Cultural importance, availability, and conservation status of Spanish medicinal plants. Implications for sustainability

Mateo-Martín, Jimena; Benítez, Guillermo; Gras, Airy; Molina, María Ángeles; Reyes‐García, Victoria; Tardío, Javier; López, Alonso Verde; Pardo‐de‐Santayana, Manuel

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-1874878/v1

Cited by 3 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(36 reference statements)

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“…Overexploitation is the main threat to the conservation of wild food species [ 3 ], followed by habitat alteration and pollution. Nevertheless, in Spain, studies dealing with the most diverse group of wild plants gathered for traditional medicinal practices have demonstrated that this problem is not of great concern (commercial exploitation excluded) since the vast majority of the species used do not experience problems in their conservation and, with few exceptions, are not included in regional or national conservation laws [ 55 ]. Thus, the same could be said for WEPs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wild Edible Plants of Andalusia: Traditional Uses and Potential of Eating Wild in a Highly Diverse Region

Benítez

Molero-Mesa

González-Tejero

2023

Plants

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A review of ethnobotanical sources focused on traditionally-used wild food plants in Andalusia (southern Spain), one of the most biodiverse regions in Europe, is carried out. With 21 original sources plus some previously unpublished data, the dataset shows a high diversity of these traditional resources, reaching 336 species or c. 7% of the total wild flora. Cultural aspects related to the use of some species are discussed and data are compared with similar works. The results are discussed through the lens of conservation and bromatology. For 24% of the edible plants, informants also mentioned a medicinal use (achieved by consuming the same part of the plant). In addition, a list of 166 potentially edible species is provided based on a review of data from other Spanish territories.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wild Edible Plants of Andalusia: Traditional Uses and Potential of Eating Wild in a Highly Diverse Region

Benítez

Molero-Mesa

González-Tejero

2023

Plants

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“…A total of 158 publications (53 journal articles; 58 books; 30 Ph.D. theses; 16 unpublished academic theses; one online database) appearing during 1982–2020 met the aforementioned requirements. The final list covers all the Spanish territory, as ethnobotanical publications were found for all the autonomous communities (the highest level of territorial organization in Spain; Figure 2; Mateo‐Martín et al, 2023: 1. Ethnobotanical references).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The data used in this article can be found at https://doi.org/10.5281/ zenodo.7808167 (Mateo-Martín et al, 2023).…”

Section: Data Ava I L a B I L I T Y S Tat E M E N Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…current conservation legislation and the Red list of threatened species). Data are available at Zenodo (Mateo-Martín et al, 2023).…”

Section: Data Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…How to cite this article: Mateo-Martín, J., Benítez, G., Gras, A., Molina, M., Reyes-García, V., Tardío, J., Verde, A., & Pardo-de-Santayana, M. (2023). Cultural importance, availability and conservation status of Spanish wild medicinal plants: Implications for sustainability.…”

Section: Data Ava I L a B I L I T Y S Tat E M E N Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cultural importance, availability and conservation status of Spanish wild medicinal plants: Implications for sustainability

et al. 2023

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The harvest of wild plants with medicinal uses is increasing globally, both for self‐treatment and as a source of income. The increasing demand for these remedies could lead to the over‐harvest of some species. Despite a recent surge in the number of studies analysing wild medicinal plants management, little is known about the effects of non‐commercial harvesting on the conservation status of medicinal plants. We explore the connection between the cultural importance (CI) of medicinal vascular plants traditionally used in Spain for self‐treatment and their availability, conservation and legal protection status, and discuss the implications of our results for sustainability. We focus on Spain, located in one of the world's 25 biodiversity hotspots and the most diverse country in Europe regarding vascular plants (7071 species, 1357 endemic), while also being culturally and linguistically diverse. Spain has a rich body of traditional knowledge referring to wild medicinal plants, with 1376 species with medicinal uses, which represents nearly a fourth (22%) of the total autochthonous vascular flora of the country (16% endemic). Species CI is positively correlated with abundance (ρ = 0.466) and occupancy area (ρ = 0.495). Only 8% of the wild medicinal plants traditionally used in Spain have an endangered conservation status and just 6% are fully or largely affected by protection measures. Most species used for self‐treatment in Spain are common, highly available and not threatened. This suggests that domestic use alone does not result in overexploitation and that traditional knowledge systems of plant management might ensure their sustainability. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Biocultural aspects of species extinctions

Ladle¹,

Alves‐Martins²,

Malhado³

et al. 2023

Camb. prisms Extinction

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Predicting whether a species is likely to go extinct (or not) is one of the fundamental objectives of conservation biology, and extinction risk classifications have become an essential tool for conservation policy, planning and research. This sort of prediction is feasible because the extinction processes follow a familiar pattern of population decline, range collapse and fragmentation, and, finally, extirpation of sub-populations through a combination of genetic, demographic and environmental stochasticity. Though less well understood and rarely quantified, the way in which science and society respond to population decline, extirpation and species extinction can also have a profound influence, either negative or positive, on whether a species goes extinct. For example, species that are highly sought after by collectors and hobbyists can become more desirable and valuable as they become rarer, leading to increased demand and greater incentives for illegal trade – known as the anthropogenic Allee effect. Conversely, species that are strongly linked to cultural identity are more likely to benefit from sustainable management, high public support for conservation actions and fund-raising, and, by extension, may be partially safeguarded from extinction. More generally, human responses to impending extinctions are extremely complex, are highly dependent on cultural and socioeconomic context, and have typically been far less studied than the ecological and genetic aspects of extinction. Here, we identify and discuss biocultural aspects of extinction and outline how recent advances in our ability to measure and monitor cultural trends with big data are, despite their intrinsic limitations and biases, providing new opportunities for incorporating biocultural factors into extinction risk assessment.

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Cultural importance, availability, and conservation status of Spanish medicinal plants. Implications for sustainability

Cited by 3 publications

References 29 publications

Wild Edible Plants of Andalusia: Traditional Uses and Potential of Eating Wild in a Highly Diverse Region

Wild Edible Plants of Andalusia: Traditional Uses and Potential of Eating Wild in a Highly Diverse Region

Cultural importance, availability and conservation status of Spanish wild medicinal plants: Implications for sustainability

Biocultural aspects of species extinctions

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