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Perspectives of diverse constituencies need to be incorporated when developing conservation strategies. In Menri (Medicine Mountains) of the Eastern Himalayas, Tibetan doctors and professional botanists were interviewed about conservation of useful plants. We compare these two perspectives and find they differ significantly in conservation priorities (Wilcoxon Signed Ranks P < 0.05), both in how they prioritized, as well as the priorities themselves. Tibetan doctors first consider which plants are most important to their medical practice and, then secondarily, the conservation status of these plants. Additionally, perceptions of threatened medicinal plants differ among Tibetan doctors who received medical training in Lhasa, who were local trained, and who were self-taught. In contrast, professional botanists came to a consensus among themselves by first considering the conservation status of plants and then considering use. We conclude that, in order to effect community based conservation, opinions from both Tibetan doctors and professional botanists should be considered in establishing conservation priorities and sustainable conservation programs. Furthermore, we set our own research agenda based on combined perspectives.
Mount <i>Kawa Karpo</i> of the <i>Menri</i> ('Medicine Mountains' in Tibetan), in the eastern Himalayas, is one of the most sacred mountains to Tibetan Buddhists. Numerous sacred sites are found between 1900 and 4000 m, and at higher elevations the area as a whole is considered a sacred landscape. Religious beliefs may affect the ecology of these sacred areas, resulting in unique ecological characteristics of importance to conservation; recent studies have demonstrated that sacred areas can often play a major role in conservation. The goal of this study is to preliminarily analyze the vegetation of sacred areas in the <i>Menri</i> region using existing vegetation maps and a Geographical Information System (GIS) for remote assessment. Sacred sites are compared to random points in the landscape, in terms of: elevation, vegetation, and nearness to villages; species composition, diversity, and richness; and frequency of useful and endemic plant species. Detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) ordination reveals that sacred sites differ significantly in both useful species composition (<i>p</i>=0.034) and endemic species composition (<i>p</i>=0.045). Sacred sites are located at lower elevations, and closer to villages, than randomly selected, non-sacred sites (<i>p</i>< 0.0001), and have higher overall species richness (<i>p</i>=0.033) and diversity (<i>p</i>=0.042). In addition, the high-elevation (> 4000 m) areas of the mountain - a sacred landscape - are found to have significantly more endemics than low-elevation areas (<i>p</i><0.0001). These findings represent an initial analysis of sacred sites and suggest that sacred sites in the <i>Menri</i> region may be ecologically and ethnobotanically unique.
Tibetan culture and livelihoods depend on native plants for medicine, food, grazing, wood, as well as cash from market sales. The Medicine Mountains (part of the Hengduan Mountains) of the eastern Himalayas, with tremendous plant diversity derived from steep gradients of both elevation and precipitation, have traditionally been an important source of Tibetan medicinal plants. We examine climate change in this area and vegetation patterns influenced by biogeography, precipitation and elevation (NMS and CCA ordinations of GLORIA plots). The Alpine environment has the highest plant diversity and most useful plants and is the most susceptible to climate change with impacts on traditional Tibetan culture and livelihoods—particularly Tibetan medicine and herding.
Tibetans in five villages in the Mount Khawa Karpo area of the Menri (Meili Xueshan in Chinese) range, Northwest Yunnan, People's Republic of China, were interviewed about their knowledge of a number of medicinal plants and their uses. There was large variation in people's knowledge with significant differences among the villages and between men and women. Most of the reported knowledge focused on a small number of commercial plants and their uses. In comparison with Tibetan doctors, villagers generally knew fewer applications and focused on general health remedies. Many people collected medicinal plants for their own use as well as for sale, but also obtained medicinal plant remedies from markets and Tibetan doctors, and often used traditional Tibetan healthcare in conjunction with biomedical treatment.
Premise of the Study: With biodiversity and rates of climate change among the highest, the eastern Himalaya are critical for understanding the interaction of these two variables. However, there is a dearth of longitudinal data sets that address the effects of climate change on the exceptional alpine biodiversity of the Himalaya.<br>Methods: We established permanent alpine vegetation monitoring plots in three mountain chains of the Hengduan Mountains, the easternmost Himalaya, which have warmed 0.03-0.05°C yr<sup>−1</sup> since 1985. Recently, we resampled plots (176 1-m² quadrat plots and 88 sections of 11 summits in three Hengduan mountain chains) to measure changes in vegetation after 7 years.<br>Key Results: Over 7 years, Tibetan alpine vegetation increased in number of species (+8 species/summit; +2.3 species/m²), in frequency (+47.8 plants/m²), and in diversity (+1.6 effective species/m²). Stepwise regressions indicated that warmer temperatures, southerly aspects, and higher elevations were associated with greater increases in these vegetation metrics. Unexpectedly, Himalayan endemic species increased (+1.4 species/m²; +8.5 plants/m²), especially on higher-elevation summits. In contrast, the increase in relative abundance of non-alpine species was greater at lower-elevation summits. Plants used by local Tibetans also increased (+1.3 species/m²; +32 plants/m²).<br>Conclusions: As in other alpine areas, biodiversity is increasing with climate change in the Himalaya. Unlike other areas, endemic species are proliferating at the highest summits and are indicators of change.
