Background

- The ethnoecology of Caiçara metapopulations (Atlantic Forest, Brazil): ecological concepts and questions

Concepts in ecology have been, for a long time, useful in order to understand processes within and between human populations, and their environment. Examples of the uses of these concepts are found in disciplines such as Ethnobiology or Human Ecology [1,2]. This study, based on previous fieldwork carried out along 20 years in the Atlantic Forest coast, actually represents a mental exercise with the aim of helping understanding the connection between Caiçara populations and their historical coevolution within their surroundings. For that enterprise, ecological concepts such as of metapopulation and resilience sounded suitable, bringing insights and still more questions about the future scenarios for the Atlantic Forest Coast and their native inhabitants, the Caiçaras.