Medicinal flora and ethnoecological knowledge in the Naran Valley, Western Himalaya, Pakistan

Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine

David M Harper⁵  Mushtaq Ahmad¹  Zahid Ullah¹  Hamayun Shaheen¹  Habib Ahmad³  Sue Page⁴  Shujaul M Khan² 

[1] Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan;Department of Botany, Hazara University Mansehra, Pakistan;Department of Genetics, Hazara University Mansehra, Pakistan;Department of Geography, University of Leicester, UK;Department of Biology, University of Leicester, UK

关键词: Vegetation;    Medicinal plants;    Ecosystem services;    Biodiversity conservation;   

Others  :  862625
DOI  :  10.1186/1746-4269-9-4

 received in 2012-06-29, accepted in 2013-01-07,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Mountain ecosystems all over the world support a high biological diversity and provide home and services to some 12% of the global human population, who use their traditional ecological knowledge to utilise local natural resources. The Himalayas are the world's youngest, highest and largest mountain range and support a high plant biodiversity. In this remote mountainous region of the Himalaya, people depend upon local plant resources to supply a range of goods and services, including grazing for livestock and medicinal supplies for themselves. Due to their remote location, harsh climate, rough terrain and topography, many areas within this region still remain poorly known for its floristic diversity, plant species distribution and vegetation ecosystem service.

Methods

The Naran valley in the north-western Pakistan is among such valleys and occupies a distinctive geographical location on the edge of the Western Himalaya range, close to the Hindu Kush range to the west and the Karakorum Mountains to the north. It is also located on climatic and geological divides, which further add to its botanical interest. In the present project 120 informants were interviewed at 12 main localities along the 60 km long valley. This paper focuses on assessment of medicinal plant species valued by local communities using their traditional knowledge.

Results

Results revealed that 101 species belonging to 52 families (51.5% of the total plants) were used for 97 prominent therapeutic purposes. The largest number of ailments cured with medicinal plants were associated with the digestive system (32.76% responses) followed by those associated with the respiratory and urinary systems (13.72% and 9.13% respectively). The ailments associated with the blood circulatory and reproductive systems and the skin were 7.37%, 7.04% and 7.03%, respectively. The results also indicate that whole plants were used in 54% of recipes followed by rhizomes (21%), fruits (9.5%) and roots (5.5%).

Conclusion

Our findings demonstrate the range of ecosystem services that are provided by the vegetation and assess how utilisation of plants will impact on future resource sustainability. The study not only contributes to an improved understanding of traditional ethno-ecological knowledge amongst the peoples of the Western Himalaya but also identifies priorities at species and habitat level for local and regional plant conservation strategies.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Khan et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

