Learning and adaptation：A comparison of traditional plant knowledge between Daman people and Tibetans in Gyirong River Valley, Tibet, China

Abstract

Abstract Background "Diaspora" refers to a specific group of immigrants that have settled in different regions throughout history. In Gyirong town, Tibet, China, there exists such an ethnic group known as the "Daman people". In 2003, they were granted Chinese citizenship. The objective of this study is to document the traditional knowledge of plant use by the Daman people in Gyirong town. It aims to explore the extent to which the Daman people have incorporated local Tibetan plant use practices and whether they maintain their own distinct knowledge of plant use. Methods During fieldwork, ethnobotanical data were collected using various methods including free listings, key informant interviews, and semi-structured interviews. To quantify the importance of plant species in the Daman people's culture, the culture importance index (CII), informant consensus factor index (FIC), and The Index of Agreement on Species consensus (IASc) were used. To more comprehensively compare the differences in plant use between the Daman and Tibetan, this study constructed a knowledge network to compare the knowledge differences between the two groups. Results In this study, traditional knowledge was collected from 32 Daman informants and 126 Tibetan informants, resulting in a total of 68 species belonging to 39 families mentioned by Daman people and 111 species mentioned by Tibetans. Of these, 58 plants were used by both populations. The plants were classified into 3 first categories and 28 second categories, with 22 identical classes in both groups. The majority of use categories showed a high degree of sharing in both groups, and the Tibetan people had more plant use categories than the Daman people. Five plants with IASc value > 0.5 were identified in both groups: Rhododendron anthopogon D. Don, Artemisia japonica Thunb., Juniperus indica Bertol., Gastrodia elata Blume, and Rheum australe D. Don. The analysis of the knowledge network revealed a 66% overlap between the knowledge of the Daman and the knowledge of the Tibetans. Additionally, the plant knowledge of Tibetan people was found to be richer and more complex than that of the Daman people. However, the Daman people possess 30 unique knowledge items. Conclusions From the perspective of plant use, the history of the Daman people's discrete migration on the border between China's Tibet and Nepal allows them to retain their own knowledge of plant use. The status quo of joining Chinese nationality and settling in Gyirong town allows them to gradually integrate into the local Tibetan society. In constant communication with the Tibetan culture, the Daman acquired a great deal of traditional plant knowledge, so that they could better adapt to the natural environment of Gyirong.