BIOTA AND WEATHER: SIGNS AND OTHER ETHNOECOLOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS IN SANTA MARIA LACHICHINA, OAXACA

Abstract

This paper aims to add to the holistic understanding of natural, social and cultural systems. For this purpose, a case study is presented in which the interactions between biota and climate are characterized, based on the traditional ecological knowledge of the Zapotec inhabitants of Santa María Lachichina, Oaxaca, one of the regions with high biocultural diversity in Mexico. The results are developed from ethnographic work, together with the use of ethnobiological techniques: the snowball technique, participant observation, different types of interviews and the use of a field diary. In order to approach the organisms, taxonomic correlation work was carried out, without resorting to the collection of biological samples. Among the features that stand out in the interactions recorded, physical (coloration) and ethological (communication processes and ecological preferences) attributes specific to the organisms are identified. Being located in a territory where each place has its own social, biological and ecological qualities, organisms maintain relationships that show general patterns and, at the same time, specificities in each of them. On both scales, clarity is found by attending to the reasons why each organism emits a certain stimulus capable of becoming an omen. The final reflections arise precisely from the need to analyze knowledge on both particular and general scales, within the community and in comparison with other mesoamerican tradition people, since only together can the complexity of traditional ecological knowledge be measured.