Publisher's Synopsis
This book provides a quantitative study on the ecological characteristics and seasonal aggregation of wild edible plants in man-made ecosystems; in addition, it discusses systematic research on the seasonal effects of these edible plants on households. This book seeks to establish a theoretical and analytical framework to promote the understanding of growers' collection of wild edible plants, and to obtain empirical evidence about the spatial and cyclical complementarity of man-made ecosystems and subsystems and their impact on food security. The book's findings also reveal that the communities of wild edible plant species are unique in each subsystem and season. Therefore, all subsystems that provide different habitats from land to aquatic organisms are important to ensure the diversity of wild edible plants.