Medicinal plants: An invaluable, dwindling resource in sub-Saharan Africa.

The traditional markets in southern Ecuador and within the Andean region are especially important for plant resource trading among local people, even since before Spanish colonization; therefore, ethnobotanical studies are currently necessary and important. These strategic spaces persist for the traditional medicine cultural value reflected in the higher consumption of medicinal plants, which span all socioeconomic levels of rural and urban people. The purpose of this study includes the following: 1) to create a novel list of medicinal plants sold at 33 traditional markets; 2) to establish medicinal plant use agreement amongst vendors with the Factor of Informant Consensus (FIC); and 3) to determine the most sold medicinal plant species using the Fidelity Level (FL). This study focus on traditional markets ethnobotany utilizes the largest sample of medicinal plants market vendors up to date in Ecuador, interviewing them at 33 traditional markets, located within the Loja province. In order to determine the most sold medicinal plants and their ethnobotanical information, structured questionnaires and personal conversations were conducted with 196 medicinal plant vendors, and voucher specimens were created. Agreement among vendors about the therapeutic use of medicinal plants was measured using the FIC, and the most sold medicinal plant species were assessed with the FL. This research registered 160 medicinal plant species, grouped in 126 genera and 57 families that were sold in 33 traditional markets. The uses of medicinal plants in southern Ecuador are related to a long history of traditional medicine health practices that has persisted until today as well as high plant diversity. The 53 therapeutic uses recorded were grouped into 12 medical categories that were adapted from the World Health Organization. Three medical categories shared the highest value for FIC = 0.92, which showed a high level of agreement of market vendors for 57 medicinal plant species sold to treat ailments related with digestive, dermatological, and sensorial systems. The FL index determined 11 culturally important medicinal plant species based on the reported uses by 40 or more market vendors. Two medicinal plant species had an FL = 100 %, Matricaria recutita and Gaiadendrum punctatum, used to treat digestive and respiratory systems ailments. In the Loja province, people continue to consume medicinal plant species sold at local markets to treat somatic and/or psychosomatic health ailments because sociocultural customs are strongly expressed in ancestral practices of wellbeing. When the largest values of FL (60.5 %–100 %) and FIC (0.81–0.92) indexes are combined, they demonstrated agreement among 196 market vendors in the use of seven medicinal plant species that were most sold for the 12 medical categories. This study stresses how important public policies are for the trade and quality of medicinal plant resources, particularly for local people practicing auto-medication. Reasons for the maintenance of traditional markets in southern Ecuador include lower cost of medicinal plants, confidence in traditional medicine, and/or sociocultural environment. In Ecuador, the sustainable management of wild medicinal plants diversity, particularly the most sold, is crucial for its conservation in nature.

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Medicinal plants sold at traditional markets in southern Ecuador

Crossing the roof of the world: Trade in medicinal plants from Nepal to China

Setting priority species for conservation planning in a large and biodiverse country such as Indonesia is crucial At least 80% of the medicinal plant species in South East Asia can be found in Indonesia, whether they are native or introduced However, their conservation is currently ineffective due to limited human and financial resources By examining factors such as species' occurrence status, rarity and part of the plant harvested, the various Indonesian medicinal plant species can be prioritised for conservation planning In this study, various threatened plant species have been included in the priority list as well as those listed in related legislation Some 233 species within 161 genera and 71 families are recommended for prioritisation An inventory of these priority species was produced presenting compiled data including vernacular names, plant habit, harvested plant part, uses, distribution, whether it is conserved ex situ, and their DNA barcoding Significantly 4120% of priority species have no information on their current conservation status in either in situ or ex situ national or international genebanks

/pdf/setting-the-priority-medicinal-plants-for-conservation-in-2siudj2ztt.pdf

Setting the priority medicinal plants for conservation in Indonesia

Species distribution models (SDMs) are statistical tools that relate species observations to environmental conditions to retrieve ecological niches and predict species' potential geographic distributions. The quality and robustness of SDMs clearly depend on good modelling practices including ascertaining the ecological relevance of predictors for the studied species and choosing an appropriate spatial resolution (or ‘grain size'). While past studies showed improved model performance with increasing resolution for sessile organisms, there is still no consensus regarding how inappropriate resolution of predictors can impede understanding and mapping of multiple facets of diversity. Here, we modelled the distribution of 1180 plant species across the European Alps for two sets of predictors (climate and soil) at resolutions ranging from 100-m to 40-km. We assessed predictors' importance for each resolution, calculated taxonomic (TD), relative phylogenetic (rPD) and functional diversity (rFD) accordingly, and compared the resulting diversities across space. In accordance with previous studies, we found the predictive performance to generally decrease with decreasing predictor resolution. Overall, multifaceted diversity was found to be strongly affected by resolution, particularly rPD, as exhibited by weak to average linear relationships between 100-m and 1-km resolutions (0.13 ≤ R2 ≤ 0.57). Our results demonstrate the necessity of using highly resolved predictors to explain and predict sessile species distributions, especially in mountain environments. Using coarser resolution predictors might cause multifaceted diversity to be strongly mispredicted, with important consequences for biodiversity management and conservation. 

/pdf/resolution-in-species-distribution-models-shapes-spatial-2qk5qgh1.pdf

Resolution in species distribution models shapes spatial patterns of plant multifaceted diversity

Prioritizing West African medicinal plants for conservation and sustainable extraction studies based on market surveys and species distribution models

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Prioritizing West African medicinal plants for conservation and sustainable extraction studies based on market surveys and species distribution models