Land-use patterns and plant use in Lao villages, Savannakhet Province, Laos

Land-use patterns and plant use were recorded at two neighboring villages in central Laos. Bak village is located upland and surrounding land includes an extensive forest area, fallow fields, shifting cultivation fields, grassland, waterside, and paddy fields. During the study period the forest area supplied the largest number of useful plants. Nakhou village is, by contrast, in a lowland area and utilized land included small areas of remnant forest, grassland, waterside, and extensive paddy fields. Paddy fields contained the largest number of useful plants, followed by forest. Villagers compensated for the lack of forest resources in Nakhou village by maintaining and managing a diversity of trees within the paddy field land-use class. In addition, residents of the surrounding villages made the most of locally available plant resources and supplemented each other’s resources through trading. Analysis of local plant use at different geographical scales showed that the relationship between humans and plants at this study site was flexible and influenced mainly by topography and land-use and partly by socio-economic conditions and invasion of naturalized species. Species inventories and descriptions of the external factors influencing plant use at different geographical scales within a spatially heterogeneous landscape, will form an important basis for management and conservation of the plant resources of local communities.