Journal article
Nontimber forest products as ecological and biocultural keystone species
Ecology and Society, Vol.23(4)
2018
Abstract
Nontimber forests products (NTFPs) are the mainstay of rural livelihoods and local economies the world over. As such they are of interest to a wide disciplinary range of researchers and development and government agencies seeking to promote livelihoods, incomes, and ecologically sustainable practices. With the attention on the various human uses of NTFPs, their role and networks in the broader biological communities in which they are located are frequently overlooked. Harvesting of many NTFPs has effects not only at the organism and population scales, but also on co-occurring species, some of which may also be NTFPs. Thus, reduction or loss of one NTFP population or species in a specific area may have cascade effects on other NTFP species, including those used for cultural purposes. We illustrate the little appreciated importance of NTFPs in broader ecological and social systems by assessing and illustrating the importance of NTFP species as ecological or biocultural keystones in providing regulating and supporting ecological services to other species and cultural services to people. We present a number of examples where NTFP species act as keystones in ecological and cultural systems, including food, pollination and dispersal, animal health, nutrients, shelter and protection, and cultural symbolism, most of which have not been considered by NTFP researchers and practitioners. From these examples we distill six propositions regarding NTFPs and discuss the value of recognizing some NTFPs as biocultural keystones to acknowledge and highlight their roles at broader scales.
Details
- Title
- Nontimber forest products as ecological and biocultural keystone species
- Authors/Creators
- C.M. Shackleton (Author/Creator)T. Ticktin (Author/Creator)A.B. Cunningham (Author/Creator)
- Publication Details
- Ecology and Society, Vol.23(4)
- Publisher
- The Resilience Alliance
- Identifiers
- 991005543576707891
- Copyright
- © 2018 by the author(s)
- Murdoch Affiliation
- College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Source: InCites
Metrics
512 File views/ downloads
104 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Citation topics
- 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
- 3.40 Forestry
- 3.40.627 Forest Conservation
- Web Of Science research areas
- Ecology
- Environmental Studies
- ESI research areas
- Social Sciences, general