Woody Plant Ecology

 

Interaction and interdependence between agrobiodiversity and wild biodiversity

Ethiopian plants

 
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Desalegn Desissa
& Pierre Binggeli

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Zemede Asfaw and Desalegn Desissa

ABSTRACT   Full text

The process of plant domestication whereby societies select as useful species from the wild is still currently taking place in some traditional agricultural systems. The opposite process also happens, some species that are completely domesticated occasionally escape to the wild where they subsequently naturalize. Environments where the same taxa occur under wild and domesticated conditions are important sites for dynamic interactions between the agrobiodiversity and the wild biodiversity. Modern ethnobotanical studies enable researchers to investigate the major changes that a species goes through when it is brought under cultivation or when it reverts to the suitable wild habitat. During a recent ethanobotanical study in the Keffa-Sheka and North Omo zones of the southern region and the Metekel zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz region, some observations were compiled on plant species featuring in the trials of the agrobiodiversity and the wild biodiversity. Thirty-four species were recorded from homegardens, which also occurred in the adjacent natural ecosystems and disturbed wild habitats. The most prominent members of this group of anthropogenic plants included Coffea arabica, Passiflora edulis, Enset ventricosum, Rhamnus prinoides, Arisaema schimperianum and Aframomum corarima. The species share the attributes of being at home in the managed ecosystem of the homegarden and the natural ecosystems of the forests and other habitats. Some are indigenous species normally growing on their own amidst the natural species since immemorial times while others are exotics introduced to the homegarden from elsewhere during historical times. Interactions between the wild and cultivated populations of some of the species are to be expected. The people interact with plants from both habitats. Genes that evolved under natural and human-induced conditions are likely to mix in these environments since there is a two-way movement of species from the forest to the homegarden through domestication and from the homegarden to the wild habitats of the forest through naturalization. Some appear to wander between the two habitats being assisted by human action. In some cases plant species known to have been introduced to Ethiopia and became naturalized are being taken into cultivation secondarily while in other cases those that were completely wild are in the process of being domesticated. For many species the homegarden and the natural habitats serve as germplasm reservoirs for one another. The present observations hint at the relevance of studies on geneflow, introgression, genetic differentiation and ethnobotany to gain insight into the bio-cultural complexities.

     
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