Traditional Medicine Analysis and Sustainable Use of Korean Pond Wetland Plants in the Agricultural Landscape

Abstract

This study surveyed the most commonly observed plants at 40 pond wetlands in rural villages in Korea and assessed their use patterns in traditional medicine (TM) with reference to the contents of the Korea Traditional Knowledge Portal (KTKP). In this survey, 457 taxa in 108 families were identified. For these, there are use patterns in TM for 314 taxa; overall, 68.8% of the surveyed plants have uses in TM. The 314 taxa that have applications in TM involve 596 types of disease treatment and 771 types of efficacy. On average, for each taxon, there are 4.0 types of efficacy and 6.6 types of disease treatment. TM from 210 taxa have been described as applied to organs in 10 regions of the body: liver 123, lung 82, spleen 57, stomach 57, heart 45, large intestine 43, kidney 40, bladder 23, small intestine 16, and gall bladder 8. The results of this study will help support the conservation of pond wetlands that provide national biodiversity and various ecosystem services, by increasing the recognized value of pond wetlands even when they are no longer used in farming. Thus, this study can support educational materials for eco-experience and can be applied in the conservation of Korean pond wetlands.

Sustainability and Productivity of Village Tank Cascade Systems: A Bibliometric Analysis and Knowledge Mapping

“…The most sustainable feature of VTCSs is the ecosystem services provided by the land use system to support food production and the social well-being of rural communities facing climate and other stresses, whilst simultaneously maintaining the ecological productivity of their ecosystems [12]. However, regional investigations have uncovered a variety of ancient rainwater harvesting irrigation systems equipped with small reservoirs in Asian and African regions, which are known by various names, such as 'cascade tanks', 'pond' or 'pond wetland', and 'small-dams' [13,14].…”