Population Assessment and Conservation of Rare and Threatened Plants Including Medicinal Herbs; Ethnobiology

"Private land conservation is becoming a popular policy approach, given the constraints of increasing public protected areas, which include reduced availability of land for purchase, insufficient budgets for acquisition, and escalating management costs of small, isolated reserves. Conservation covenants represent a common policy instrument, now prominent in the United States, Canada and Australia, employed to compliment the protected area network. When ‘topsoil’ and subsoil, or ‘mineral’ use rights are decoupled,
however, the security of covenants can become threatened if the country’s economic policies take priority over conservation policies and mining is permitted where covenants exist. We discuss this issue on a theoretical level, examining four potential scenarios in which use rights are decoupled or coupled. We demonstrate that decoupled use rights can create an imbalance in the costs and benefits, to landholders and the government, from conservation and mining activities on private properties. We then present a case study in Queensland, Australia, in which the discrepancy of biodiversity and mining policies is directly threatening the ecological outcomes of conservation covenants on private land. We also reflect on our own personal research with landholders in Queensland to highlight the social consequences of
such a policy position on the ability of State and Federal governments to meet their policy commitments. The conflicts we identify can be used to improve the transparency of private land conservation."

Assessing the impact of threats, identifying favorable growing
conditions, and predicting the future population scenarios are vital for the conservation and management of threatened species. This study investigated the availability, microhabitat characteristics, threat status, and community associations of Swertia chirayta, a highly threatened Himalayan medicinal herb, in 22 populations in Sikkim, India, using the vertical belt transect method. Of the 14 microhabitats identified, open grassy slope emerged as the most favorable and wet grassy slope as the least favorable for S. chirayta. The species was dominant in 8 of 10 major plant communities identified. Among 9 major of disturbance identified, human movement and collection non-timber forest products appeared as the biggest threats S. chirayta. Disturbances significantly affected the availability of the species. S. chirayta, though under anthropogenic threat, maintains high microhabitat pliability, which is vital for its conservation and management, provided immediate conservation measures are taken.

Natural  products  once  served  humankind  as  the  source  of  all
drugs, and higher plants provided most of these therapeutic agents.
Natural  products  continue  to  provide  useful  drugs  in  their  own
right  but  also  provide  templates  for  the  development  of  other
compounds.  A  major  advantage  of  natural  products  approach  to
drug delivery is that it is capable of providing complex molecules
that  is  not  accessible  by  other  routes.  Among  CNS  disorders,
neurodegenerative  disorders  affects  majority  of  population
worldwide.  Neurodegenerative  disorders  such  as  Parkinson's
disease  (PD),  Alzheimer's  disease  (AD),  Huntington's  disease
(HD)  and  amyotrophic  lateral  sclerosis  (ALS)  are  currently
incurable  pathologies  with  huge  social  and  economic  impacts
closely  related  to  the  increasing  of  life  expectancy  in  modern
times. Although the clinical and neuropathological aspects of these
debilitating  disorders  are  distinct,  they  share  a  pattern  of
neurodegeneration in anatomically or functionally related regions.
The  majority  of  the  compounds  examined  to  date  with  a  direct
relevance  to  AD  are  primarily  from  plants,  from  animal,  marine
and microbial sources. Successful drugs achieved so far are found
to act by inhibiting acetyl cholinesterase enzyme. In future, more
emphasis should be given in finding new targets for AD therapies.
The review focuses on the natural products that might underlie the
purported  beneficial  improvements  in  memory  and  cognition,
neurovascular  function,  and  in  neuroprotection.  It  may  be
concluded  that  natural  product  chemistry  brings  tremendous
diversity and historical precedent to a huge area of unmet medical
need. Cooperative effort from all  the technical disciplines related
to  drug  discovery  should  be  continued  to  make  plant-derived
natural product research an essential contributor in future.

