Local knowledge and perception about biodiversity by traditional puesteros in semi-arid southern Mendoza-Argentina.

LLANO, C.; DURÁN, V.; GASCO, A.; REYNALS, E.; ZÁRATE BERNARDI, M.

JOURNAL OF ARID ENVIRONMENTS

ACADEMIC PRESS LTD-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2021 vol. 192 p. 1 - 9

0140-1963

Socio-cultural systems are linked to the ecological systems ofwhich they are a part, where language encodes the foundations ofcollective knowledge in a way that is often untranslatable but links itsspeakers to their landscape in an inextricable way. This article´s goalis to describe the social practices of people who live in semi-aridsouthern Mendoza, Argentina, in order to understand their adaptations andresilience strategies. For the rural community of southern Mendoza(collectively referred to by community members as "puesteros") theyrepresent a fundamental link between historical and current traditionalland use practices and cultural identity. This case study combinesparticipant observation and in-depth interviews in order to identify thedynamics that link the inhabitants of the community with the biophysicalsetting, through elements of daily life such as their objects and terms.The results reveal that locals have a thorough knowledge of thecomponents of their environment. This participatory, applied researchhighlights the complexity of this socio-ecological system, which ishighly adapted to the environmental conditions of the place.