Eglee Zent

Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research | IVIC · Human Ecology Lab.

Este es un libro comunitario. Constituye una recopilación de sabidurías ecológicas, caminos y silencios entre gente que ha nacido y ocupado el Valle Las González en el páramo Los Conejos, estado Mérida, Venezuela. El contenido de la obra se configura a partir de la solicitud de muchos parameros al presentarles los resultados de un proyecto que expl...

In this article, we present results from a literature review of intrinsic, instrumental, and relational values of nature conducted for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, as part of the Methodological Assessment of the Diverse Values and Valuations of Nature. We identify the most frequently recurrin...

Twenty-five years since foundational publications on valuing ecosystem services for human well-being1,2, addressing the global biodiversity crisis³ still implies confronting barriers to incorporating nature’s diverse values into decision-making. These barriers include powerful interests supported by current norms and legal rules such as property ri...

This chapter describes a relatively recent phase of long-term collaboration between local communities of the Jotï Amerindian group and researchers from the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC). A sustained dialogue between the collaborating parties over ongoing threats to the Jotï population, environment, culture, and sovereignty coa...

Given the rapid pace of environmental and cultural change all over the world, including Indigenous hotspots like the greater Amazon-Orinoco basin, innovative strategies are needed to meet the challenge of biocultural conservation. Collaborative Action Research (CAR) focused on the preservation and revitalization of traditional and local environment...

Regenerative agriculture refers to a suite of principles, practices, or outcomes which seek to improve soil health, biodiversity, climate, ecosystem function, and socioeconomic outcomes. However, recent reviews highlight wide heterogeneity in how it is defined. This impedes our ability to understand what regenerative agriculture is and has left the...

This essay highlights the philosophical views of the Jotï, an Indigenous group from the Venezuelan Amazon. Daily Jotï behaviors are embraced by a notion of life in which everything is interconnected (mana jtïdemame) and should be respected given its sacredness (jkïmañe). Furthermore, life is in perennial movement (jkeibïae dekae) and is designed to...

The paper, ‘A relational turn for sustainability science? Relational thinking, leverage points and transformations’ presents a compelling summary of the incipient relational turn in sustainability science. That piece and the reply and response that follow put forth important arguments about what relational thinking is and how it can infuse sustaina...

This essay is an impassioned epitaph conveying the teachings of Jot wise persons from the Venezuelan Amazon who passed away recently. It honors their wish to spread the philosophy of jkyo jkwain, which holds that loving-caring for everyone and everything around us is an essential human trait that holds the key to sustaining all life. If this innate...

During this presentation, Dr. Zent will offer an overview of several learning experiences acquired over 20 years of conducting research in the Amazon region. The challenges of articulating scientific and Indigenous peoples' epistemologies and ontologies have proven to be a complex and winding journey, filled with many trials and errors, but also in...

In the highlands of Guatemala, the knowledge and use of the Cholq’ij, 260-day ritual calendar, has persisted among contemporary Maya groups. Although it has not remained unchanged since pre-Columbian times, its characteristics do not show significant modifications and its constituent elements have subsisted through time. Its transformations have ob...

Amazonian forests are extraordinarily diverse, but the estimated species richness is very much debated. Here, we apply an ensemble of parametric estimators and a novel technique that includes conspecific spatial aggregation to an extended database of forest plots with up-to-date taxonomy. We show that the species abundance distribution of Amazonia...

This paper sketches the classification, natural history knowledge, hunting, use, sociality, mythology, personhood, and eco-cosmology of primates among the Jotï Amerindians of southern Venezuela. Primates and associated animals are important co-residents of the world inhabited by the Jotï Amerindians of Venezuela. The cultural significance of monkey...

Distintos puntos de vista sobre las diferencias entre escritura analógica y escritura digital

In the last 50 years, traditionally nomadic indigenous communities in Amazonia have increasingly adopted more sedentary lifestyles as a result of external influences. Permanent settlements lead to the concentration of disturbances (e.g., forest extraction and hunting) and threaten vulnerable species as well as those that provide important ecosystem...

Tropical forests are known for their high diversity. Yet, forest patches do occur in the tropics where a single tree species is dominant. Such "monodominant" forests are known from all of the main tropical regions. For Amazonia, we sampled the occurrence of monodominance in a massive, basin-wide database of forest-inventory plots from the Amazon Tr...

Tropical forests are known for their high diversity. Yet, forest patches do occur in the tropics where a single tree species is dominant. Such "monodominant" forests are known from all of the main tropical regions. For Amazonia, we sampled the occurrence of monodominance in a massive, basin-wide database of forest-inventory plots from the Amazon Tr...

