Utilitarian Redundancy: Conceptualization and Potential Applications in Ethnobiological Research

ANDRÉ LUIS BORBA DO NASCIMENTO; WASHINGTON SOARES FERREIRA JÚNIOR; MARCELO ALVES RAMOS; PATRÍCIA MUNIZ DE MEDEIROS; GUSTAVO TABOADA SOLDATI; FLÁVIA ROSA SANTORO; ULYSSES PAULINO DE ALBUQUERQUE

Evolutionary Ethnobiology

Springer International Publishing

Año: 2015; p. 121 - 130

The goal of this chapter is to show how the Utilitarian Redundancy Model (URM) could answer these questions and the interesting theoretical and practical framework for ethnobiological research that it offers. We will initially explain the original ecological redundancy model and its concepts and defi nitions before presenting the applications of the URM. We will show how the model can illustrate the ways in which people relate to the resources available in their local environments. We assume that the ways in which species are functionally organized determine the dynamics of a system. Therefore, this chapter focuses on species within a functional context to determine how the knowledge and use of resources by local populations infl uence how traditional medical systems change or evolve.