The Role of Botanical Gardens in the Conservation of Orchid Biocultural Diversity in Sichuan Province, China
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THE ROLE OF BOTANICAL GARDENS IN THE CONSERVATION OF ORCHID BIOCULTURAL DIVERSITY IN SICHUAN PROVINCE, CHINA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI`I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN BOTANY August 2017 By Barnabas C. Seyler Dissertation Committee: David C. Duffy, Chairperson Orou G. Gaoue Ya Tang Tamara Ticktin Teresita D. Amore Copyright © 2017 Barnabas C. Seyler All Rights Reserved ii To my parents: Your love and support has allowed me to reach heights I would have never imagined. 明薛网 《兰花》 Orchids by Xuewang Ming 我爱幽兰异众芳,不将颜色媚春阳。 西风寒露深林下,任是无人也自香。 I love the unique orchid, whose color never flatters the sunshine. Growing in a secluded forest chilled by the western wind, emitting its fragrance without ever being noticed. To the Ernest K.F. Lum family: Without you, my Hawai`i family, I would not have finished this difficult journey. Ecclesiastes 4:12 (NIV) Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. To my brother from another mother, Adam: Friends don’t use “谢谢”, so onward to many more epic adventures it is! iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to first thank each of my dissertation committee members for their tremendous guidance, encouragement, and support over these last five-plus years. From introducing me to ethnobotanical theories and methods (Gaoue & Ticktin), to suggesting field locations and professional contacts (Tang & Amore), aid in statistical analysis (Gaoue), and providing tremendous advice (all) and financial support (Duffy & Tang), I will forever remember this time with gratitude to each of you. Thank you, 非常感谢, salamat po! This project would also not have been possible without the tremendous help of five very talented and hard-working field assistants: Ercong Aba, Kede Ayu, Erha Abi, Hongfang Qisha, and Xuan Liang. Thanks also to Professor Jing Wang from Chengdu University who mentored two of these students and provided the initial connection. Mr. Shidu Liu, President of the Huili County Orchid Society provided tremendous aid with the selection and identification of the orchid taxa used in this project and first introduced me to orchid culture (兰花文化). Mr. Weihong Guo at the Orchid Exhibition Center of China (Chengdu), Mr. Tingfu Yang of the Puge Forestry Bureau, and Mr. Zhengyang Su each provided contacts and logistical assistance. Thanks also to the incredible communities of Puge and Huili Counties for their graciousness in cooperating with the demands of this study. To the management and staff of the six botanical garden case studies who welcomed me into their lives and helped me better appreciate their hard work of research, conservation, and public education: I am appreciative beyond words. Funding was partially covered by the US National Science Foundation (Award #1514945), the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, China Science and Technology Exchange Center, the East- West Center, as well as the Department of Botany, the Graduate Student Organization, and the Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit at the University of Hawai`i at Mānoa. Thanks also to several truly inspirational people whose lives and careers have continued to motivate me: Dr. Shengji Pei, the ‘Father of Ethnobotany’ in China, whose example first charted a course for me to follow through SW China and Hawai`i; Bill McNamara, President and Executive Director of Quarryhill Botanical Garden, who encouraged me to pursue my investigation of China’s incredible flora and who first introduced me to Sichuan; Dr. Peter iv Raven, President Emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden, who was never “too busy” to talk with me and graciously answer my many questions; Paul Meyer, The F. Otto Haas Executive Director of the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, and Paul Redman, President and CEO of Longwood Gardens, who helped me truly understand what public garden directors should be; and Dr. Chung-min Maria Tu (杜老师), Assistant Professor of Chinese at the University of Delaware, who first taught me the incredible beauty of the Chinese language and culture. v ABSTRACT The orchid species richness of Sichuan Province is second highest in China, but price speculation and overharvest have led to significant population collapses in recent years. Though the integral link between biological and cultural diversity is well documented, understanding of the cultural impact of biological extinction events is limited. This dissertation tested the hypothesis that the loss of biodiversity results in an associated loss of cultural knowledge in relation to the orchid biocultural diversity in Sichuan. It was divided into four parts. 1) A knowledge survey to test the relationship between orchid biodiversity decline and cultural knowledge loss on four different orchid knowledge types in eight villages in rural Sichuan. 2) A complementary knowledge survey to test how the impacts of urbanization on people’s orchid knowledge differed based on knowledge type, with interviews conducted in three jurisdictions in Sichuan with differing levels of urbanization. 3) A social network analysis of the same 8 villages from part 1, tested how an individual’s social position within a community and a network’s overall structure might mitigate the loss of knowledge resulting from local species extinction. 4) An in-depth literature review and case study analysis of six key Chinese botanical gardens to identify which model(s) are most effective at orchid biocultural diversity conservation. Results revealed species extinction drives significant cultural knowledge loss, across all types of knowledge. Social network structure and rural proximity to natural areas are not sufficient by themselves to preserve a community’s knowledge following species extinction. Comprehensive botanical gardens are uniquely positioned to effectively maintain ex situ collections of threatened plant species and cultural knowledge, manage in situ populations, work to restore natural ecosystems, and reintroduce species back into the wild and traditional knowledge back into local vi communities. However, the current botanical garden institutional capacity within Sichuan is inadequate to address these conservation goals, with the need for three to five new BG in the province. These findings help advance our understanding of how biodiversity loss affects cultural knowledge loss, with implications for biocultural diversity conservation more generally. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iv ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... xi LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... xiv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2: ORCHID BIODIVERSITY DECLINE DRIVES THE LOSS OF ETHNOBOTANICAL KNOWLEDGE IN SICHUAN PROVINCE, CHINA .......................... 5 2.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 5 2.2. Methodology ...................................................................................................................................... 8 2.2.1. Study system ............................................................................................................................... 8 2.2.2. Village-level selection............................................................................................................... 10 2.2.3. Individual-level selection: age, sex, ethnicity, education, and activity level ............................ 11 2.2.4. Orchid selection: rarity and economic valuation ...................................................................... 12 2.2.5. Interview process ...................................................................................................................... 12 2.2.6. Response verification ................................................................................................................ 14 2.2.7. Data analysis ............................................................................................................................. 14 2.3. Results .............................................................................................................................................. 16 2.3.1. Effect of rarity and species extinction ....................................................................................... 17 2.3.2. Effect of socio-demographic variables...................................................................................... 19 2.4. Discussion ........................................................................................................................................ 24 2.4.1. Orchid knowledge, species rarity, and economic valuation ...................................................... 24 2.4.2. Role of knowledge type ...........................................................................................................