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How Can Citizen Science in a Botanical Garden Enrich the Discipline of Ethnobotany?

Blaise Mulhauser,Elodie Gaille

Published 2024 in Economic Botany

ABSTRACT

Citizen science is a tool that makes it possible to design large-scale studies while developing dialogues among people. It has developed in many fields, such as ecology, biodiversity studies, climatology, and sociology. Done properly, it can help produce a large amount of data that can later be analyzed using statistical tools. Can ethnobotany also benefit from such investigations? Based on three citizen science projects carried out in a botanical garden, this paper explores the possibility of developing ethnobotanical citizen science research in a context other than that of fieldwork. Examples include a literacy laboratory within a multicultural exhibit (2018), a survey on the uses of medicinal plants during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (2021), and a call for testimonials about and recipes for medicinal plants from around the world (2020–2023). This approach, enriched by the citizens themselves, is in keeping with the aspirations of the ethnobiologists who have called for a paradigm shift following the COVID-19 pandemic, perceived as a tipping point. Citizen science practices implemented in a museum institution, such as a botanical garden, thus make it possible to carry out multicultural surveys and discuss results with people in an open dialogue.

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