摘要：Many forest communities possess considerable knowledge of the natural resources they use.Such knowledge can potentially inform scientific approaches to management, either as a source of baselinedata to fill information gaps that cannot otherwise be addressed or to provide alternative managementapproaches from which scientists and managers might learn. In general, however, little attention has beengiven to the relevance of quantitative forms of such knowledge for resource management. Much discussionhas focused on the integration of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) into management, but less attentionhas been paid to identifying specific areas where it is most useful and where it may be most problematic.We contrasted scientific data with information from TEK in the context of a threat to the sustainableharvesting of a nontimber forest product (NTFP) of livelihood importance in southern India, specifically,a fruit tree infected by mistletoe. The efficiency of deriving information from NTFP harvesters comparedto scientific field studies was assessed. We further evaluated the potential of TEK to provide novel solutionsto the management problem in question, the degree to which TEK could provide quantitative information,and the biases that might be associated with information derived from TEK. TEK complemented previouslygathered ecological data by providing concordant and additional information, but also contradicted someresults obtained using a scientific approach. TEK also gave a longer-term perspective with regard to NTFPharvesting patterns. Combining information on historical and current harvesting trends for the NTFP withofficial data suggests that current assessments of sustainability may be inaccurate and that the use of diverseinformation sources may provide an effective approach to assessing the status of harvested resources