Este libro constituye una respuesta a la solicitud de cooperación que nos hiciera un nutrido grupo de indígenas jotï a quienes hemos conocido desde 1996. Constituye una extensa y profunda etno-etno-ecología amazónica construida a multipleas manos basada en datos colectados sistemáticamente en mas de 20 años, aunque su esfera temporal se pierde en l...

Species distribution models (SDMs) are widely used in ecology and conservation. Presence-only SDMs such as MaxEnt frequently use natural history collections (NHCs) as occurrence data, given their huge numbers and accessibility. NHCs are often spatially biased which may generate inaccuracies in SDMs. Here, we test how the distribution of NHCs and Ma...

Belongs to paper Species Distribution Modelling: Contrasting presence-only models with plot abundance data by Gomes et al.

Comparing the results of modelling the area of occupancy with MaxEnt and with inverse distance weighting (IDW). Analysis results for the predicted area of occupancy as calculated by Maxent and IDW methods. The analyses were conducted for 170 of all 227 hyperdominant species that had MaxEnt’s predicted environmental suitability significantly differ...

Species distribution models (SDMs) are widely used in ecology and conservation. Presence-only SDMs such as MaxEnt frequently use natural history collections (NHCs) as occurrence data, given their huge numbers and accessibility. NHCs are often spatially biased which may generate inaccuracies in SDMs. Here, we test how the distribution of NHCs and Ma...

Species distribution models (SDMs) are widely used in ecology and conservation. Presence-only SDMs such as MaxEnt frequently use natural history collections (NHCs) as occurrence data, given their huge numbers and accessibility. NHCs are often spatially biased which may generate inaccuracies in SDMs. Here, we test how the distribution of NHCs and Ma...

Past human influences on Amazonian forest The marks of prehistoric human societies on tropical forests can still be detected today. Levis et al. performed a basin-wide comparison of plant distributions, archaeological sites, and environmental data. Plants domesticated by pre-Columbian peoples are much more likely to be dominant in Amazonian forests...

The extent to which pre-Columbian societies altered Amazonian landscapes is hotly debated. We performed a basin-wide analysis of pre-Columbian impacts on Amazonian forests by overlaying known archaeological sites in Amazonia with the distributions and abundances of 85 woody species domesticated by pre-Columbian peoples. Domesticated species are fiv...

The present work explores the defining attributes (taxonomic status, nomenclature, identification), uses and socio-symbolic meanings of the ethnobiological category of ibuju (sg.)/ebojto (pl.) (‘vine, liana, creeper’) among the Jotï, an indigenous group of the Venezuelan Amazon (population ~1,300). Despite being a very conspicuous class of plants i...

Este trabajo constituye un primer intento por entender la noción de ser joven entre los jotï de la Guayana venezolana, o incluso si tal concepción existe entre ellos. Jotï (jotö, jodï o hoti) es la denominación con que se conoce a unos 1200 indígenas de la selva suramericana cuyo territorio se extiende entre el suroeste del estado Bolívar y el nore...

This paper represents a first attempt to understand the notion of being a young jotï from Venezuelan Guyana, or even to examine if such a concept exists among them. Jotï (jotö, jodï or hoti) is the name by which about 1,200 Indians from South American forests are known and whose territory extends from the southwest of the Bolivian state and the nor...

This paper reflects on practical and conceptual lessons acquired as a result of our participation in a project of self-demarcation of indigenous lands in Venezuela. The project was based on a collaboration between academics from the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC) and local communities of the Jodï and Eñepa ethnic groups. The go...

Estimates of extinction risk for Amazonian plant and animal species are rare, and not often incorporated into land-use policy and conservation planning. Here we overlay spatial distribution models with historical and projected deforestation to show that at least 40% and up to 64% of all Amazonian tree species are likely to qualify as globally threa...

Estimates of extinction risk for Amazonian plant and animal species are rare and not often incorporated into land-use policy and conservation planning. We overlay spatial distribution models with historical and projected deforestation to show that at least 36% and up to 57% of all Amazonian tree species are likely to qualify as globally threatened...

This essay presents an overview of the concept of ‘nature’. It provides some reflec- tions on the heterogeneity of notions and values subsumed in the term nature in a portion of the Western tradition (from Ancient Greece-Rome through the Middle Ages and the Enlightenment to the present day). The paper explores, in a diachronic, non-comprehensive fa...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5epzKNi0cys&feature=youtu.be

This essay is the third and last of a trilogy published in Etnoecológica. The concept of ecogony, introduced in the second essay, it is used in order to understand and explain the basis and parameters underlying the causal origin of interactions, processes and functions between the jotï and their abiotic and biotic environment in various articulato...

