Repositories of biocultural diversity: Toward best practices for empowering ethnobotany in digital herbaria

Societal Impact Statement As herbaria digitize millions of plant specimens, ethnobotanical information associated with them is becoming increasingly accessible. These biocultural data include plant uses, names, and/or management practices of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs). However, the absence of shared curatorial standards limits accessibility and use by IPLCs and others. We estimated and characterized ethnobotanical data associated with herbarium specimens and provide here key considerations for future work. We identified a proportionally small, yet collectively significant, number of ethnobotanical specimens, and call for coordinating best practices among global herbaria to locate, acknowledge, and responsibly share this information, together with source communities. Summary As herbaria digitize millions of plant specimens, those containing biocultural information are becoming increasingly accessible. This information — also known as ethnobotanical data — holds both cultural and scientific value, and may include plant uses, vernacular names, local species concepts, cultural values, and plant management practices of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs). However, the lack of coordinated curatorial standards currently limits both the accessibility and effective use of this information by IPLCs, ethnobotanists, and others. To address this gap, we quantitatively estimated and characterized ethnobotanical information associated with herbarium specimens and offer key considerations to guide future work. We identified a proportionally small —yet collectively significant— number of ethnobotanical specimens, comprising approximately 1.6% of all specimen records and representing hundreds of thousands of specimens in the surveyed herbaria. We advocate for coordinating best practices to locate, acknowledge, and ethically share this information among herbaria, working together with source communities and through global cooperation.

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Publication Details

Journal
Plants People Planet
Published
2025-06-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.70052
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
3.50

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article

Repositories of biocultural diversity: Toward best practices for empowering ethnobotany in digital herbaria

Alex C. McAlvay, Robbie E. Hart, Mark Nesbitt, Cristina Mapes‐Sánchez et al.
2 citations
Plants People Planet
Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture
3.50
article

Repositories of biocultural diversity: Toward best practices for empowering ethnobotany in digital herbaria

Alex C. McAlvay, Robbie E. Hart, Mark Nesbitt, Cristina Mapes‐Sánchez, Giulia Mattalia, Luís Alexandre Estevão da Silva, Matthew C. Pace, Jacob Golan, Andrew Townesmith, Eduardo Dalcin, Guillaume Odonne, Michael J. Balick, Jan Salick, Miguel Murguía‐Romero, Ina Vandebroek, Leonardo Beltrán-Rodríguez, Michaela Schmull, Carolina Romero-Hernández, Kelsey Leonard, Viviane Stern da Fonseca-Kruel, Kenneth R. Otero‐Walker, Bruce Hoffman, Aurora Prehn, Diana G. Flores‐Camargo
article en
2 citations

Abstract

Societal Impact Statement As herbaria digitize millions of plant specimens, ethnobotanical information associated with them is becoming increasingly accessible. These biocultural data include plant uses, names, and/or management practices of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs). However, the absence of shared curatorial standards limits accessibility and use by IPLCs and others. We estimated and characterized ethnobotanical data associated with herbarium specimens and provide here key considerations for future work. We identified a proportionally small, yet collectively significant, number of ethnobotanical specimens, and call for coordinating best practices among global herbaria to locate, acknowledge, and responsibly share this information, together with source communities. Summary As herbaria digitize millions of plant specimens, those containing biocultural information are becoming increasingly accessible. This information — also known as ethnobotanical data — holds both cultural and scientific value, and may include plant uses, vernacular names, local species concepts, cultural values, and plant management practices of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs). However, the lack of coordinated curatorial standards currently limits both the accessibility and effective use of this information by IPLCs, ethnobotanists, and others. To address this gap, we quantitatively estimated and characterized ethnobotanical information associated with herbarium specimens and offer key considerations to guide future work. We identified a proportionally small —yet collectively significant— number of ethnobotanical specimens, comprising approximately 1.6% of all specimen records and representing hundreds of thousands of specimens in the surveyed herbaria. We advocate for coordinating best practices to locate, acknowledge, and ethically share this information among herbaria, working together with source communities and through global cooperation.

Plants People Planet
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Amazon (United States) (US), State University of New York (US), University of the West Indies System (JM), University of Waterloo (CA), Ifremer (FR), Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México (MX), Royal Holloway University of London (GB), Aix-Marseille Université (FR), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (GB), Harvard University Press (US), New York Botanical Garden (US), Missouri Botanical Garden (US), Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro (BR), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), New York University (US), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX)
National Science Foundation
Partnerships for the goals
Openalex Percentile: Top 8%
Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture
3.50
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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