Assessment of local management practices on the population ecology of some medicinal plants in the coniferous forest of Northern Parts of Pakistan

The moist temperate forests in Northern Pakistan are home to a variety of flora and fauna that are pivotal in sustaining the livelihoods of the local communities. In these forests, distribution and richness of vegetation, especially that of medicinal plants, is rarely reported. In this study, we carried out a vegetation survey in District Balakot, located in Northeastern Pakistan, to characterize the diversity of medicinal plants under different canopies of coniferous forest. The experimental site was divided into three major categories (viz., closed canopy, open spaces, and partial tree cover). A sampling plot of 100 m2 was established on each site to measure species diversity, dominance, and evenness. To observe richness and abundance, the rarefaction and rank abundance curves were plotted. Results revealed that a total of 45 species representing 34 families were available in the study site. Medicinal plants were the most abundant (45%) followed by edible plants (26%). Tree canopy cover affected the overall growth of medicinal plants on the basis of abundance and richness. The site with partial canopy exhibited the highest diversity, dominance, and abundance compared to open spaces and closed canopy. These findings are instrumental in identifying the wealth of the medicinal floral diversity in the northeastern temperate forest of Balakot and the opportunity to sustain the livelihoods of local communities with the help of public/private partnership.

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Different forest cover and its impact on eco-hydrological traits, invertebrate fauna and biodiversity of spring habitats

Nature Conservation ◽

10.3897/natureconservation.27.26024 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 27 ◽

pp. 85-99 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Martin Reiss ◽

Peter Chifflard

Keyword(s):

Management Practices ◽

Forest Cover ◽

Deciduous Forest ◽

Coniferous Forest ◽

Morphological Structure ◽

Conifer Forest ◽

Substrate Type ◽

Structure Mapping ◽

Mountain Ranges ◽

Low Mountain Ranges

Headwater springs in the German Low Mountain Ranges are local ecotone habitats and biogeographical islands embedded in and interlinked with their adjacent landscape. The structure of forests reflects the eco-hydrological conditions in substrate type occurrence, microhabitat richness and biodiversity in forest springs. This study considers effects from different forest land cover by comparing spring habitats in deciduous beech forests and coniferous spruce forests on eco-hydrological structures and biodiversity. Study areas include six different forest landscapes in the Low Mountain Ranges in Central Germany in Hesse and Thuringia. Hydro-morphological structure mapping and invertebrate sampling was executed within a multi-habitat sampling regime, which involves sampling plots being allocated according to the cover ratio of the occurring substrata. Aquatic and terrestrial spring zones are considered with respect to an ecotone approach. Some in situ measurements were implemented, such as pH values, to assess the acidity of the spring water. Results show obvious differences in acidity, substrate type cover ratios and biodiversity in deciduous and coniferous forest springs. Conifer forest springs were found tending to acidification while deciduous forest springs were slightly alkaline. Deciduous forest springs had higher cover ratios of organic microhabitats as well as a higher biodiversity in species richness and total number of individuals. Although it was not possible to clearly distinguish one direct key factor of fauna assemblages, negative effects from forest management practices (e.g. monoculture plantations of conifer forest) on spring habitats can be concluded.

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Plant-Based Solutions to Global Livestock Anthelmintic Resistance

Ethnobiology Letters ◽

10.14237/ebl.9.2.2018.980 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 110-123 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Katherine E. French

Keyword(s):

Rural Communities ◽

Medicinal Plants ◽

Management Practices ◽

Anthelmintic Resistance ◽

Intestinal Parasites ◽

Plant Secondary Metabolites ◽

Ecological Factors ◽

New Drugs ◽

Promising Alternative ◽

Livestock Health

Anthelmintic resistance in livestock is increasing globally. Livestock intestinal parasites now develop resistance to synthetic anthelmintics within 2–10 years, collectively costing billions of dollars annually in lost revenue around the world. Over-reliance on commercial drugs and dips and changes in livestock management practices are key drivers of this trend. To date, current research has focused on identifying new anthelmintics from bacterial and fungal sources or even synthesizing new drugs that target parasite metabolism or reproduction. Plant-derived anthelmintics are a promising alternative, yet to date major research funders and scientists have overlooked this option. Until the mid-20th century, rural communities relied on plant-based methods of controlling livestock parasites. These methods include feeding livestock specific medicinal plants and trees, grazing livestock on herbal leys, and changing where livestock grazed based on ecological factors (e.g., flooding) that increased parasite burdens. Many historic texts and ethnological accounts record the ethnobotanical knowledge of rural communities and the plants they used to control livestock intestinal parasites. Some traditions persist today yet the farmers, graziers, and shepherds who hold this knowledge are rapidly disappearing and with them perhaps a potential long-term solution to anthelmintic resistance. This short perspective piece will cover recent research using ethnobotanical data as a means to identifying potential new anthelmintics; the morphological, physiological, and metabolic effect of plant secondary metabolites on parasites; and an overview of “best practices” which can reduce bias in assessments of plant bioactivity and increase reproducibility of test results. This will hopefully bring recent advances in ethnobiology, chemistry, and ecology to new audiences, and, potentially, spark new interest in using medicinal plants to improve livestock health.

