Search Results (698)

Yam (Dioscorea spp.) stands as a critical crop in tropical and subtropical regions, contributing significantly to food security, rural livelihoods, and cultural food systems. Beyond its traditional role as a subsistence crop, yam represents a biologically complex and agro-industrially strategic resource, characterized by substantial species diversity, nutritional richness, and functional versatility. This review provides an integrated synthesis of current knowledge on Dioscorea spp., with particular emphasis on D. alata, D. rotundata, and D. cayenensis. It examines their origin and domestication, global and regional production systems, agronomic requirements, morphological and genetic diversity, and chemical composition. Special attention is given to the nutritional profile of yam tubers, including starch, dietary fiber, proteins, vitamins, and minerals, as well as to their diverse array of bioactive compounds such as steroidal saponins, diosgenin, polyphenols, flavonoids, tannins, alkaloids, and dioscorin that underpin both functional and health-related properties. The review also addresses antinutritional factors and highlights the critical role of processing in mitigating potential toxicological effects while preserving or enhancing nutritional and bioactive value. Furthermore, emerging industrial applications of yam flour, starch, and phytochemicals are discussed, alongside current challenges and research opportunities for crop valorization, particularly in the Colombian context. Overall, this review highlights the potential of yam as a multifunctional crop and emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary strategies to advance its sustainable production, processing, and utilization in future agri-food systems. Full article

Trace element contamination in Amazonian freshwater ecosystems threatens riverine food security. This study evaluated two post-harvest treatments—ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and Lactobacillus fermentum—to assess cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) variations in edible muscle of four Amazonian fish species (Cichla monoculus, Pimelodus jivaro, Platynematichthys notatus, and Serrasalmus rhombeus). Concentrations were determined using ICP-OES. Platynematichthys notatus exhibited the highest baseline bioaccumulation, whereas C. monoculus showed the lowest. Although main treatment effects should be considered exploratory, distinct species-dependent trends emerged. EDTA achieved the highest Cd reduction in P. notatus (49.78%), while L. fermentum demonstrated notable Cd and Pb reductions in C. monoculus, P. notatus, and S. rhombeus. Conversely, relative concentration increases occurred in P. jivaro under both treatments, reflecting matrix-related effects. These findings suggest that post-harvest efficiency depends on fish species and metal type. Probiotic post-harvest processing represents a promising strategy for reducing dietary exposure to Cd and Pb in Amazonian fisheries, though optimizing operational parameters for community-level applications remains necessary. Full article

This study reconstructs the agricultural landscape of Cyprus in the early 1830s, a time of extraordinary socio-economic pressures on the island and immediately prior to the economic and administrative transformations of the later nineteenth century, drawing on the Ottoman property survey of 1832/33, an island-wide register documenting over 20,000 households and their assets across 622 principal settlements. The records were converted into a geospatial database and analysed through GIS, spatial statistics, and a transparent, reproducible landscape classification framework, complemented by historical cartographic evidence. The reconstruction reveals distinct agricultural regions shaped by environmental conditions, settlement patterns, and the interplay between subsistence and market-oriented production, with marked concentrations of viticulture, olive cultivation, cotton, grain, sericulture, and pastoralism. A hierarchical classification assigns 471 settlements (77%) to a single-dominant landscape type, 92 (15%) to co-dominant zones, and 50 (8%) to diversified categories, collectively synthesised into a broader interpretation of the landscape as an integrated socioecological system. The findings demonstrate that Ottoman surveys offer considerable, albeit bounded, potential for historical landscape reconstruction, providing a dated baseline for the study of Mediterranean agricultural landscapes and a transferable methodological framework applicable to any region with comparable historical records. Full article

Pastoral imagery in Han dynasty mural tombs of China’s northern frontier may offer unique visual evidence for examining subsistence patterns, ethnic interactions, and the processes of elite identity construction in imperial borderlands. Existing scholarship has predominantly interpreted this motif through three frameworks—livelihood reflection, Hu-Han ethnic integration, and the origins of Chinese landscape painting—yet has not fully addressed its functional transformation within mortuary contexts and the underlying spatial logic of identity construction. Drawing on seven systematically documented mural tombs from the Ordos Plateau and Hetao Plain, this study combines archaeological typology, formal iconographic analysis, and spatial contextual analysis to trace the full evolutionary trajectory of pastoral imagery. This study suggests that the motif may be interpreted as undergoing a transition away from explicitly sacred contexts toward a closer association with material representation from the late Western Han to the late Eastern Han: early stylized renditions, derived from the Central Plains xian (immortal) mountain iconographic paradigm, appear to have served the construction of a sacred cosmic space for post-mortem ascension, while later realistic depictions were increasingly repositioned in storage side chambers, potentially functioning as visual representations of manorial livestock assets. Spatially, pastoral imagery gradually formed a stable “Inner Manor/Outer Wilderness” sequential narrative, which visually domesticated the heterogeneous frontier wilderness and enabled local magnates to construct a transcultural elite identity integrating Han ritual orthodoxy and control over diverse frontier resources. This study recalibrates the regional position of pastoral imagery in the secularization of Han mortuary art, and is consistent with a perspective for understanding the northern frontier as a dynamic transcultural frontier zone of cultural negotiation and integration. Full article

