J. Ethnobiol. 36, 412–432 (2016)

Wild plants and fungi are an important economic resource in the temperate forests of Chile, and for traditional societies worldwide. Their use is contingent on knowledge embedded in stories and memories passed down from generation to generation — but the transmission of this knowledge is grinding to a halt.

Antonia Barreau of the University of British Columbia, Canada and colleagues conducted participant observation, free-listing exercises and interviews with a multi-generational group of the Mapuche people of the Andes. They recorded the most frequently used and recognized local wild plants and fungi, and found that the extensive knowledge of wild plants displayed by adult women and elders was not shared by younger generations.

An important route for transmission of ecological knowledge is experience. Children used to accompany their elders on foraging trips and learn about wild plants in situ, but now more children attend boarding schools in cities, private ownership limits access to the forest, and deforestation destroys the habitats of the wild foods. Recognition that ecological knowledge is reliant on specific places and memories passed down through generations, and integrated conservation of intangible and ecological heritage, could arrest this trend.