This essay is the second in a trilogy published in Etnoecológica in a sequential way. The first essay (July 16-2014, 10:6) offered a diachronic review of the notions of nature applied at different times in the tradition of Western thought. Polysemy of the definitions and connotations of the nature concept thoughout different periods and the hegemon...

Este texto constituye el primero de una trilogía de ensayos articulados publicados de manera secuencial en Etnoecológica. Se ofrecen acá algunas reflexiones sobre la heterogeneidad de nociones y valores subsumidos en el término naturaleza en una porción de la tradición occidental. Constituye un bosquejo diacrónico no comprehensivo ni comparativo de...

The vast extent of the Amazon Basin has historically restricted the study of its tree communities to the local and regional scales. Here, we provide empirical data on the commonness, rarity, and richness of lowland tree species across the entire Amazon Basin and Guiana Shield (Amazonia), collected in 1170 tree plots in all major forest types. Extra...

The vast extent of the Amazon Basin has historically restricted the study of its tree communities to the local and regional scales. Here, we provide empirical data on the commonness, rarity, and richness of lowland tree species across the entire Amazon Basin and Guiana Shield (Amazonia), collected in 1170 tree plots in all major forest types. Extra...

Review of African Ethnobotany in the Americas. Edited by Robert Voeks and John Rashford. 2013. Springer. Pp. 429, 105 illustrations, 69 color illustrations. $49.95 (paperback). ISBN 978‐1461408352.

This brief essay, which represents the second editorial of the series "Recollections, Reflections, and Revelations: Ethnobiologists and their First Time in the Field", captures a few memories of the author's first fieldwork in the Venezuelan rainforest. It is a collage of objects, subjects, feelings, spaces, and events that pendulate in spheres of...

El inters􏱫cio entre el sonido y el silencio posee un valor germinador de dinámicas de vida entre los Jo􏱭, un grupo humano de 1200 personas que habitan la Sierra de Maigualida al sur de Venezuela (estados Amazonas y Bolívar). Los contrapunteos sonidos-silencios pueden ser signos de alteridad localizados en hitos liminales y son marcadores de transfo...

The current environmental crisis permeates the discourse and concerns of people all over the world. Consideration of diverse environmental ethics showing the alternative ways in which people conceptualize and relate to nature and natural resources are critical for bringing about more sustainable human behaviors. After a brief review of Western hist...

Review of African Ethnobotany in the Americas. Edited by Robert Voeks and John Rashford. 2013. Springer. Pp. 429, 105 illustrations, 69 color illustrations. $49.95 (paperback). ISBN 978‐1461408352.

The vast extent of the Amazon Basin has historically restricted the study of its tree communities to the local and regional scales. Here, we provide empirical data on the commonness, rarity, and richness of lowland tree species across the entire Amazon Basin and Guiana Shield (Amazonia), collected in 1170 tree plots in all major forest types. Extra...

This paper describes the Jodï horticultural system, including belief, knowledge and practice aspects. The horticultural practices of the Jodï were previously characterized as 'incipient cultivation' but such practices were poorly described and documented. The antiquity of cultivation among this group is suggested by the prominence and significance...

This paper explores the pervasive role of plants in the lives of the Jotï, a group of 900 people from the Venezuelan Guayana. In contrast with other Amazonian people for whom plants play relatively minor roles in spiritual spheres when compared to animals (e.g. the Ese Eje, Aguaruna, or Yano-mami), among the Jotï plants pervade their religious univ...

L'entomophagie est largement répandue parmi de nombreuses Premières Nations, lesquelles voient à la récolte du savoir écologique traditionnel touchant les cycles biologiques des insectes et les interactions plante-insecte. Dans l'Amazonie, la culture des larves de charançons des palmiers et barbirostres (Rhynchophorus palmarum et Rhinostomus barbir...

Mushrooms for Life among the Jotï in the Venezuelan Guayana. This paper explores the relevance of mushrooms in mythology and daily life among the Jotï, an indigenous group inhabiting the rain forests of the Venezuelan Guayana. It is reported here how a personal experience of the author in the field stimulated deeper research into the religious symb...

Introducción El capítulo original sobre los Hoti (Jodï), publicado en 1983 en el volumen II de Los aborígenes de Venezuela, se basó funda-mentalmente en los estudios etnográficos de campo llevados a cabo por el autor, Walter Coppens, y otros colaboradores (espe-cialmente Philippe Mitrani y Virginia Guarisma) entre 1972 y 1976, cuando dicho grupo te...