Employees increasingly experience blurred boundaries between work and private life, yet little is known about how workplace experiences influence consumer behavior beyond the workplace. Drawing on conservation of resources theory and ego depletion theory, and adopting the research perspective from the field of work–life spillover, this study employs survey data from 1030 Chinese employees to investigate the relationships among diverse overtime motives, perceived control, and sustainable consumption behavior, as well as the differences in these relationships within family and organizational contexts. The findings reveal that proactive overtime motivations (development-driven, subsistence-driven, and belonging-driven) are positively associated with green purchasing behavior, whereas reactive overtime motivations (escape-type, peer pressure, and mandatory) are negatively associated with reduced consumption behavior. Further analyses show that perceived control partially explains the positive relationship between proactive overtime motivations and green purchasing behavior, but does not mediate the associations between reactive overtime motivations and reduced consumption behavior. In addition, family emotional support strengthens compensatory consumption tendencies among employees experiencing involuntary overtime, whereas organizational green climate can strengthen the positive association between belonging-driven overtime motivation and green purchasing behavior. This study extends consumer behavior research by identifying overtime motivation as an important work-related correlate of sustainable consumption. The findings offer practical implications for managing overtime and fostering organizational green climates that support sustainable consumer behavior. Full article

Moruga Hill Rice (MHR) is an African rice (Oryza glaberrima Steud.) brought to Trinidad by formerly enslaved African Americans and has been grown for many generations in Trinidad at subsistence and commercial scale. Despite its historical and agricultural significance, genomic resources specific to MHR remain unexplored, and its genetic composition, evolutionary history, and potential agronomic traits have not been characterized. This current study presents the first draft genome assembly of the MHR genome using a hybrid sequencing approach. The MHR genome size was found to be ~372.9 Mb with 56,073 predicted genes. Variant analysis revealed a total of 3,318,242 variants, of which 2,440,476 were SNPs, and 877,766 were InDels. Several candidate genes encoding proteins with orthology to previously characterized biotic resistance and abiotic stress-responsive genes in rice were identified. Potential gene families identified prompt further investigation of their roles in MHR drought and salt stress responses. Phylogenomic analysis of O. glaberrima landraces suggests that MHR shares close genetic affinity with the IRGC−104595 Malian landrace, consistent with historical records. This assembly thus expands the African rice genomic repository, providing a foundation to understand the genetic architecture underlying key phenotypic traits and identifying potential novel gene sources in MHR for rice improvement in the Caribbean region. Full article

Oaxaca is one of the most biocultural diverse regions in Mexico. Although the white-nosed coati (Nasua narica L.; Procyonidae, Mammalia) is widely used by Indigenous and rural communities throughout the Neotropics, its role within subsistence hunting, traditional food systems, and local management practices in Oaxaca has remained undocumented. This study analyzes the biocultural significance of N. narica hunting and consumption among four Indigenous groups in northern Oaxaca. Data were collected through ethnographic techniques, i.e., semi-structured interviews with locals, ethnozoological field trips, and participatory workshops conducted with Zoque, Zapotec, Chinantec, and Mazatec communities. In addition, an extensive literature review was carried out to contextualize and compare the field data. N. narica hunting is predominantly diurnal and collective, frequently involving dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and horses (Equus ferus caballus), and fulfills at least three functions, including food provisioning, crop protection, and limited wild meat trade. N. narica meat is incorporated into traditional diet and prepared in at least five culturally distinct culinary forms. The use of N. narica reflects complex ethnoecological knowledge and long-term human–fauna interactions embedded within Indigenous livelihoods. These findings underscore the relevance of a biocultural ethnoecological approach for understanding subsistence hunting, wild meat use, and rural livelihoods in Mesoamerica. Full article