Six species of the genus Prunus occur inAndalusia. Matters regarding their ecology, ethnobotanical aspectsand conservation are discussed, as well as knowledge about thegermplasm of those species with greater economic importance and theirdegree of conservation, namely: P.avium, P.mahaleb and P.insititia. Various conservation measures areproposed for wild germplasm and for the germplasm of local varieties:a) conservation efforts should target the best populations,except in the case of P.avium and P.insititia, where every individual should beaddressed, including both wild and local cultivars; b) theDehesa del Camarate (Sierra Nevada) is proposed as an areafor in situ germplasm conservation; c) theawareness of the importance of Prunus germplasmshould be increased among forest workers, environmental managers andthe public; d) some silvicultural techniques are proposed, suchas mixed Prunus patches, hedge treatment,Z-tree selection at the early stages and the protection ofroot suckers; e) improved, selected P.avium and P.mahaleb germplasm should be used at highlyproductive sites since these two species can be cultivated as highvalue timber trees; f) some Prunus speciescan also provide profitable NTFPs in the region. Details regardingdifferent collection areas are covered. Finally, some topics arerecommended for scientific research. Three tables and a distributionmap of Prunus species in Andalusia areincluded.

Hyphaene dichotoma (White) Furtado belongs to the Arecaceae family of and is a threatened species included in the IUCN red data list. In the present investigation, an attempt was made to germinate seeds of H. dichotoma. Successful seed germination was achieved in soil and sand mixture (1:1) when seeds were treated with 10% sulphuric acid for 24 h. This study will be helpful for further investigations on seed germination and conservation of H. dichotoma and related species.

Gymnosporia bailadillana (Celastraceae) is lectotypified and its taxonomy and distribution is discussed. The species is rediscovered
after 67 years from Koriya district, Chhattisgarh state, India. First photographs of the live plant and digital images
of the selected lectotype, isolectotypes and paratypes are provided.

Traditionally, plants have been used as a source of medicine in India by indigenous people inhabiting various terrains for the control of different ailments afflicting human. An ethno botanical survey was undertaken in Nawarangpur District, Odisha, India. The plants and their traditional use are part of the natural and cultural heritage of the region. The study was carried out regarding the medicinal plants used by the local peoples during 2000 to 2004. Finally, the data were assessed to which extent plants are vulnerable due to collection and habitat destruction. An ethno botanical survey was undertaken in the Nawarangpur District, Odisha, India. Data were collected through field assessments from traditional healers and locals by means of personal interviews and semi-structured questionnaires. Voucher specimens were collected following standard methods, identified with the help of pertinent floras and taxonomic experts and deposited in the Herbarium, RRL-B, India for future references. A total of 69 plant species belonging to 43 families are reported during the study. The major life forms were herbs, trees, shrubs, climbers, small tree and creeper. Several medicinal plants recognized for the treatment of various diseases were collected. The root parts were widely used, followed by leaf, bark, seed and stem. This study reveals that medicinal plants still play a vital role in the primary healthcare of this local community. Traditional medicines also have the potential to form the basis of pharmaceutical drugs for the treatment of a range of diseases. Further, the information requires validation for further clinical usage.

The publication of the book "People and Natures" in May 2012 coincides with the 13th Congress of the International Society of Ethnobiology, hosted for the first time in France (Montpellier). True to its mandate of addressing international development issues by working with Southern partners, the Institute for Development Research (IRD) is involved in the organization of this event and ensures the publishing of this book. This book attempts to show the remarkable diversity of issues that must be addressed if we are to understand the processes that link human societies to their natural environment. Its goal is to make accessible to all readers the incredible complexity of these interactions, which explains the great difficulty of the transition from intention to action.

The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of major phytoconstituents of three important and wildly growing medicinal plants of forests of Punjab region in India for their possible protective effect against focal cerebral ischaemia and associated cerebral infarction. Ajugarin I I, Punarnavine and Marmesinin obtained from Ajuga bracteosa, Boerhaavia diffusa and Aegle marmelos respectively were used in the present protocol. Cerebral ischaemia was induced in mice using transient middle cerebral artery occlusion method. Evaluation of infarct volume and histomorphology was performed. Authenticity of stroke was evaluated by measuring neurological deficit score. A standard neuroprotective agent edavarone was used as control. Cerebral ischaemia resulted in infarction as evidenced by histopathology of the cerebral cortex sections of the animals and a subsequent increase in the neurological deficit score. Administration of the medicinal substances resulted in a significant reduction in the infarct volume and neurological deficit score. The results indicate the possible protective potential of selected phytoconstituents in cerebral ischaemia induced stroke.