Local knowledge about sustainable harvesting and availability of wild medicinal plant species in Lemnos island, Greece

Abstract

Background: In Europe and the Mediterranean, over-exploitation and destructive harvesting techniques have been identified as two critical threats affecting the sustainable harvesting of wild medicinal plant (WMP) species. However, unsustainable harvesting is not an issue everywhere and localized assessments are needed. Local knowledge has been praised for its potential for local short-term assessments. In this study, we aimed to register the known, harvested, and locally utilized WMP species and understand local knowledge of harvesters about the ecological sustainability of WMP harvesting and the perceived changes of WMP availability. Materials and methods: This study was conducted on Lemnos island, Greece, in July and August 2018. Sixteen harvesters knowledgeable about gathering and using WMP were chosen through purposeful and snowball sampling. Successive free-lists provided insights on the taxa known, harvested, and utilized by harvesters and subsequent semi-structured interviews served to understand harvesting practices and perceived changes of WMP availability. Participant observation during seven harvesting walks allowed for additional insights and facilitated the collection of voucher specimens. Results: In total, 144 different plant taxa were listed as useful and 81 had been harvested in the prior 4 years. Medicinal applications were mainly related to digestive and respiratory system issues. A number of favorable harvesting practices suggested a high potential towards an ecologically sustainable harvest. Although, a decreased availability for certain plant taxa and harvesting sites was reported and mainly attributed to external factors such as pollution, unusually dry weather, intentional pastureland burning or chemicals in agriculture, but also destructive harvesting by less knowledgeable harvesters.

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

“…The plant part used and exploitation method can effect on medicinal species loss. Harvesting of plant seed and whole of aerial parts endangered sustainable use of medicinal plants 41 , 52 . The ecological importance of B. persicum as one of the medicinal plants with the highest CV, has declined 80% and 60% in the both pastoral rangelands, due to over-collecting of its seeds.…”

An Ethnobotanical Study of Medicinal Plants in Mersin (Turkey)

“…Plants that have been recorded in previous ethnobotanical studies in Turkey and other Balkan and Mediterranean countries are also presented in Table 1, Table 2 (Agelet and Vallès, 2003;Akerreta et al, 2007a;Akerreta et al, 2007b;Axiotis et al, 2018;Bellia and Pieroni, 2015;Benítez et al, 2010;Benítez et al, 2012;Calvo and Cavero, 2014;Calvo et al, 2011;Camejo-Rodrigues et al, 2003;Carrió and Vallès, 2012;Cavero et al, 2011a;Cavero et al, 2011b;Cornara et al, 2009;De Natale and Pollio, 2007;González et al, 2010;Gras et al, 2019;Guarrera et al, 2005;Łuczaj et al, 2019;Matejic et al, 2020;Mattalia et al, 2020a;Mattalia et al, 2020b;Mattalia et al, 2020c;Mautone et al, 2019;Menale and Muoio, 2014;Mustafa et al, 2012;Mustafa et al, 2015;Mustafa et al, 2020;Novais et al, 2004, Papageorgiou et al, 2020Parada et al, 2009;Petrakou et al, 2020;Pieroni, 2000;Pieroni et al, 2002;Pieroni, 2017;Rigat et al, 2007;Rigat et al, 2013;Sansan...…”

Insular Pharmacopoeias: Ethnobotanical Characteristics of Medicinal Plants Used on the Adriatic Islands

“…The list of medicinal taxa used -131 species -is not very long, taking into consideration the fact that it is spread over a few hundred kilometers and divided into islands with different histories. For comparison, Papageorgiou et al (2020) recorded the harvesting of 144 species of medicinal plants just on one island (Lemnos) in Greece, and Axiotis et al (2018) found 109 species of medicinal importance on only nine east Egean islands. Vitasović-Kosić et al (2017) found 90 species used inĆićarija, a small part of Istria in mainland Croatia, and Varga et al (2019) found 83 species of medicinal plants used in a small region of inland Dalmatia.…”

“…They are however counterbalanced by those who try to document the ethnomedical knowledge for reasons other than only finding new medicinal species. For example, the use of medicinal plants is entwined with issues such as the protection of rare plants and their overharvesting (Barata et al, 2016;Grigoriadou et al, 2020;Papageorgiou et al, 2020). The cultural aspects of healing with the use of herbs are also important and have been summarized by Quave et al (2012).…”

“…In general, such research in the islands of the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea has been somewhat neglected. Only Axiotis et al (2018) studied medicinal plants used in the eastern part of the Egean archipelago of Greece (and found 108 species of plants used there medicinally), Papageorgiou et al (2020) studied Lemnos, and Bulut (2016) -Marmara Island off the coast of Istanbul.…”