Domestication of the landscape in pluricultural enclaves of South of Misiones (Argentina): an approach through the citrus.

Abstract

Domestication of the landscape in pluricultural enclaves of South of Misiones (Argentina): an approach through the citrus. Citrus are fruit trees early introduced into America. Nowadays in Misiones there are 30 ethnovarieties (9 ethnospecies) locally recognized and cultivated in different ways. The objectives of this contribution are to describe the microenvironments where they grow, the practices on those microenvironments and the ethnovarieties present in each one of them, and then to analyze, from a relational approach, the effect of management practices on the processes of domestication of plants and landscape. Fieldwork was performed in Teyu Cuare (San Ignacio) and Cerro Martires (Concepción), province of Misiones (Argentina), during the years 2010 to 2013. Open-ended and semi-structured interviews were carried out as well as walks with the informants. Seven microenvironments were determined in relation to the presence of citrus, management practices on the plants themselves as well as on microenvironments or groups of microenvironments and by aspects related to vegetation, soil, water availability and proximity to the home. The diversity of citrus recorded in the different microenvironments represents a continuum of varieties representative of the process of domestication in different senses, coinciding in turn with the diversification management practices. The study of management practices allows us to observe current management patterns as well as interpreting nowadays landscapes by inferring past practices.