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New Orleans' Recovery Following Hurricane Katrina: Observations on Local Catastrophe Recovery Management

Journal of Disaster Research ◽

10.20965/jdr.2007.p0517 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 2 (6) ◽

pp. 517-529 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Laurie A. Johnson ◽

Keyword(s):

Hurricane Katrina ◽

New Orleans ◽

Local Governments ◽

Disaster Recovery ◽

Management Practices ◽

Local Management ◽

Management Capacity ◽

Local Recovery ◽

Recovery Management ◽

The U.S

Few local governments in the U.S. have faced the difficult task of managing catastrophic disaster recovery and there are equally few training guides geared toward improving local government's recovery management capacity. Our limited "toolkit"for local recovery management mostly reflects the learning from more moderate disasters. This paper reports on New Orleans' experiences in managing recovery from a truly catastrophic disaster. In particular, it describes two efforts: the 5-month Unified New Orleans Plan process, initiated in September 2006, and the city's Office of Recovery Management (now Office of Recovery Development and Administration), established in December 2006. It analyzes New Orleans' use of seven strategic recovery management practices that are proposed to enhance local management capacity and effectiveness following a disastrous event. Given the scale, complexity and multiple agencies involved in New Orleans recovery, this analysis is by no means exhaustive. It does, however, illustrate some of the areas where New Orleans' recovery management efforts have been effective as well as areas that could be strengthened.

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Genetic shifts in Helicoverpa armigera Hübner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) over a year in the Dawson/Callide Valleys

Australian Journal of Agricultural Research ◽

10.1071/ar02164 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 54 (8) ◽

pp. 739 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

K. D. Scott ◽

K. S. Wilkinson ◽

M. A. Merritt ◽

L. J. Scott ◽

C. L. Lange ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Genetic Structure ◽

Helicoverpa Armigera ◽

Management Practices ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Local Management ◽

Genetic Changes ◽

Helicoverpa Armígera ◽

Low Levels ◽

Current Area ◽

Lepidoptera Noctuidae

Microsatellites were used to analyse 68 collections of Helicoverpa armigera in the Dawson/Callide Valleys in central Queensland. The study aimed to evaluate the genetic structure in this region over a 12-month period (September 2000–August 2001). The results detected genetic shifts in H. armigera collections, with genetic changes occurring month by month. Collections in any month were genetically distant from the preceding month's collections. There was no observed difference between collections of H. armigera from the Biloela region and those found in the Theodore region of central Queensland. The data support the current area-wide management strategies for H. armigera by reinforcing the importance and contribution of local management practices. The study also indicates a need for the continuation of regional or Australia-wide approaches to management of the low levels of immigration that are occurring, and for future high pest pressure years.

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Medicinal Plants in the Broad-Leaf Mixed Coniferous Forest of Tshothang Chiwog, Bhutan: Floristic Attributes, Vegetation Structure, Ethnobotany, and Socioeconomic Aspects

Frontiers in Environmental Science ◽

10.3389/fenvs.2017.00096 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

Author(s):

Ngawang Jamba ◽

B. Mohan Kumar

Keyword(s):

Medicinal Plants ◽

Vegetation Structure ◽

Coniferous Forest ◽

Socioeconomic Aspects ◽

Broad Leaf

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Traditional uses of medicinal plants for dermatological healthcare management practices by the Tharu tribal community of Uttar Pradesh, India

Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution ◽

10.1007/s10722-012-9826-6 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 60 (1) ◽

pp. 203-224 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Akhilesh Kumar ◽

Vimal Chandra Pandey ◽

Anant Gopal Singh ◽

Divya Darshan Tewari

Keyword(s):

Medicinal Plants ◽

Management Practices ◽

Uttar Pradesh ◽

Healthcare Management ◽

Tribal Community ◽

Traditional Uses

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Storms impact on morphodynamics of human controlled coastal features in western France: the prevailing role of local management practices

