Tamara Ticktin

Assistant Professor
Department of Botany
Ph.D., McGill University, 2000
ticktin@hawaii.edu
Botany Website


Research Interests
My research interests lie in understanding the ecological implications of cultural uses of plants. On a theoretical level, I am interested in understanding the ways in which local and indigenous resource management practices have shaped and continue to shape our natural environments. On a practical level, I am interested in applying this knowledge towards the conservation of biological and cultural diversity. My research draws on methods in quantitative plant ecology, population modeling and ethnoecology.

My current research projects are focused on (1) assessing the effects of local resource management systems on plant population dynamics and on plant-plant and plant-animal interactions; (2) assessing the relationships between local resource management practices and the conservation of local biodiversity; and (3) developing of participatory methodologies to integrate ecological sciences and traditional ecological knowledge for biocultural conservation

Selected Publications

Ticktin, T. H. Fraiola, and A. N. Whitehead. 2006. In Press. Non-timber forest product harvesting in alien-dominated forests: effects of frond-harvest and rainfall on the demography of two native Hawaiian ferns. Biodiversity and Conservation.
Ticktin, T. A. N. Whitehead, and H. Fraiola. 2006. Traditional gathering of native hula plants in alien-invaded Hawaiian forests: adaptive practices, impacts on alien invasive species, and conservation implications. Environmental Conservation 33 (3): 185-194.
Trauernicht, C. T. Ticktin and G.L. Herrera 2006. Cultivation of nontimber forest products alters patterns of light availability in the understory of an old-growth humid tropical forest in Mexico. Biotropica 38 (3): 428-436

Ticktin, T.and R. Ganesan. forthcoming. Ecological sustainability of NTFP harvest in South Asia. Pages.. in: Management, Utilization, and Conservation of Non-Timber Forest Products in the South Asia Region, eds. Uma Shaanker, G. Joseph, and A. Hiremath. Tata-McGraw Hill, Bangalore, India.
Ticktin, T. 2005. Applying a metapopulation framework to the management and conservation of a non-timber forest species. Forest Ecology and Management 206(1-3): 249-261.
Trauernicht, C. and T. Ticktin. 2005. The effects of nontimber forest product cultivation on the plant community structure and composition of humid tropical rainforest in Southern Mexico. Forest Ecology and Management 219: 269-278.
Ticktin, T., and S. Dalle 2005. Medicinal plant use in the practice of midwifery in rural Honduras. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 96 (1-2): 233-249.
Ticktin, T. 2004. The ecological consequences of harvesting non-timber forest products. Journal of Applied Ecology, 41 (4): 11-21.
Ticktin, T. 2003. Relationships between El niño southern oscillation and demographic patterns in a substitute food for collared peccaries. Biotropica 35:2: 189-197.M
Ticktin, T., T. Johns and V. Chapol Xoca 2003. Patterns of growth in Aechmea magdalenae and its potential as a forest crop and conservation strategy. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 94 (2): 123-139.
Ticktin T.,P. Nantel, F. Ramírez and T. Johns. 2002.Effects of Variation on Harvest Limits for Nontimber Forest Species in Mexico.Conservation Biology 16(3): 691-705.
Ticktin, T.and T. Johns. 2002. Chinanteco management of Aechmea magdalenae (Bromeliaceae): implications for incorporating TEK and TRM in management plans.Economic Botany 56(2): 43-57.
Ticktin, T.2002. The history of ixtle in Mexico. Economic Botany 56(1): 92-94
Ticktin, T., G. De la Peña, C. Illsley, S.Dalle and T. Johns. 2002. Participatory ethnoecological research for conservation: lessons from case-studies in Mesoamerica. Pages 575-584 in Stepp J. R., F.S. Wyndham and R. Zarger (eds). Ethnobiology and Biocultural Diversity: Proceedings of the Seventh International Society for Ethnobiology. University of Georgia Press. Athens, Georgia.
Johns, T. Mahunnah, R.L. Sanaya, P. Chapman, L. and Ticktin, T. 1998. Saponins and phenolic content in plant dietary additives of a traditional subsistence community, the Batemi of Ngorongoro District, Tanzania. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 66 (1):1-10.