This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (January 2014) |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: This article reads like an essay written by a poorly-informed undergraduate. The background just lists the founders of modern anthropology and their ecological bents, and overly-describes the research of the scientist who coined the term. Nothing of substance is mentioned that would discriminate ethnoecology from traditional cultural ecology. (August 2023) |
Ethnoecology is the scientific study of how different groups of people living in different locations understand the ecosystems around them, and their relationships with surrounding environments.
It seeks valid, reliable understanding of how we as humans have interacted with the environment and how these intricate relationships have been sustained over time.[1]
The "ethno" (see ethnology) prefix in ethnoecology indicates a localized study of a people, and in conjunction with ecology, signifies people's understanding and experience of environments around them. Ecology is the study of the interactions between living organisms and their environment; enthnoecology applies a human focused approach to this subject.[2] The development of the field lies in applying indigenous knowledge of botany and placing it in a global context.