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Cannabis sativa and C. indica Cannabis sativa and C. indica Cannabis sativa x indica hybrid High tech Cannabis growing in the Netherlands Effects of Indigenous People on the Natural World Yanomami farm clearing Amazonia North America – extinction of the Pleistocene Megafauna • 12,000 years ago, the central grasslands of North America harbored an extremely diverse group of large mammals - antelopes, horses, cheetahs, giant ground sloths, mammoths, mastodons • Within 1,000 years 33 genera of large mammals had gone extinct in North America • This is compared with 20 genera of large mammals going extinct in North America in the previous 3 million years Woolly Mammoth Giant Elk and Mammoth Giant Ground Sloth – 4 m tall Dire wolf – Canis dirus Extinction in Madagascar • People arrived in Madagascar 1500 to 2000 years ago and wiped out two giant tortoise species, a bear-sized giant lemur, a small species of hippotamus, several other mammals, and several species of large flightless elephant birds Elephant Bird Extinctions in New Zealand • Maori’s arrived in New Zealand about 1,000 years ago - hunting together with changes in the landscape due to human use of fire, lead to the extinction of 11 species of moas (large flightless birds ranging in size from turkey to much larger than an ostrich) by 1700; also driven extinct were 5 species of rail and 6 species of waterfowl Small Moa Giant Moa Skeleton – with Kiwi and Ostrich Extinctions in the Hawaiian Islands • 44 species of endemic land birds out of 82 went extinct between the arrival of the Polynesians and the Europeans • Habitat change was probably important, but so was hunting of flightless geese, ibises and rails Nene – Hawaiian flightless goose Extinctions Following European Arrival in North America • The passenger pigeon, heath hen, Carolina parakeet, Labrador duck, and Great Auk were hunted to extinction; bison, beaver, turkey, and white-tailed deer were greatly reduced in population; whales were pursued around the world by New England whalers and many were almost reduced to extinction Carolina Parakeet Labrador Duck Great Auk Loss of Prairie and Forests in Midwest Slash and burn or Swidden Agriculture Slash and burn – early in clearing stage – aerial view Slash and burn – burning cleared site Cultivation of slash and burn site – mainly manioc growing Manioc or Cassava – Manihot esculenta Fallow period of end of cultivation – Slash and Burn Swidden Agriculture in Germany and Finland Ethnobotany and Conservation Rattan harvest Southeast Asia Reserves and the Padaung People Extractive Reserves – First Established in Brazil Rubber Tappers and Chico Mendes Establishment of Extractive Reserves in Peru and Ecuador Use of Plants for Food Medicine in Amazonia • The Chacabo use 78.7% of the tree species • The Ka’apor in Brazil use 76.8% of the tree species • The Tembe in Brazil use 61.3% of the tree species • The Panare in Venezuela use 48.6% of the tree species Use of Plants for Food Medicine in Amazonia • The Chacabo were first contacted by the Summer Institute of Linguistics in 1955. • The Ka’apor were “pacified” in 1928. • The Tembe were “pacified” in the 1850’s. • The Panare have been in contact with nonIndians since the Spanish explored the middle Orinoco region in the 1600’s. Families of Special Conservation Concern • Palm family Areaceae (food, fiber, shelter) • Brazil nut family Lecythidaceae (food) • Chrysobalanaceae (related to roses - food, medicine), • The hallucinogenic caapi vine family Malpighiaceae (medicines) Economic Valuation Alwyn Gentry and Colleagues Calculations • $6330 – value of fruit and latex harvested per hectare per year in Peru • $490 – sustainable harvest of timber – so total value of $6820 per year • $3184 – tree farming in Brazil per hectare per year • $2690 – price per hectare of cattle ranching land in Brazil • $148 per year profit from cattle ranching per hectare in Brazil • $564 worth of medicine per hectare from 30 year old forest in Belize • $3054 worth of medicine per hectare from 50 year old forest in Belize