Ethnopharmacological study of native medicinal plants and the impact of pastoralism on their loss in arid to semiarid ecosystems of southeastern Iran

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to gather ethnopharmacological information on plants used by the pastorals of southeastern Iran. The relationships between ecological value of the plant species and ethnobotanical indices were investigated. The loss of medicinal plants and its effective factors were also determined under nomadism and sedentary pastoralism. Ethnopharmacological information of plants was collected through interviews with 85 local people including nomads (43%) and sedentary pastorals (57%). Ethnobotanical indices including relative frequency of citation (RFC), relative importance (RI), cultural value (CV), and use value (UV) were estimated. Canopy cover and density of plant species were measured at 60 sampling plots in the exclosure, nomadic rangelands and sedentary pastorals rangelands. The Importance Value Index (IVI) and Relative Loss Index (RL) were estimated for both nomadic and sedentary pastoral rangelands. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to investigate the relationship between ethnobotanical indices and IVI of plant species. The Bayesian networks was used to investigate the relationship between ethnobotanical indices and plant species loss. In total, 156 medicinal plant species of 50 families were identified in the region by locals. Positive correlation was observed between ethnobotanical indices (RFC and RI) and ecological index (IVI). The mean decline of the ecological importance of medicinal species in sedentary pastoral rangelands was approximately three times higher than in nomadic rangelands. Bayesian networks showed that cultural value, seed exploitation and aerial parts exploitation had direct relationships with species loss in both nomadic and sedentary pastoral rangelands. Bunium persicum, an ecologically and socially important species, had been extensively harvested (more than 60%) in the both nomadic and sedentary pastoral rangelands, making it a priority species in future conservation programs. Medicinal plants had high ecological value and were severely exploited, threatening sustainability of arid and semiarid ecosystems. Local pastorals not only use medicinal plants as herbal remedies but also consider them as a source of income. Popular plants with multiple medicinal uses were more susceptible to loss. Higher medicinal knowledge of pastorals did not help to mitigate medicinal plant loss, requesting new plans to aware them to the circumstances that often leads to species removal from community. Given the importance, abundance and widespread use of medicinal plants, further studies can provide a basis for their conservation and for identifying new therapeutic effects of plants in the region.

A multivariate and quantitative assessment of medicinal plants used by the indigenous Malayali tribes in the Javadhu hills of Tiruvannamalai district, Tamil Nadu, India

“…Significantly, no negative association between the indices was found. In order to determine the linear relationship between the ethnobotanical indices, Sharafatmandrad and Mashizi [ 75 ] and Cao et al [ 76 ] applied the correlation test; furthermore, their results were somewhat consistent with those of the present study.

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Ethnobotany of plants used by indigenous communities in Birjand, a dry region with rich local traditional knowledge in eastern Iran

“…This group of interviewees was more knowledgeable about plants and their utilization and shared most of the documented information. Other ethnobotanists have reported similar results (Bendif et al 2018, Sharafatmandrad & Khosravi Mashizi 2020.…”

“…Men usually manage the fieldwork, while women were often involved in domestic activities, which were sometimes associated with the use of plant species or their products to keep the family healthy. Some recent ethnobotanical studies have also reported richer female knowledge of plant uses (Mohamadi et al 2015, Mosaddegh et al 2012, Sharafatmandrad & Khosravi Mashizi 2020.…”

Sociodemographic, environmental and biological factors affecting uses of plants from open ecosystems: Insights for improved livelihoods and biodiversity conservation

“…The species that were locally protected, and often less available, were found to be associated with the greatest ethnomedicinal knowledge. A similar tendency has been shown elsewhere (Sharafatmandrad and Khosravi Mashizi, 2020). The harvesting of species with high popularity levels, and thus associated with high knowledge levels, may lead to sustainability problems (Posthouwer et al, 2016).…”