Irrefutably, the best place to teach ethnobotany is in the field, whether the “field” is wilderness, an agricultural field, an indigenous village, or New York City. In the field, students, professors, experts, indigenous people, and participants of all sorts all learn and are all teachers. There is an equity and sense of discovery that no classroom can reproduce. Integrating multicultural and multidisciplinary perspectives—fundamental to ethnobotany—is simplified and organic. The significance of these goals is amplified when we teach ethnobotany in order to promote conservation and sustainable development, which are strongly supported by traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). A case study of teaching ethnobotany in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of NW Yunnan, China illustrates the process and advantages of teaching ethnobotany in the field. The prominent goal of this training was to integrate conservation with Tibetan traditional ecological knowledge. This training project took place over 4 years and included several components not often incorporated into training courses: Our multidisciplinary and multicultural constituency was incorporated in (1) needs assessment and project design; (2) development of training; and (3) participation; including (4) the multifaceted training and research; (5) subsequent ethnobotany projects, both applied and academic; (6) presentation of results; and (7) evaluations.
Collaborating Authors: Bee Gunn, Wayne Law, George Yatskievych, Wu Sugong, Fang Zhendong, Ma Jian, Wang Yuhua, Andrew Willson, Peng Shengjing, Zhang Chuanling, Sun Hongyan, Meng Zhengui, Liu Lin, Senam Dorji, Ana, Liqing Wangcuo, Sila Cili, Adu, Naji, Amu, Sila Cimu, Sila Lamu, Lurong Pingding, Zhima Yongzong, Loangbao, Bianma Cimu, Gerong Cili, Wang Kai, Sila Pingchu, Axima, and Benjamin Staver. Tibetan land use near Khawa Karpo, Northwest Yunnan, China, incorporates indigenous forest management, gathering, pastoralism, and agriculture. With field-based GIS, repeat photography, and Participatory Rural Appraisal we quantitatively compare land use between higher and lower villages, and between villages with and without roads. Households in higher elevation (>3,000 meters) villages cultivate more farmland (z = −5.387, P ≤ 0.001), a greater diversity of major crops (z = −5.760, P < 0.001), a higher percentage of traditional crops, and fewer cash crops (z = −2.430, P = 0.015) than those in lower elevation villages (<2,500 meters). Villages with roads grow significantly more cash crops (z = −6.794, P ≤ 0.001). Both lower villages and villages with roads travel farther to access common property resources. Historical analyses indicate agricultural intensification in valleys, an increase in houses, new crop introduction, hillside aforestation, cessation of hunting, glacial retreat, and timber-line advance within the past century. We suggest that Tibetan land use reveals trade-offs between high, remote villages and lower villages near roads. Higher villages offer abundant land and access to natural resources but short growing seasons and little market access; in contrast, lower villages have road and market access, an extended growing season, and modern technology, but limited access to land and many other natural resources.
[Tibetan medicine historically has had multiple medical lineages, despite ancient, shared literary medical canons. However, since the second half of the 20th century in Tibet, increasing state control and commoditization has lead to centralization and standardization of Tibetan medicine. Here we investigate how much variation in the use of medicinal plants remains in contemporary Tibetan medicine. Medicinal plants used and/or sold by fifteen Tibetan medical institutions, markets, and doctors, as well as two additional non-Tibetan markets, are inventoried and vouchered (where allowed). The data are ordered by Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling. Four distinct groups are defined: (1) government recognized Tibetan medical institutions and their disciples both in Lhasa and elsewhere, (2) local herbal doctors near Mt. Khawa Karpo, eastern Himalayas, (3) Tibetan medicinal markets in Lhasa and near Mt. Khawa Karpo, and (4) non-Tibetan medicinal markets near Dali and Kunming, Yunnan. This clearly documents the plurality of Tibetan medical traditions-official, local, and market-while differentiating these from non-Tibetan markets.]
Khawa Karpo, in the eastern Himalayas, is a mountain considered sacred throughout Tibet, and is internationally recognized as a global biodiversity hotspot. Numerous areas within this landscape are considered ‘sacred’ by the indigenous Tibetans of the region, who interact with these sites in ways potentially beneficial to conservation. Our previous remote sensing study indicated that sacred sites are found in habitats with greater species richness, diversity, and endemism than randomly selected non-sacred sites. This study examines the role of sanctity in biodiversity conservation within habitats in the Khawa Karpo region by pairing plots within the same habitats in sacred and non-sacred areas. Understory richness, diversity, cover, and number of useful species are measured; for trees, richness, diversity, cover, and density are measured. Results indicate that within habitats sanctity does not affect understory plant communities; however, within sacred areas trees are larger (p = 0.003) and forests have greater cover (p = 0.003) than non-sacred areas. Our results indicate that, whereas placement of sacred areas and preservation of vegetation cover affects useful plants, biodiversity and endemism, within habitats sacred sites preserve old growth trees and forest structure. In sum, Tibetan sacred sites are ecologically unique and important for conservation on varying scales of landscape, community, and species.