Vernacular Taxonomy, Classification and Varietal Diversity of fig (Ficus carica L.) Among Jbala cultivators in Northern Morocco

摘要

Interactions between societies and their natural environment have led to the development of complex traditional agroecosystems with a high level of agrodiversity (Brookfield 2001) linked to landscape mosaics which favour sustainability (Perfecto and Vandermeer 2010). In the Mediterranean region, ecological and evolutionary interactions since the Neolithic between humans and biodiversity have produced coupled bio-cultural landscapes (Blondel 2006). Domestica-tion in that region took place through selection of biological traits for a large diversity of crops including cereals, pulses and trees (Zohary and Spiegel-Roy 1975). Crop intraspecific diversity in traditional farming systems contributes to risk avoidance strategies through the selection of adapted agro-nomic properties. Crop diversity also relates to sociocultural values and functions such as food preferences, ceremonial uses, identity or patrimony (Gibson 2009; Heckler and Zent 2008), as well as levels of interest within each society among individuals (Emperaire and Peroni 2007) and the reproductive biology of specific crops. Mediterranean fruit trees are allogamous and vegetative propagation is a major method for selecting and maintaining advantageous traits (Zohary and Spiegel-Roy 1975).