In order to understand the diversity and potential benefits of plant life around the world and to assess the impact of the loss of biodiversity, it is necessary to create an accurate floristic inventory of bio-diverse regions and to record the evolving interactions of humans with that rich environment. To this end, botanist John Kress of the Smithsonian will use innovative DNA barcoding methodology to facilitate rapid identification to species of the flora specimens collected in five Nahuat and two Totonac villages in the 28 municipalities of the Sierra Nororiental de Puebla, Mexico -- an incredibly bio-diverse region of the world. Working in tandem with Kress, linguist Jonathan Amith of Gettysburg College will use state-of-the-art language documentation techniques to create an extensive digital database of recordings of native experts discussing traditional nomenclature and classification of local flora. The linguistic and botanical databases will support the preservation of indigenous knowledge about the biodiversity of this region.
Amith and Kress hypothesize that accessing botanical information from endangered languages will help track changes in the ecology of the ancestral homelands of endangered language communities. In addition, Amith and Kress theorize that comparative botanical information across geographically proximate villages will reveal historical patterns of migration, cultural contact, and language change. Using data from the endangered language discussions about plant life in the region and DNA barcode reference library, Amith will study shifts of biotaxa nomenclature. He will use clues from lexical borrowing and calques to map the spread of knowledge about particular botanical specimens and link that spread to community migrations.
Data will be stored in various herbariums in Mexico and at the Smithsonian Museum. Linguistic data will be accessible at the Archive of Indigenous Languages of Latin America. This project supported by NSF's Office of International and Integrative Activities because it enhances research excellence through international collaboration with faculty at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and will benefit from use of local resources such as the National Herbarium of Mexico and the Comisión Nacional Para El Connocimineto Y Uso De La Biodiversidad.
