Foraging for the future: traditional culinary uses of wild plants in the Western Himalayas-Kashmir Valley (India).

Background: In the intricate tapestry of food security, wild food species stand as pillars, nourishing millions in low-income communities, and reflecting the resilience and adaptability of human societies. Their significance extends beyond mere sustenance, intertwining with cultural traditions and local knowledge systems, underscoring the importance of preserving biodiversity and traditional practices for sustainable livelihoods.

Methods: The present study, conducted between February 2022 and August 2023 along the Line of Control in India's Kashmir Valley, employed a rigorous data collection encompassing semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and specific field observations facilitated through a snowball sampling technique.

Corrigendum: Invertebrates and herptiles for livelihoods-ethnozoological use among different ethnic communities in Jammu and Kashmir (Indian Himalayas).

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2022.

Study of medicinal plants used in ethnoveterinary medical system in riverine areas of Punjab, Pakistan.

Background: The use of medicinal plants to treat various veterinary illnesses has been practiced for millennia in many civilizations. Punjab is home to a diverse ethnic community, the majority of whom work in dairy farming, agriculture, and allied professions and have indigenous practices of treating animal illnesses using native flora. This study was designed to (1) document and preserve information about the applications of medicinal plant species in ethnoveterinary remedies among inhabitants of Punjab, Pakistan, and (2) identify popular plants for disease treatment by quantitative analysis of the obtained data and to assess the pharmacological relevance of these species.

Ethnopharmacological uses of fauna among the people of central Punjab, Pakistan.

Introduction: The utilization of fauna and fauna-based byproducts in ethnomedicinal usages has been a longstanding human activity, practiced across various cultures worldwide. This study focuses on investigating the utilization of animal-based traditional medicine by the people of Pakistan, specifically in the Gujranwala area.

Methods: Data collection took place from January to September 2019 through interviews with local communities.

Plant cultural indicators of forest resources from the Himalayan high mountains: implications for improving agricultural resilience, subsistence, and forest restoration.

Aim: Biocultural legacy practices are intricately tied to forestry resources, ethnic identity, and social cohesiveness. This study aims to determine the plant cultural values of forest resources and identify plant cultural indicators in each ethnic group, which can aid in long-term natural resource management plans in the current debate on socio-environmental and ecological transitions.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and field observations were employed to collect data for a comprehensive and systematic ethnobotanical survey from February 2018 to October 2022.

Folk Knowledge and Perceptions about the Use of Wild Fruits and Vegetables-Cross-Cultural Knowledge in the Pipli Pahar Reserved Forest of Okara, Pakistan.

Wild fruits and vegetables (WFVs) have been vital to local communities for centuries and make an important contribution to daily life and income. However, traditional knowledge of the use of wild fruits is at risk of being lost due to inadequate documentation. This study aimed to secure this knowledge through intermittent field visits and a semi-structured questionnaire.

Harmony in nature: understanding the cultural and ecological aspects of plant use in Ladakh.

Background: Traditional knowledge (TK) in Ladakh encapsulates a repository of experimental wisdom cultivated over millennia. Despite this cultural wealth, dwindling interest among the younger generations in the region's age-old practices underscores the urgency to document TK. The current study investigates the diverse usage of plants in Surru, Wakha and Lower Indus valleys of Western Ladakh exploring the influence of socioeconomic and ecological factors.

Ethnobotanical Insights into Medicinal and Culinary Plant Use: The Dwindling Traditional Heritage of the Dard Ethnic Group in the Gurez Region of the Kashmir Valley, India.

This ethnobiological study addresses the complicated relationship between the Dard ethnic group and their natural environment in the Gurez region of the Kashmir Valley. The study documents their traditional knowledge of the use of plant species for medicinal and culinary purposes. A total of 87 plant species from 41 different families were cataloged, with the Asteraceae family (15 species) and the Lamiaceae family (12 species) being the most commonly used.

Vegetation-environment interactions: plant species distribution and community assembly in mixed coniferous forests of Northwestern Himalayas.

One of the main goals of ecological studies is to disentangle the dynamics that underlie the spatiotemporal distribution of biodiversity and further functions of the ecosystem. However, due to many ecological and geopolitical reasons, many remote areas with high plant species diversity have not been assessed using newly based analytical approaches for vegetation characterization. Here, we classified and characterized different vegetation types (i.

Macrofungi as Medicinal Resources in Uzbekistan: Biodiversity, Ethnomycology, and Ethnomedicinal Practices.

Interest in edible and medicinal macrofungi is millennial in terms of their uses in health and food products in Central Asia, while interest in inedible and medicinal macrofungi has grown in popularity in recent years. Edible and inedible medicinal basidiomycetes were collected during field surveys from different regions of Uzbekistan. The morphological characters and similarity assessment of rDNA-Internal Transcribed Spacer sequence data were used to measure diversity and habitat associations.

Integrating traditional ecological knowledge into habitat restoration: implications for meeting forest restoration challenges.

Background: Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) helps tribal communities adapt to socio-ecological changes, improving the long-term sustainability of their livelihood strategies and fostering social-ecological resilience. TEK provides thorough understanding of ecosystem dynamics, as well as how they relate to societal norms, practices, and resource use patterns. The integrity of TEK is often in jeopardy due to changes in belief systems, regional languages, traditional ways of subsistence, and disruption of traditional social-ecological systems.

