Artisanal fishers interact with plants in many ways, and with different intensities. In spite of being characterized by fisheries, Caiçaras use plants with varied degrees of management, since the less intensive management actions, extraction of forest products, until intensively management actions through the cultivation of the agrobiodiversity. This study presents the results of different research projects and includes the North and the South regions of São Paulo state coast. The objective is to characterize the diversity of extracted and cultivated species by traditional fishers at Southeastern region of Brazilian Atlantic forest. Ethnobotanical surveys revealed a high diversity of plants known and used, ranging up to a richness of 272 species known in two communities for the South coast, most of them being native. However, depending on the management intensity, this diversity can be rather particularized: we found 68 varieties of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) at North region and 58 varieties at the South region, with exclusive vernacular names. Through an ethnobotanical perspective, we compare and discuss the different dynamic systems underlying the relationships between fishers and plants. The diversity of cultivated plants is analyzed in depth, focusing on the historical importance of agriculture among people who are currently characterized as fishers. A schematic model is proposed to explain the dynamic systems operating in the relationships between fishers and plants. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.105623637Adams, C., As roças e o manejo da Mata Atlântica pelos caiçaras: Uma revisão (2000) Interciencia, 25, pp. 143-150Alcorn, J., Schultes, R.E., Von Reis, S., The scope and aims of ethnobotany in a Developing World (1995) Ethnobotany, Evolution of a Discipline, pp. 23-39. , Dioscorides Press PortlandAraújo, L.G., (2001) Diversidade de Uso de Recursos Vegetais Em Duas Comunidades Caiçaras Da Estação Ecológica Juréia - Itatins, Litoral Sul de São Paulo, , Dissertation, Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, BrazilBaldauf, C., Hanazaki, N., Reis, M.S., Caracterização etnobotânica dos sistemas de manejo de samambaia-preta (Rumohra adiantiformis (G.Forst) Ching- Dryopteridaceae) utilizados no sul do Brasil (2007) Acta Botanica Brasilica, 21, pp. 823-834Balée, W., (1994) Footprints of the Forest, , Columbia University Press New YorkBalick, M.J., Cox, P.A., (1996) Plants, People and Culture, , Scientific American Library New YorkBegossi, A., Folke, C., Berkes, F., Resilience and neotraditional populations: The Caiçaras of the Atlantic forest coast and Caboclos of the Amazon (Brazil) (1998) Linking Ecological and Social Systems: Management Practices and Social Mechanisms for Building Resilience, pp. 129-157. , Cambridge University Press CambridgeBegossi, A., The ethnoecology of Caiçara metapopulations (Atlantic forest, Brazil): Ecological concepts and questions (2006) Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 40, pp. 2-9Begossi, A., Hanazaki, N., Peroni, N., Knowledge and use of biodiversity in Brazilian hot spots (2000) Environment, Development and Sustainability, 2, pp. 177-193Begossi, A., Hanazaki, N., Tamashiro, J.Y., Medicinal plants and the Atlantic forest (Brazil): Knowledge, use and conservation (2002) Human Ecology, 30, pp. 281-299Begossi, A., Leitão-Filho, H.F., Richerson, P.J., Plant uses at Búzios Island (1993) Journal of Ethnobiology, 13, pp. 233-256Bellon, M.R., The dynamics of crop infraespecific diversity: A conceptual framework at the farmer level (1996) Economic Botany, 50, pp. 26-39Bellon, M.R., Berthaud, J., Smale, M., Aguirre, J.A., Taba, S., Aragón, F., Díaz, J., Castro, H., Participatory landrace selection for on-farm conservation: An example from the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico (2003) Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, 50, pp. 401-416Bennet, B.C., Prance, G.T., Introduced plants in the indigenous pharmacopoeia of northern South America (2000) Economic Botany, 54, pp. 90-102Brandon, K., Redford, K.H., Sanderson, S.F., (1998) Parks in Peril: People, Politics, and Protected Areas, , Island Press CoveloBrücher, H., (1992) Useful Plants of Neotropical Origin (And Their Wild Relatives), , Springer-Verlag BerlinCaballero, J., Maya homegardens: Past, present and future (1992) Etnoecológica, 1, pp. 35-54Ceccarelli, S., Specific adaptation and breeding for marginal conditions (1994) Euphytica, 77, pp. 205-219Clement, C.R., 1492 and the loss of Amazonian crop genetic resources. I. the relation between domestication and human population decline (1999) Economic Botany, 53, pp. 188-202Dean, W., (1995) With Broadax and Firebrand: The Destruction of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, , University of California Press BerkeleyDevide, A.C.P., (2004) Sertão Do Ubatumirim e O Plano de Manejo Do Prque Estadual Da Serra Do Mar: Caracterização Sócio-ambiental, , Mestrado (Thesis), UFLA, Lavras (MG)Diegues, A.C., (1983) Pescadores, Camponeses e Trabalhadores Do Mar, , Ática São PauloEmperaire, L., Peroni, N., Traditional management of agrobiodiversity in Brazil: A case study of Manioc (2007) Human Ecology, 35, pp. 761-768Etkin, N.L., Indigenous patterns of conserving biodiversity: Pharmacologic implications (1998) Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 