Biodiversity Management and Domestication in the Neotropics

Biodiversity management comprises a broad spectrum of interactions between humans and different groups of organisms, plants, animals, macroscopic fungi, and microorganisms at populations and ecosystems levels. Such interactions have occurred for thousands of years in the world and currently are represented in human cultures disseminated throughout the planet, conforming valuable reservoirs of knowledge and experience that can support plans and actions for sustainable management and conservation of biodiversity. Domestication has been a particular expression of management, which, in the history of humanity led to farming and new forms of social organization and cultural history. Both management sensu lato and domestication require a deeper examination for theoretical and applied purposes.

This book provides a panorama of research perspectives and findings by a sample of specialists studying different groups of organisms at different scales with human groups inhabiting one of the most biocultural diverse regions of the world: the Neotropics. It summarizes information on different areas of the region, share visions and methodological experiences, enhances regional collaboration of research groups, and inspires routes to continue constructing an integral and more complete vision of the history of humans-biodiversity interactions in the Neotropics.