【 参考文献 】

• [1]Butler CD, Oluoch-Kosura W: Linking future ecosystem services and future human well-being. Ecology and Society 2006, 11(1):30. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art30/ webcite
• [2]Seppelt R, Dormann CF, Eppink FV, Lautenbach S, Schmidt S: A quantitative review of ecosystem service studies: Approaches, shortcomings and the road ahead. J Appl Ecol 2011, 48(3):630-636.
• [3]Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA): Ecosystems and human well-being: a framework for assessment Millennium ecosystem assessment. Washington, DC: Island Press; 2003.
• [4]Mooney HA, Cropper A, Reid W: The millennium ecosystem assessment: What is it all about? Trends Ecol Evol 2004, 19(5):221-224.
• [5]Carpenter SR, DeFries R, Dietz T, Mooney HA, Polasky S, Reid WV, Scholes RJ: Millennium ecosystem assessment: Research needs. Science 2006, 314(5797):257-258.
• [6]Jordan SJ, Hayes SE, Yoskowitz D, Smith LM, Summers JK, Russell M, Benson WH: Accounting for natural resources and environmental sustainability: Linking ecosystem services to human well-being. Environ Sci Technol 2010, 44(5):1530-1536.
• [7]De Groot RS, Wilson MA, Boumans RMJ: A typology for the classification, description and valuation of ecosystem functions, goods and services. Ecol Econ 2002, 41(3):393-408.
• [8]Boyd J, Banzhaf S: What are ecosystem services? The need for standardized environmental accounting units. Ecol Econ 2007, 63(2–3):616-626.
• [9]Gamfeldt L, Hillebrand H, Jonsson PR: Multiple functions increase the importance of biodiversity for overall ecosystem functioning. Ecology 2008, 89(5):1223-1231.
• [10]Pereira E, Queiroz C, Pereira HM, Vicente L: Ecosystem services and human well-being: A participatory study in a mountain community in Portugal. Ecology and Society 2005, 10(2):231-238.
• [11]Zobel M, Öpik M, Moora M, Pärtel M: Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: It is time for dispersal experiments. J Veg Sci 2006, 17(4):543-547.
• [12]Khan SM, Page S, Ahmad H, Shaheen H, Harper DM: Vegetation dynamics in the Western Himalayas, diversity indices and climate change. Sci., Tech. and Dev 2012, 31(3):232-243.
• [13]Kremen C: Managing ecosystem services: What do we need to know about their ecology? Ecol Lett 2005, 8(5):468-479.
• [14]Ahmad M, Khan MA, Rashid U, Zafar M, Arshad M, Sultana S: Quality assurance of herbal drug valerian by chemotaxonomic markers. Afr J Biotechnol 2009, 8(6):1148-1154.
• [15]Ahmad M, Khan MA, Zafar M, Arshad M, Sultana S, Abbasi BH, Siraj-Ud D: Use of chemotaxonomic markers for misidentified medicinal plants used in traditional medicines. J Med Plant Res 2010, 4(13):1244-1252.
• [16]Khan SM, Harper DM, Page S, Ahmad H: Residual value analyses of the medicinal flora of the Western Himalayas: the Naran Valley, Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Botany 2011, 43:SI-97-104.
• [17]Ahmad H, Khan SM, Ghafoor S, Ali N: Ethnobotanical study of upper siran. J Herbs Spices Med Plants 2009, 15(1):86-97.
• [18]Shinwari ZK, Gilani SS: Sustainable harvest of medicinal plants at Bulashbar Nullah, Astore (Northern Pakistan). J Ethnopharmacol 2003, 84(2–3):289-298.
• [19]Singh KN, Lal B: Ethnomedicines used against four common ailments by the tribal communities of Lahaul-Spiti in western Himalaya. J Ethnopharmacol 2008, 115(1):147-159.
• [20]Ali SI, Qaiser M: A Phyto-Geographical analysis of the Phenerogames of Pakistan and Kashmir. Proc. R. Soc. Edinburgh 1986, 89:89-101.
• [21]Khan SM, Harper DM, Page S, Ahmad H: Species and community diversity of vascular Flora along environmental gradient in Naran Valley: A multivariate approach through indicator species analysis. Pakistan J Bot 2011, 43(5):2337-2346.
• [22]Khan SM: Plant communities and vegetation ecosystem services in the Naran Valley, Western Himalaya. University of Leicester; 2012. [PhD Thesis]
• [23]Da Cunha LVFC, De Albuquerque UP: Quantitative ethnobotany in an Atlantic Forest fragment of Northeastern Brazil - Implications to conservation. Environ Monit Assess 2006, 114(1–3):1-25.
• [24]Martin GJ: Ethnobotany; A methods manual: WWF and IIED. London: Routledge: Earth scans Camden; 2004.
• [25]Cunningham AB: Applied Ethnobotany; people, wild plant use and conservation: London and Sterling. London and Sterling, VA: Earth scan publication limited; 2001.
• [26]Kassam K, Karamkhudoeva M, Ruelle M, Baumflek M: Medicinal plant use and health sovereignty: findings from the Tajik and Afghan Pamirs. Hum Ecol 2011, 38(6):817-829.
• [27]Chowdhury MSH, Koike M: Towards exploration of plant-based ethno-medicinal knowledge of rural community: Basis for biodiversity conservation in Bangladesh. New Forests 2010, 40(2):243-260.
• [28]Uprety Y, Poudel RC, Asselin H, Boon E: Plant biodiversity and ethnobotany inside the projected impact area of the Upper Seti Hydropower Project, Western Nepal. Environ Dev Sustainability 2010, 13(3):463-492.
• [29]Quijas S, Schmid B, Balvanera P: Plant diversity enhances provision of ecosystem services: A new synthesis. Basic Appl Ecol 2010, 11(7):582-593.
• [30]Costanza R: Ecosystem services: multiple classification systems are needed. Biol Conserv 2008, 141(2):350-352.
• [31]Giam X, Bradshaw CJA, Tan HTW, Sodhi NS: Future habitat loss and the conservation of plant biodiversity. Biol Conserv 2010, 143(7):1594-1602.
• [32]Baillie JEM: IUCN Red List Of Threatened Species. A Global Species Assessment. 2004. IUCN-SSC http://www.fauna-dv.ru/publik/Baillie%20et%20al_2004_book.pdf webcite
• [33]Khan SM, Ahmad H, Ramzan M, Jan MM: Ethno-medicinal plant resources of Shawar Valley. Pakistan J Bio Sci 2007, 10:1743-1746.
• [34]Balemie K, Kebebew F: Ethnobotanical study of wild edible plants in Derashe and Kucha Districts, South Ethiopia. J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine 2006., 2 BioMed Central Full Text
• [35]Khan SM, Zeb A, Ahmad H: Medicinal Plants and Mountains: Long-Established Knowledge in the Indigenous People of Hindu Kush. Germany: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller; 2011.
• [36]Bussmann RW, Sharon D: Traditional medicinal plant use in Northern Peru: Tracking two thousand years of healing culture. J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine 2006., 2 BioMed Central Full Text
• [37]Zavaleta ES, Hulvey KB: Realistic species losses disproportionately reduce grassland resistance to biological invaders. Science 2004, 306(5699):1175-1177.
• [38]Pieroni A, Houlihan L, Ansari N, Hussain B, Aslam S: Medicinal perceptions of vegetables traditionally consumed by South-Asian migrants living in Bradford, Northern England. J Ethnopharmacol 2007, 113(1):100-110.
• [39]Pilgrim SE, Cullen LC, Smith DJ, Pretty J: Ecological knowledge is lost in wealthier communities and countries. Environ Sci Technol 2008, 42(4):1004-1009.
• [40]Hynes AL, Brown AD, Grau HR, Grau A: Local knowledge and the use of plants in rural communities in the montane forests of northwestern Argentina. Mount Res Dev 1997, 17(3):263-271.
• [41]Khan SD, Walker DJ, Hall SA, Burke KC, Shah MT, Stockli L: Did the Kohistan-Ladakh island arc collide first with India? Bull Geol Soc Am 2009, 121(3–4):366-384.
• [42]Shaheen H, Ullah Z, Khan SM, Harper DM: Species composition and community structure of western Himalayan moist temperate forests in Kashmir. Forest Ecol Manag 2012, 278:138-145.
• [43]Khan SM, Page S, Ahmad H, Harper DM: Anthropogenic influences on the natural ecosystem of the Naran Valley in the Western Himalayas Pakistan. Pakistan J Bot 2012, 44(SI 2):231-238.
• [44]Khan SM, Page S, Ahmad H, Harper DM: Identifying plant species and communities across environmental gradients in the Western Himalayas: Method development and conservation use. J Ecol Inform 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2012.11.010 webcite