Utilizing traditional literature to triangulate the ecological history of a tropical savanna

Abstract

The ecological history of tropical savannas remains a subject of intense debate and of high conservation relevance. Despite emerging evidence suggesting the antiquity of tropical savannas, the misconception that all tropical savannas are products of anthropogenic deforestation still dominates public and policy spheres. Clarifying this misconception among the public and policymakers is a time-sensitive challenge and thus necessitates utilizing culturally resonant and interdisciplinary approaches. 2. In this study, we use nature descriptions in traditional literature to triangulate the ecological history of tropical savannas in western Maharashtra, India—a region where savannas continue to be devalued as degraded forests by conservation practitioners, policymakers, and the general public. Specifically, we test the popular claim of the recent anthropogenic origin of India's savannas using data from traditional literature and other lines of evidence. 3. We reviewed biographies, hagiographies, myths, narrative poems, and folk songs composed in Marathi language and dated between the 13th and 20th century CE to identify 28 relevant excerpts. From these excerpts, we collated georeferenced landscape descriptions alongside occurrences of plants. Using botanical literature, we classified these plants as savanna indicators, forest indicators, generalists (i.e. occurring in both savannas and forests), and cultivated plants. Finally, we use this botanical classification and qualitative landscape descriptions to reconstruct ecological history. 4. We found that descriptions of both the landscape and specific plants point to an open-canopy savanna in the past rather than a forest. Of the 44 wild plant species recorded (i.e. omitting exclusively cultivated plants), a clear majority (27 species) were savanna indicators, 14 were generalists, and only three were forest indicators. Our ecological reconstructions from traditional literature complement data from archival paintings, revenue records, plant and animal fossils, and dated molecular phylogenies of endemic biodiversity—all attesting to the antiquity of India's savannas. 5. Policy implications: We urge conservation practitioners and policymakers to pay heed to emerging data from multiple lines of evidence—including nature descriptions in traditional literature—that clarify the ancient origins of tropical savannas. Reframing biodiversity conservation initiatives in tropical savannas—many of which are sacred natural sites—by explicitly valuing traditional literature as archives of biocultural histories could catalyse the conservation of both nature and culture.