Adjusting cropping structure is a key way smallholder agriculture adapts to changing labor availability, production costs, mechanization, and agricultural services. Most studies explain such change through macro-level factors—prices, policies, and resource endowments—and pay less attention to how farmers perceive these changes and adjust their crop choices over time. Taking Xiajin County, Shandong Province, China, as a case, this study combines sown-area data for major crops from 1980 to 2023, provincial cost–benefit records for wheat, maize, and cotton, and retrospective semi-structured interviews with 57 respondents to examine how changing crop choice criteria shaped county-level cropping structure transformation. The county shifted from cotton dominance to wheat–maize dominance, with rising structural concentration. Farmers’ criteria also changed: early decisions reflected drought tolerance, subsistence grain, and cash income, whereas later ones emphasized labor saving, income stability, mechanization compatibility, and outsourcing feasibility. Under labor out-migration, rural aging, rising labor opportunity costs, and service expansion, wheat and maize became more attractive than cotton because their key stages were easier to mechanize and outsource. County-level transformation thus emerged from the accumulation of farmers’ repeated crop choice adjustments under changing constraints, rather than from external change alone. Grain-oriented concentration should be balanced with crop diversity and sustainable farming systems. Full article

This paper examines worked-bone production at the Miaodigou (MDG) site, a key Middle Neolithic settlement in northern China, to assess the role of bone objects in craft production, subsistence, and social life. During the expansion of millet agriculture and pig domestication, a small group of community members continued to acquire wild animal resources and engage in bone working. This study analyzes 26 finished bone objects and 69 modified osseous fragments through technological analysis, microscopic use-wear analysis, and replication experiments. Results reveal a simple yet pragmatic production system and provide the first reconstruction of the Middle Yangshao worked-bone production sequence. Small-scale bone production reflects a limited but persistent tradition of wild resource exploitation, integrating procurement, manufacture, and use. It also highlights the diversity of subsistence and craft activities within an agriculture-based society, where hunting and gathering practices are often underrepresented. This study further clarifies the functions of two common but understudied tool types in Chinese Neolithic assemblages. Replication experiments show that some awls were likely used for loosening threads or cords, while so-called “knives or daggers” might function as scrapers for bast fibers or animal hides. Full article

Green innovation is an important means of mitigating environmental pollution, improving production efficiency, and promoting high-quality economic development. Using prefecture-level city data and China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data from 2010 to 2022, this study applies the Super-SBM model to measure urban green innovation efficiency and examines its effects on residents’ consumption levels and household consumption structures. The results show that (1) green innovation efficiency significantly increases consumption among urban residents and urban households, whereas its effects on rural residents and rural households are not statistically significant; (2) green innovation efficiency significantly reduces the share of subsistence-oriented consumption while increasing the shares of housing, development-oriented, and tourism consumption, thereby promoting a shift in household expenditure from basic needs toward development- and enjoyment-oriented consumption; (3) wage income and housing debt constitute two distinct transmission channels. Higher wage income facilitates development- and enjoyment-oriented consumption, whereas housing debt increases the share of housing consumption and exerts a crowding-out effect on development-oriented and tourism consumption; and (4) green innovation efficiency has a more pronounced effect on development-oriented and tourism consumption among young and high-income households. For middle-aged and older households, as well as low-income households, the effects of green innovation are reflected more strongly in an increase in the share of housing consumption. The findings provide important empirical evidence that green innovation contributes to improving residents’ quality of life. Full article

Plant species associated with provisioning ecosystem services of most tropical regions have been shaped by many indigenous peoples’ subsistence livelihood practices. In recent times, the recognition of the commercial value of plant species found within indigenous peoples’ landscapes for commercial logging and the consequent harvesting of such plants means that the subsistence ecosystem services indigenous peoples value and derive from their forests may face increasing competition. Currently, there is a lack of mechanisms and tools that may allow for the plant uses of indigenous peoples and the economic value of plants from a commercial logging perspective to be compared within the same spatial realm. In response to this need, we embarked on the development of potential spatial plant-use allocation scenarios by assessing how certain landscape conditions, shaped by traditional and timber harvesting activities, may influence the presence and spatial distribution of indigenous peoples’ subsistence association of plants and commercial logging ecosystem services relative to one another. Data on the two types of ecosystem services and landscape conditions in the form of physical environment variables were obtained for twelve indigenous village study areas in the Rupununi, Southern Guyana. For each area, the relative log risk ratios of subsistence values to logging values were computed and regressed against six physical environment variables—village presence, distance to village, distance to road, distance to water, elevation, and slope—to examine if and how landscape conditions may favor the presence of one ecosystem service over the other. The estimates were then used to map the relative differences in the spatial distributions of subsistence and commercial logging services in each area. We found, given the history of indigenous peoples’ presence in the area, that mean relative log risk ratios for the village areas were generally positive, indicating an inclination towards the presence of subsistence services. However, the maps revealed that while some areas within a given village were indeed more favorable for the presence of subsistence ecosystem services, other areas within the same village were inclined towards the presence of logging ecosystem services, raising the potential for conflict between subsistence and logging utility within these villages. Similar spatial analyses can be explored to guide policymakers in developing land-use strategies that allocate forest lands between competing users by identifying areas with resources that are best suited for indigenous peoples’ subsistence needs and for commercial harvesting operations, especially so indigenous peoples themselves explore logging as a means of diversifying their livelihood options. Full article