Journal of Coastal Conservation ◽

10.1007/s11852-014-0311-6 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 18 (5) ◽

pp. 539-550 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jonathan Musereau ◽

Herve Regnauld

Keyword(s):

Management Practices ◽

Local Management ◽

Coastal Features

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Memory for medicinal plants remains in ancient and modern environments suggesting an evolved adaptedness

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0258986 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (10) ◽

pp. e0258986

Author(s):

Joelson Moreno Brito Moura ◽

Risoneide Henriques da Silva ◽

Washington Soares Ferreira Júnior ◽

Taline Cristina da Silva ◽

Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque

Keyword(s):

Medicinal Plants ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Coniferous Forest ◽

Human Memory ◽

Relevant Information ◽

Human Mind ◽

Deciduous Forests ◽

Survival Strategies ◽

Adaptive Memory ◽

Human Beings

Adaptive memory is the propensity of human memory to easily store and retrieve important information to deal with challenges related to the Pleistocene. Recent evidence shows that humans have had a multiregional evolution across the African continent, including the rainforests and deciduous forests; however, there is little evidence regarding the implications of these origins and the relevant and recurring challenges of these environments on survival processing advantage in memory. In this study, we conducted an experiment with volunteers to analyze whether adaptive memory operates in the retrieval of important information to solve challenges of using medicinal plants to treat diseases in the ancestral environments of the savanna, rainforests, and deciduous forests compared to the modern environments of desert, tundra, coniferous forest, and urban areas. We used simulated survival environments and asked volunteers (30 per simulated scenario) to imagine themselves sick in one of these environments, and needing to find medicinal plants to treat their disease. The volunteers rated the relevance of 32 words to solve this challenge, followed by a surprise memory test. Our results showed no ancestral priority in recalling relevant information, as both ancestral and modern environments showed a similar recall of relevant information. This suggests that the evolved cognitive apparatus allows human beings to survive and can create survival strategies to face challenges imposed in various environments. We believe that this is only possible if the human mind operates through a flexible cognitive mechanism. This flexibility can reflect, for example, the different environments that the first hominids inhabited and the different dangerous situations that they faced.

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The Shortgrass Steppe and Ecosystem Modeling

Ecology of the Shortgrass Steppe ◽

10.1093/oso/9780195135824.003.0019 ◽

2008 ◽

Author(s):

William J. Parton ◽

Stephen J. Del Grosso

Keyword(s):

Management Practices ◽

Field Experiments ◽

Deciduous Forest ◽

Coniferous Forest ◽

Ecosystem Dynamics ◽

Ecosystem Models ◽

Central Plains ◽

Ecosystem Responses ◽

Grassland Biome ◽

The U.S

Ecological modeling has played a key role in scientific investigations of the SGS LTER during the past several decades. The SGS LTER site, focused initially on the Central Plains Experimental Range (CPER), was the main grassland research site for the Grassland Biome component of the U.S. IBP effort (Lauenroth et al., this volume, chapter 1). Initial development of ecosystem models occurred from 1 970 to 1 975 as p art of t he I BP . All the U.S. I BP projects (grassland, tundra, desert, deciduous forest, and coniferous forest biomes) included research on the development of ecosystem models, with the goals of using models to help formulate and interpret field experiments, and of projecting the impact of changes in management practices on ecosystem dynamics. Models were developed as part of the Grassland Biome project (Bledsoe et al., 1971; Innis, 1978), and included modeling specialists who worked with research biologists on the development and formulation of the ecosystem models. The modeling activities of t he U.S. IBP Grassland Biome project included developing the ELM Grassland model (Innis, 1978). The ELM model was a complex process-oriented model that was intended to be used at all the Grassland Biome sites in the United States. This model was developed by postdoctoral fellows who were to formulate the different submodels, and then link the submodels using software that was developed as part of the program. The submodels included a plant production submodel, a cattle production submodel, a linked nutrient cycling and soil organic matter submodel, a grasshopper dynamics submodel, and a soil temperature and water submodel. Biophysical and biological data from the different sites were collected to develop and test the model. Model development was constrained by lack of knowledge about the biological processes that control ecosystem behavior, and by lack of appropriate data to test the ability of the model to simulate ecosystem responses to changes in grazing and fertility management practices. However, the ELM Grassland model was quite successful at investigating the interactions of different components of the ecosystem, and at helping to formulate new research efforts.

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