PRESENTACiÓN Edward Sapir, un lingüista pionero, decía que las sociedades que hablan diferentes lenguas viven en mundos distintos porque los hábitos lingüísticos de un pueblo determinan lo que vemos y oímos, redisponen nuestra experiencia e interpretación del entorno. Si acep-tamos esta tesis de interdependencia entre la lengua y el pensamiento, In...

las poéticas de reproducir el yo-sujeto y la vida a través de la cacería entre los jodi, un grupo de alrededor de 900 personas que viven a lo largo de las laderas y valles intermontanos de la Sierra Maigualida en los Estados Amazonas y Bolívar de la Guayana venezolana. El conocimiento de cacería jodi se concibe como parte instrumental de un estilo...

Resumen: Este trabajo indaga acerca de las técnicas de fabricación y transformación del cuerpo entre los Jotï, un grupo indígena de 900 personas de la Guayana venezolana. Diariamente los Jotï aplican a sus cuerpos materias orgánicas (especies vegetales, fungales, animales) y en menor medida inorgánicas (rocas pulverizadas o arenas específicas, agua...

Este artículo es una exploración etnográfica de las poéticas de reproducir el yo-sujeto y la vida a través de la cacería entre los JodÏ, un grupo de alrededor de 900 personas que viven a lo largo de las laderas y valles intermontanos de la Sierra Maigualida en los Estados Amazonas y Bolívar de la Guayana venezolana. El conocimiento de cacería JodÏ...

The present work is an ethnography of notions of corporality and personhood among the Jodï, (a Native American group of around 900 people) in the Serra Maigualida in the Guyana region of Venezuelan. Here, we offer a synoptic ethnographic interpretation of the significant aspects of the mythological discourses and hodï rites which permit speculation...

La constitución venezolana de 1999 abrió un nuevo capítulo en la lucha por los derechos territoriales en Venezuela pues reconoció oficialmente, por primera vez en la historia del país, la propiedad colectiva de los pueblos indígenas de aquellos territorios y hábitats ocupados tradicional y ancestralmente por ellos. La nueva política y concepción to...

In mid-August, Dr. William W. Destler, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, and Saúl Sosnowski, Associate Provost for Internation-al Affairs and LASC Director, visited Argentina and Chile. The main purpose of the visit was to follow-up on current linkages with institutions of higher learning and to explore areas for new collabora...

La constitución venezolana de 1999 abrió un nuevo capítulo en la lucha por los derechos territoriales en Venezuela pues reconoció oficialmente, por primera vez en la historia del país, la propiedad colectiva de los pueblos indígenas de aquellos territorios y hábitats ocupados tradicional y ancestralmente por ellos. La nueva política y concepción to...

Our understanding of the human and biophysical dimensions of tropical dry forest change and its cumulative effects is still in the early stages of academic discovery. The papers in this special section on Neotropical dry forests cover a wide range of sites and problems ranging from the use of multispectral and hyperspectral remote sensing platforms...

Since it deals in detail with traditional strategies for managing plant and animal resources, every ethnobiologist will need to know something about it, both because of its contri-butions and because so many students and colleagues will read it. Diamond covers several cases of societies that collapsed because of, or partly because of, ecological re...

This paper explores the Jotï hunting ideology and cosmology. The Jotï are a relatively recently contacted indigenous people who inhabit the Sierra Maigualida region of the Venezuelan Guayana. Jotï hunting knowledge is conceived as an instrumental part of a lifestyle and can be analytically conceived as a triad system composed of three interrelated...

This paper reports on the knowledge and useful applications of various fungi by the Hotï, a recently contacted Native American society inhabiting the Sierra Maigualida region of the Venezuelan Amazon. At least 31 folk taxa of fungi are esteemed as sources of nutrition, powerful media for hunting magic, protective charms against black magic, human m...

This paper reports on the knowledge and useful applications of various fungi by the Hotï, a recently contacted Native American society inhabiting the Sierra Maigualida region of the Venezuelan Amazon. At least 31 folk taxa of fungi are esteemed as sources of nutrition, powerful media for hunting magic, protective charms against black magic, human m...

A phytosociological study was carried out in four 1-ha forest plots in the Sierra Maigualida region, Venezuelan Guayana. Density, dominance, and frequency values were calculated as well as the species and family importance values (FIVs) in each plot. A total of 65 families, 232 genera and 533 species were represented in the 4ha of forest. The numbe...

A phytosociological study was carried out in four 1-ha forest plots in the Sierra Mai-gualida region, Venezuelan Guayana. Density, dominance, and frequency values were calculated as well as the species and family importance values (FIVs) in each plot. A total of 65 families, 232 genera and 533 species were represented in the 4 ha of forest. The num...

Introducción Diversos trabajos empíricos de clasificación etnobotánica, realizados en diferentes contextos etnográficos, han documentado extensamente que los sistemas de clasificación etnobiológicos son complejos y comprehensivos (Atran 1985; Brown 1985; Berlin 1992). También se ha señalado que los grupos humanos predominantemente agrícolas poseen...