摘要：We explored the relative importance of ecosystem diversity, socioeconomic, environmental, and geographicalfactors in determining the pattern and diversity of people's plant use in Ecuador, based on existing ethnobotanic investigationsand a large database of georeferenced plant collections. For each of 40 communities, we determined the number of plants usedand their distribution among 12 use categories. Plant species richness of the ecosystem surrounding each village was determinedusing herbarium data and rarefaction. Variation in socioeconomic, environmental, and geographical indicator variables at thecommunity level was summarized using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Data were then analyzed using multiple regressionand ordination analysis. We found a significant positive relationship between the number of plant species used and ecosystemspecies richness, whereas socioconomic, environmental, and geographical factors had no significance. However, ordinationanalysis did show a clear link among these factors and plant use patterns, i.e., the relative importance of different use categories.Study communities were divided into two groups: 1) Andean and coastal communities with better access to public services andmarkets categorized by high scores in these use classes: medicinal, social, food additives, environmental, apicolous (of economicinterest in apiculture), and toxic to nonvertebrates; and 2) Amazonian remote communities with high scores for these use classes:food, fuel, materials, vertebrate and invertebrate food, and toxic to vertebrates. Our findings suggest that economic and socialdevelopment affects plant use patterns in a selective way. Some traditional uses will persist despite increased infrastructuredevelopment and habitat disturbance, whereas others that reflect subsistence strategies dependent on conserved natural habitatsmay soon disappear. The study incorporates more than 20 years of ethnobotanical research effort and a combined herbariumspecimen database with more than 250,000 georeferenced records. As such, it provides a first example of how a biodiversityinformatics approach can be used to take ethnobotanical analysis to new and larger scales
