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OSN Pages: Resources

These are links to items that have broad general utility for ethnobiology courses.
Ethnobiology Databases


This interactive database was developed by Dan Moerman of the University of Michigan-Dearborn College. This is a database of plants used as drugs, foods, dyes, fibers (and more) which have been used by Native Americans.  

Web Link: Edward Palmer Collections

Edward Palmer (1831-1911), often regarded as “the father of ethnobotany,” gathered extensive natural history collections in North and South America during the late nineteenth century and established standards for plant collecting and reporting, particularly for plants useful to people. His scientific framework is still used today. This website provides a window into the Palmer Collection to communities where Palmer originally collected, as well as to scientists and the general public. Community-based scholars are encouraged to explore the materials and discover information that will help them continue to sustain their cultural and linguistic heritage.


Malperia tenuisMalperia tenuis by Wayfinder_73 from Flickr. The generic name of this species is an anagram of Edward Palmer's last name.







Scientific Society & NGO Resources

Scientific Societies


Scientific societies are especially important for ethnobiologists because they provide opportunities for interdisciplinary conversations across the divides of geography, culture, and academic disciplines. Some of the societies have working groups which are dedicated to the instructional aspects of ethnobiology.

Link: Ethnobiology related Journals & NGO's

Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) are non-profit groups that have a defined mission. Some of these NGOs are important partners in supporting ethnobiological research and outreach.

Ethics


Ethics is the moral behavior which we use when we interact with other people, cultures, religions, places and a variety of other situations. It is very important that everyone abide by widely accepted standards of behavior. Considerable effort has gone into the development of ethical standards in the context of ethnobiology.

Maintaining ethical standards requires training and specific projects must be subjected to careful review. 

Herbarium Databases

Web Link: Tropicos

The Tropicos database is all of the nomenclatural, bibliographic, and specimen data accumulated in Missouri Botanical Garden's electronic databases during the past 25 years. These data are publicly available on the above link. This system has over one million scientific names and 3.5 million specimen records. 

Web Link: Index Nominum Genericorum (ING)

This database is a compilation of generic names published for organisms 
covered by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. This is a collaborative project of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) and the Smithsonian Institution. It was initiated in 1954 and is considered complete to about 1990. Work is continuing to make the an up-to-date resource.

Botanical Gardens, Herbaria and Botanical Libraries

Link: Botanical Gardens, Herbaria and Botanical Libraries

These three types of institutions are closely linked. In some cases, all three functions exist within the same institution.

These institutions are a key component of ethnobiology. They provide resources which are vital to research, education and public understanding.

Instructional Resources


This is the "Human Side of Ethnobiology" and there is a wealth of information that is available for use in an ethnobiology curriculum.

These are stories about the people who have done (and are doing!) ethnobiological research. There are video interviews and presentations of exciting research findings.

Many books have been written which have ethnobiology as a theme, often describing the adventures of an ethnobiological explorer.

Link: Case Studies

Case studies are a powerful mechanism for learning. This link provides information on how to create case studies and it provides some examples of case studies which are related to ethnobiology.

Readings

Biographies, Autobiographies and Related Materials

There are a number of exciting and informative books about ethnobiologists. These often reveal the difficulties and thrills of doing ethnobiological research.

Link: Biographical Materials

A number of ethnobotany and ethnobiology courses use the book by Michael Balick and Paul Alan Cox, Plants, People and Culture: the Science of Ethnobotany as a textbook or for supplemental reading. Until now, the choices were purchasing the paperback black and white reprint edition, distributed by the American Botanical Council in Austin, Texas, ordering used copies of the color edition, or obtaining permission to photocopy chapters through the Copyright Clearance Center.  Recently the authors converted the original files of the book, richly illustrated with color images, to e-pub format, making them available as a Kindle download on Amazon. Below are links to both versions of this book.

Link: Plants, People, and Culture The Science of Ethnobotany (e-pub format)
Link: Plants, People, and Culture The Science of Ethnobotany (written format)


Photographs, Botanical Illustrations and Video

Institutions and Libraries

Web Link: Botany Department, National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution)

Web Link: US Department of Agriculture

This collection has more than 40,000 plant photos in a searchable database.


This collection has a  wide variety of images.

Web Link: Botanicus (Missouri Botanical Garden)

This is the Missouri Botanical Garden's rare book website.  This site has 131 rare (old) books.  There are thousands of illustrations in this collection. 
Old floras have interesting pictures (obviously not photographs).  Many of these floras have been scanned an the illustrations are available as digital images.


Coffee as illustrated in an early 1800s flora
in the Botanics collection.

Crowd Sourced
  • Flickr 
    • This is a very rich resource which contains many Creative Commons images. Information on this link describes ways to use these images through links to the Flickr collection.
Artist in the Lion Forest Garden
Artist in the Lion Forest Garden by IceNineJon from Flickr
  • YouTube Video
    • This is a dynamic community established to share videos and music.  There are many videos that can be incorporated within lessons and presentations.  Information on this link provides ways to use videos found within the YouTube repository.
Last Updated: July 4, 2011