This paper extends a benchmark reversible job-choice framework by imposing a subsistence-consumption constraint. The agent chooses consumption, portfolio allocation, and one of two jobs in continuous time. The first job provides low income and high leisure, whereas the second job provides high income and low leisure. We focus on the case in which the coefficient of relative risk aversion satisfies $\gamma >1$, so that the transformed risk-aversion parameter also satisfies ${\gamma }_1>1$. Consumption must satisfy the lower bound $c_t\ge \underline{c}$ under both jobs. The constraint changes both the natural solvency boundary and the job-switching rule. In the dual problem, each job generates a subsistence-adjusted reward whose form depends on whether the consumption floor is binding. The optimal job is selected by the upper envelope of the two dual rewards. We prove that, when $\gamma >1$, the resulting dual switching function has a unique positive zero. We also characterize the location of this zero explicitly in terms of the income gap $Y_1-Y_0$ and the subsistence level $\underline{c}$. Hence the optimal job policy remains a one-threshold rule: the agent chooses the high-income job at low wealth and the high-leisure job at high wealth. The consumption floor shifts this boundary and implies that near the solvency boundary the agent necessarily consumes at the subsistence level and works in the high-income job. We provide a complete closed-form representation of the dual value function in all possible regimes. Full article

This study analyses the economic performance, sustainability, and resilience of family farming systems in São Tomé and Príncipe, using an approach that combines quantitative and qualitative data. Primary data were collected through a survey of 50 rural families from the seven districts of the country, focus group discussions, and field observations. Quantitative analysis included descriptive statistics and exploratory comparative procedures, complemented by economic evaluation, while thematic analysis examined the qualitative data. The findings reveal diversified agroforestry systems, integrating up to 33 crops and small-scale livestock production. At the individual and aggregate levels, agroforestry shows viable economic performance, with a net profit margin of 57.4%, capable of generating income and marketable surpluses. This improves rural livelihoods, strengthens resilience to climate and market shocks, and supports both subsistence and market-oriented production. Despite these strengths, structural constraints persist, including fragile value chains, limitations in access to credit and markets, low technology adoption, and climate vulnerability. Human capital, particularly education, emerges as a key factor in improving productivity and value creation. Integrated policies on access to resources and education are needed to promote diversification, multi-activity, and market integration as central strategies for increasing sustainability, food security, and risk reduction in family farming. Full article

Environmental knowledge encoded in Bahnar, an Indigenous language of Vietnam, is vital to the Bahnar community and contributes to broader understandings of biodiversity, climate resilience, and sustainable lifeways. We describe a collaborative approach to documenting Bahnar that integrates computational methods with ethnographic, lexicographic, and linguistic fieldwork. Because Bahnar knowledge is transmitted almost entirely through oral tradition rather than writing, effective documentation cannot rely solely on extractive corpus-based or NLP tools. Although three legacy bilingual Bahnar dictionaries exist, they are partially obsolete, uneven in coverage, and largely inaccessible to the community itself. Our corpus analysis of the Bahnar environmental vocabulary, complemented by intensive community-based fieldwork, reveals semantic patterns that closely link environmental knowledge with Bahnar lifeways, subsistence practices, and material culture. These patterns, we argue, are language-specific and may not emerge from analyses of environmental lexicons in languages such as English or Vietnamese. Bahnar semantic categories attribute aesthetic, medicinal, mythological, and spiritual agency to animals, plants, and landscapes, contrasting with classificatory frameworks common in post-industrial societies that emphasize biophysical, scientific, or economic properties. We propose that community-centered digital lexicography can strengthen Bahnar language vitality, enhance local access to cultural knowledge, and simultaneously advance comparative linguistic and environmental research. Full article

Promoting the transition toward green and low-carbon lifestyles is essential for advancing sustainable consumption and environmental sustainability. Based on 6903 valid survey responses from 19 digital household pilot regions in China, this study examines the relationship between household digitalization and green and low-carbon lifestyles. A household digitalization level (HDL) index is constructed using the entropy method across five dimensions: digital network services, digital infrastructure, digital literacy, digital skills, and digital applications. The empirical results show that higher HDL is positively associated with the adoption of green and low-carbon lifestyles, and this association remains robust across a series of sensitivity analyses. Exploratory mechanism analysis indicates that HDL is linked to green and low-carbon lifestyles through improved satisfaction with digital smart technologies and enhanced environmental awareness. Heterogeneity analysis shows that this association is stronger among larger households, urban and suburban households, and households with development-oriented consumption, but weaker among smaller, rural, and subsistence-oriented households. These findings provide micro-level evidence supporting the exploration of the linkage between household digitalization and sustainable household consumption and the coordinated development of digitalization and environmental sustainability. Full article