63, pp. 233-245Fox, J., Troung, D.M., Rambo, A.T., Tuyen, N.P., Cuc, L.T., Leisz, S., Shifiting cultivation: A new old paradigm for managing tropical forests (2000) BioScience, 50, pp. 521-528Hanazaki, N., Begossi, A., Fishing and niche dimension for food consumption of Caiçaras from Ponta do Almada (Brazil) (2003) Human Ecology Review, 7, pp. 52-62Hanazaki, N., Castro, F., Oliveira, V.G., Peroni, N., Between the sea and the land: The livelihood of estuarine people in Southeastern Brazil (2007) Ambiente e Sociedade, 10, pp. 121-136Hanazaki, N., Peroni, N., Begossi, A., Pieroni, A., Price, L.L., Edible and healing plants in the ethnobotany of native inhabitants of the Amazon, Atlantic forest areas of Brazil (2005) Eating and Healing-traditional Food As Medicine, pp. 251-271. , Haworth Press BinghamtonHanazaki, N., Tamashiro, J.Y., Leitão-Filho, H.F., Begossi, A., Diversity of plant uses in two Caiçara communities from Atlantic forest coast, Brazil (2000) Biodiversity and Conservation, 9, pp. 597-615Harlan, J.R., (1992) Crops and Man, , American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America MadisonKerr, W.E., Clement, C.R., Práticas agrícolas de conseqüências genéticas que possibilitaram aos índios da Amazônia uma melhor adaptação às condições ecológicas da região (1980) Acta Amazônica, 10, pp. 251-261. , 2Martensen, A.C., Pimentel, R.G., Metzger, J.P., Impacts of forest deforestation and fragmentation on the understory bird community in the Atlantic Rain Forest of Brazil (2003) 18th Annual Symposium of the International Association for Landscape Ecology, , Paper presented at the BanffMartins, P.S., Vieira, I.C.G., Silva, J.M.C., Oren, D.C., D́incao M A, E., Dinâmica evolutiva em roças de caboclos amazônicos (2001) Diversidade Biológica e Cultural Da Amazônia, pp. 369-384. , Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi BelémMussolini, G., Aspectos da cultura e da vida social do litoral brasileiro (1953) Revista de Antropologia, 1, pp. 81-97Mutchnick, P.A., McCarthy, B.C., An ethnobotanical analysis of the tree species common to the subtropical moist forests of the Peten, Guatemala (1997) Economic Botany, 51, pp. 158-183Oliveira, F.C., (2007) Etnobotânica Da Exploração de Espécies Vegetais para Confecção Do Cerco-fixo Na Região Do Parque Estadual Ilha Do Cardoso, SP, , Dissertation, Universidade Federal de Santa CatarinaPeroni, N., (2004) Ecologia e Genética Da Mandioca Na Agricultura Itinerante Do Litoral Sul Paulista: Uma Análise Espacial e Temporal, , PhD. Dissertation, Campinas (BR), UNICAMPPeroni, N., Hanazaki, N., Current and lost diversity of cultivated varieties, especially cassava, under swidden cultivation systems in the Brazilian Atlantic forest (2002) Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 92, pp. 171-183Peroni, N., Kageyama, P.Y., Begossi, A., Molecular differentiation, diversity, and folk classification of "sweet" and "bitter" cassava (Manihot esculenta) in Caiçara and Caboclo management systems (Brazil) (2007) Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, 54, pp. 1333-1349Peroni, N., Martins, P.S., Influência da dinâmica agrícola itinerante na geração de diversidade de etnovariedades cultivadas vegetativamente (2000) Interciência, 25, pp. 22-29Pinton, F., Emperaire, L., Pratiques agricoles et commerce du manioc sur un front de colonisation (Amazonie brésilienne) (1999) L'Homme et la Forêt Tropicale. Travaux de la Société dÉcologie Humaine, pp. 347-362. , S. Bahuchet, D. Bley, H. Pagezy, & N. Vernazza-Licht (Eds.), Éditions de BergierRaimundo, S., (2001) Nos Bananais de Ubatuba (SP): Dilemas e Desafios para a Gestão de Unidades de Conservação de Proteção Integral Com Comunidades Tradicionais Residentes, , Mestrado (Thesis), USP, São Paulo, (SP)Redford, K., Padoch, C., (1992) Conservation of Neotropical Forests, , Columbia University Press New YorkRossato, S.V., Leitão-Filho, H.H., Begossi, A., Ethnobotany of caiçaras of the Atlantic forest coast (Brazil) (1999) Economic Botany, 53, pp. 377-385Sanches, R.A., Caiçara communities of the Southeastern coast of São Paulo state (Brazil): Traditional activities and conservation policy for the Atlantic rain forest (2001) Human Ecology Review, 8, pp. 52-64Schaeffer-Novelli, Y., Mesquita, H.S.L., Cintrón-Molera, G., The Cananéia Lagoon estuarine system, São Paulo, Brazil (1990) Estuaries, 13, pp. 193-203Schmidt, C.B., (1958) Lavoura Caiçara, , Serviço de Informação Agrícola Rio de JaneiroSchultes, R.E., Von Reis, S., (1995) Ethnobotany, Evolution of a Discipline, , Dioscorides Press Portland(1998) Atlas Das Unidades de Conservação Ambiental Do Estado de São Paulo, , SMA. Secretaria do Meio Ambiente do Estado de São Paulo. Metalivros São PauloStepp, J.R., The role of weeds as sources for pharmaceuticals (2004) Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 92, pp. 163-166Stepp, J.R., Moerman, D.E., The importante of weeds in ethnopharmacology (2001) Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 75, pp. 19-23Talora, D.C., Morellato, P.C., Phenology of coastal-plain forest tree from Southeastern Brazil (2000) Revista Brasileira de Botânica, 23, pp. 13-26Uniyal, S.K., Kumar, A., Lal, B., Singh, R.D., Quantitative assessment and traditional uses of high value medicinal plants in Chhota Bhangal area of Himachal Pradesh, western Himalaya (2006) Current Science, 91, pp. 1238-1242