods approach we undertook roadside surveys of 17 selected IAPS along the 250 km Wild Coast section of the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany biodiversity hotspot, accompanied by questionnaire interviews with 48 local people. The mean number of IAPS per site was four, ranging from zero (only one site) to ten, and local inhabitants deemed the abundance of all but one of the species to be increasing. All species had been in the region for decades, had a vernacular name, and all but one had direct consumptive uses. Species with multiple uses were more widely recognised. However, there was only marginal incorporation of the IAPS into stories, songs and ceremonies, although medicinal uses of some IAPS were for cultural/spiritual needs rather than physical ailments per se. These results show that despite widespread use, there was as yet relatively limited cultural assimilation of the IAPS in the Wild Coast region.
- Format
- computer, online resource, application/pdf, 1 online resource (13 pages), pdf
- Publisher
- Taylor and Francis
- Language
- English
- Relation
- Ecosystems and People, Wootton, O. and Shackleton, C.M., 2023. The prevalence, uses and cultural assimilation of shrub and tree invasive alien plants in a biodiversity hotspot along the Wild Coast, South Africa. Ecosystems and People, 19(1), p.2216804, Ecosystems and People volume 19 number 1 p. 2216804 2023 2639-5916
- Rights
- Publisher
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Taylor and Francis Online Terms and Conditions Statement (https://www.tandfonline.com/terms-and-conditions)
- Rights
- Open Access
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Collections
RU DST/NRF SARChI for Interdisciplinary Science in Land and Natural Resource Use for Sustainable Livelihoods
RU Department of Environmental Science
Shackleton, Charles Michael (Distinguished Prof)
SDG 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 15. Life On Land
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details | SOURCE1 | The prevalence, uses and cultural assimilation of shrub and tree invasive alien plants.pdf | 974 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details |