Dynamics of knowledge and use of natural resources in expressions of popular culture in Northeast Brazil: influence of urbanization on biocultural heritage

We employed a biocultural approach to understand the dynamics of knowledge and use of natural resources associated with immaterial aspects of culture. We investigated how urbanization influences the richness of species known and used by “Caboclinho” practitioners, a carnivalesque manifestation of indigenous culture, which occurs in rural and urban areas of Northeast Brazil. We recorded a total of 103 ethnospecies (75 plant and 28 animals) based on information obtained from 18 local experts between July 2016 and August 2018. There were no differences between rural and urban informants in the richness of ethnospecies they knew and they used; rural informants demonstrated greater knowledge of the use of wild resources, while knowledge of native resource use did not differ between rural and urban groups; the market is the main immediate source of natural resources for the groups of “Caboclinhos” that occur in the rural area. Informants from rural and urban areas had similar relationships with natural resources, contrary to what has been reported for the use of resources for human subsistence. The maintenance of this biocultural heritage in the urban context has been ensured by the ease of urban informants to maintain the functions performed by natural resources in this practice, without abandoning the use of plants and animals.