The cultural role played by the ethnomycological knowledge of wild mushrooms for the peoples of highlands and lowlands in Tlaltenango, Zacatecas, Mexico

ABSTRACT

The greatest diversity of culturally relevant fungi in Mexico has been recorded in temperate forests. Likewise, it has been proven that people who live in such environments possess greater ethnomycological knowledge, compared with people in the lowlands. In this study, we investigated whether the uses and perceptions of fungi were different between people living near forests in highlands and those living in lowlands near grasslands and subtropical scrublands. We selected seven communities from the municipality of Tlaltenango, Zacatecas, Mexico, where we conducted guided tours, 35 semistructured interviews, and free lists to 420 people. Since highlands surrounded by temperate forests give rise to high species diversity, we expected that the inhabitants, in comparison with those of the lowlands where there is less diversity, would recognize a larger number of fungi. To test this hypothesis, we employed discriminant function analysis, principal coordinate analysis, Mann-Whitney U test, and linear regression. The cultural importance of each species was calculated based on the frequency with which it was mentioned and the first principal coordinate. Although the highlanders have a deeper knowledge of mushrooms, lowlanders and highlanders had similar fungal backgrounds and preferred the same species, regardless of the fungi surrounding their territory. The lack of differences among communities was due in part to the fact that the most culturally important species were those that grew in grasslands and subtropical scrub areas. Agaricus campestris was the most culturally prevalent and only commercialized species both in the highlands and lowlands, followed by Pleurotus djamor and Volvariella bombycina. None of the mushrooms growing in the pine-oak forest had a high cultural importance value, even for the communities living in the vicinity of this forest, forcing them to travel long distances to collect Agaricus campestris. Further investigations are needed in order to assess the relevance of sociocultural factors, and their potential influence in the preference for particular mushrooms in this region.

KEYWORDS:

• Edible mushrooms
• grasslands
• mycophilic
• subtropical scrublands
• temperate forests

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank each of the interviewees and collaborators who participated in the fieldwork, especially their key collaborator Mrs. Rosa María from Los Fresnos, who supported M.X.H.L. and introduced her to the people of the communities.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

We thank CONACYT (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología) for the postgraduate scholarship granted to M.X.H.L. and the University of Guadalajara for supporting this research.