The current degradation crisis in arid and semiarid lands is creating severe economic and social difficulties, aggravating the food situation and greatly affecting the least developed countries and small farmers around the world. However, little attention has been given to the wealth of knowledge held by rural livestock farmers on this phenomenon, particularly those linked to environmental indicators. The objective of this work was to investigate plant attributes used by smallholders as ethnoindicators of short- and long-term environmental change. Using an ethnoecological approach, the study was carried out along with rural livestock smallholders who inhabit the central-northern Patagonian plateau. Open and semistructured interviews were carried out with 35 informants who were strongly associated with subsistence livestock farming. A total of 23 plant species were registered as being involved in detection of environmental change. The types of environmental change recorded were short term (such as droughts) and long term (such as desertification). These plants presented 14 different indicators, involving various life forms: gramineous or graminoid plants (65%), woody species (30%), and plants that are not gramineous or graminoid (5%). The plant community attributes that functioned as indicators were presence/absence of species, species abundance, and visible plant characteristics such as exposed roots, changes in plant architecture, and/or changes in phenology. The traits used as indicators provide complex information that is essential to the understanding of plant development and the structure and functioning of the managed ecosystem. Key lessons from this work include the following: The integration of plant ethnoindicators is important for the successful diagnosis and permanent monitoring of arid lands; and development plans incorporating indicators constructed with the involvement of the local people, as well as the rangeland professionals, must help to mobilize knowledge and practice on an equal basis.

当前干旱和半干旱地区的退化危机正在造成严重的经济和社会困难，加剧了粮食状况，并极大地影响了世界上最不发达国家和小农户。但是，很少有人关注农村畜牧业者对这一现象的丰富知识，特别是与环境指标有关的知识。这项工作的目的是调查小农用作短期和长期环境变化的种族指标的植物属性。使用民族生态学方法，与居住在中北部巴塔哥尼亚高原的农村畜牧小农户进行了研究。对35名与维持生计的畜牧业密切相关的线人进行了公开和半结构化的采访。总共注册了23种植物物种，以检测环境变化。记录的环境变化的类型是短期的（例如干旱）和长期的（例如沙漠化）。这些植物表现出14种不同的指标，涉及多种生命形式：禾本科或类禾本科植物（65％），木本物种（30％）和非禾本科或类禾本科植物（5％）。用作指示物的植物群落属性是物种的存在/不存在，物种的丰富度以及可见的植物特征，例如裸露的根，植物结构的变化和/或物候变化。用作指标的性状提供了复杂的信息，对于理解植物发育以及受管理生态系统的结构和功能至关重要。这项工作的主要经验教训如下：整合植物种族指标对于成功诊断和永久监测干旱土地非常重要；包含在当地人民以及牧场专业人士的参与下制定的指标的发展计划，必须有助于在平等的基础上动员知识和实践。