Cargando…

History and conservation of wild and cultivated plant diversity in Uganda: Forest species and banana varieties as case studies

The history of wild and cultivated plant diversity in Uganda is reviewed, taking forest species and bananas as examples. Palynological research into past human influences on forests is reassessed. The evidence suggests that crops were first introduced into the country at about 1000 BCE, farming comm...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hamilton, Alan C., Karamura, Deborah, Kakudidi, Esezah
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: KeAi Publishing 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6112125/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30159447
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pld.2016.04.001
_version_ 1783350793417523200
author Hamilton, Alan C.
Karamura, Deborah
Kakudidi, Esezah
author_facet Hamilton, Alan C.
Karamura, Deborah
Kakudidi, Esezah
author_sort Hamilton, Alan C.
collection PubMed
description The history of wild and cultivated plant diversity in Uganda is reviewed, taking forest species and bananas as examples. Palynological research into past human influences on forests is reassessed. The evidence suggests that crops were first introduced into the country at about 1000 BCE, farming communities practicing slash and burn agriculture started to significantly influence the floristic composition of forests during the 1st millennium BCE and there was a major episode of forest reduction at about 1000 CE related to socio-economic change. Bananas were probably introduced in the early centuries CE. The colonial era from 1894 saw the introduction of new concepts of land ownership and the establishment of forest reserves and agricultural stations. Forests and banana diversity are currently under threat, Uganda having a very high rate of deforestation and endemic banana varieties proving susceptible to introduced pests and diseases. It is suggested that, under these circumstances, conservationists take an opportunistic approach to field engagement, making use of favourable local conditions as they arise. Partnerships should be sought with elements of society concerned with sustainable use, provision of ecosystem services and cultural survival to widen the social base of plant conservation. International organisations involved in conservation of plant genetic resources and wild plant species should collaborate with one another to develop the conceptual basis of plant conservation, to make it more relevant to countries like Uganda.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6112125
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2016
publisher KeAi Publishing
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-61121252018-08-29 History and conservation of wild and cultivated plant diversity in Uganda: Forest species and banana varieties as case studies Hamilton, Alan C. Karamura, Deborah Kakudidi, Esezah Plant Divers Article The history of wild and cultivated plant diversity in Uganda is reviewed, taking forest species and bananas as examples. Palynological research into past human influences on forests is reassessed. The evidence suggests that crops were first introduced into the country at about 1000 BCE, farming communities practicing slash and burn agriculture started to significantly influence the floristic composition of forests during the 1st millennium BCE and there was a major episode of forest reduction at about 1000 CE related to socio-economic change. Bananas were probably introduced in the early centuries CE. The colonial era from 1894 saw the introduction of new concepts of land ownership and the establishment of forest reserves and agricultural stations. Forests and banana diversity are currently under threat, Uganda having a very high rate of deforestation and endemic banana varieties proving susceptible to introduced pests and diseases. It is suggested that, under these circumstances, conservationists take an opportunistic approach to field engagement, making use of favourable local conditions as they arise. Partnerships should be sought with elements of society concerned with sustainable use, provision of ecosystem services and cultural survival to widen the social base of plant conservation. International organisations involved in conservation of plant genetic resources and wild plant species should collaborate with one another to develop the conceptual basis of plant conservation, to make it more relevant to countries like Uganda. KeAi Publishing 2016-04-05 /pmc/articles/PMC6112125/ /pubmed/30159447 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pld.2016.04.001 Text en Copyright © 2016 Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Hamilton, Alan C.
Karamura, Deborah
Kakudidi, Esezah
History and conservation of wild and cultivated plant diversity in Uganda: Forest species and banana varieties as case studies
title History and conservation of wild and cultivated plant diversity in Uganda: Forest species and banana varieties as case studies
title_full History and conservation of wild and cultivated plant diversity in Uganda: Forest species and banana varieties as case studies
title_fullStr History and conservation of wild and cultivated plant diversity in Uganda: Forest species and banana varieties as case studies
title_full_unstemmed History and conservation of wild and cultivated plant diversity in Uganda: Forest species and banana varieties as case studies
title_short History and conservation of wild and cultivated plant diversity in Uganda: Forest species and banana varieties as case studies
title_sort history and conservation of wild and cultivated plant diversity in uganda: forest species and banana varieties as case studies
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6112125/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30159447
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pld.2016.04.001
work_keys_str_mv AT hamiltonalanc historyandconservationofwildandcultivatedplantdiversityinugandaforestspeciesandbananavarietiesascasestudies
AT karamuradeborah historyandconservationofwildandcultivatedplantdiversityinugandaforestspeciesandbananavarietiesascasestudies
AT kakudidiesezah historyandconservationofwildandcultivatedplantdiversityinugandaforestspeciesandbananavarietiesascasestudies