Shifts in the Distribution Range and Niche Dynamics of the Globally Threatened Western Tragopan () Due to Climate Change and Human Population Pressure.

The impact of a changing climate, particularly global warming, often harms the distribution of pheasants, particularly those with limited endemic ranges. To effectively create plans of action aimed at conserving species facing threats such as the Western Tragopan, ( Gray, 1829; Galliformes, found in the western Himalayas), it is crucial to understand how future distributions may be affected by anticipated climate change. This study utilized MaxEnt modeling to assess how suitable the habitat of the targeted species is likely to be under different climate scenarios.

Phylogenomics and historical biogeography of Hydrangeeae (Hydrangeaceae) elucidate the effects of geologic and climatic dynamics on diversification.

Demonstrating the process of transregional biogeography and mechanisms underlying evolutionary radiations is crucial to understanding biological evolution. Here, we use Hydrangeeae (Hydrangeaceae), a tribe with a unique disjunct distribution and complex trait variations, using a solid phylogenetic framework, to investigate how geographical and climatic factors interact with functional traits to trigger plant evolutionary radiations. We constructed the first highly supported and dated phylogenetic framework using 79 protein-coding genes obtained from 81 plastomes, representing 63 species and all major clades, and found that most extant species originated from asynchronous diversification of two lineages undergoing repeated expansion and retraction, at middle and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere between East Asia and North America, during the Eocene to Pleistocene (driven by geologic and climatic dynamics).

Distribution and conservation of near threatened plants in China.

Plants classified as Near Threatened (NT) are at high risk of becoming threatened because of anthropogenic interference and climate change. Especially in conservation efforts, such species have however long been overlooked. Here, we obtained 98,419 precise occurrence points for 2442 NT plants in China, and used species richness, species complementarity, and weighted endemism that consider all, endemic and narrow-ranged species in order to identify the diversity hotspots of NT plants.

Climate Change and Human Activities, the Significant Dynamic Drivers of Himalayan Goral Distribution ().

The distribution of large ungulates is more often negatively impacted by the changing climate, especially global warming and species with limited distributional zones. While developing conservation action plans for the threatened species such as the Himalayan goral ( Hardwicke 1825; a mountain goat that mostly inhabits rocky cliffs), it is imperative to comprehend how future distributions might vary based on predicted climate change. In this work, MaxEnt modeling was employed to assess the habitat suitability of the target species under varying climate scenarios.

Vernacular Taxonomy, Cultural and Ethnopharmacological Applications of Avian and Mammalian Species in the Vicinity of Ayubia National Park, Himalayan Region.

Numerous investigations on plant ethnomedicinal applications have been conducted; however, knowledge about the medicinal use of wild animals is still limited. This present study is the second on the medicinal and cultural meaning of avian and mammalian species used by the population in the surrounding area of the Ayubia National Park, KPK, Pakistan. Interviews and meetings were compiled from the participants ( = 182) of the study area.

A cross-cultural study of high-altitude botanical resources among diverse ethnic groups in Kashmir Himalaya, India.

Background: In the Himalayas, traditional knowledge and biodiversity are strongly linked due to the symbiotic interaction between plant and cultural diversity, as well as the support provided by cultural memories, ecological awareness, and social norms. Our study was focused on documenting the vanishing knowledge in the Kashmir Himalaya with the following main objectives: 1) to document the ethnomedical and cultural knowledge of the local flora, 2) to evaluate the cross-cultural use of the flora in the region, and, finally, 3) to identify the key indicator species utilized by each ethnic group using multivariate statistical analysis.

Methods: We used semi-structured questionnaires to conduct interviews with people of different ethnicity, gender, age, and occupational categories.

Keeping Healthy in Your Skin-Plants and Fungi Used by Indigenous Himalayan Communities to Treat Dermatological Ailments.

Dermatological ailments are a major health problem, especially when related to human immune deficiency syndrome and acquired immune deficiency. The goal of this study was to identify the medicinal plants used by the indigenous peoples of the Northwestern Himalayas to treat dermatological diseases. Several field trips were conducted in the spring and summer seasons of 2020-2021 to collect the plants of dermatological value and information about their use through open-ended semi-structured interviews ( = 53) and group discussions ( = 33).

Traditional Wild Food Plants Gathered by Ethnic Groups Living in Semi-Arid Region of Punjab, Pakistan.

Wild edible food plants (WFPs) are valuable resources in the traditional food systems of many local cultures worldwide, particularly in underdeveloped regions. Understanding patterns of food preferences requires conducting cross-cultural food studies among various ethnic groups in a specific area. In this context, the current study aimed to record WFP use among five ethnic groups in Punjab, Pakistan, by interviewing 175 informants selected through snowball sampling.

Invertebrates and herptiles for livelihoods-ethnozoological use among different ethnic communities in Jammu and Kashmir (Indian Himalayas).

Background: Ethnic communities have relied on animals and their derived products for ages, and their use is often intricately related to many cultural features. In remote regions across the globe, indigenous peoples have been using invertebrates and herptiles for a variety of purposes (medicine, food, culture, and spiritual importance); however, related scientific research is sparse, particularly in the western Himalayas. In this respect, we collected useful information on invertebrates and herpetofauna from Jammu and Kashmir, India, across different ethnic groups, i.

Cross-cultural diversity analysis: traditional knowledge and uses of freshwater fish species by indigenous peoples of southern Punjab, Pakistan.

Background: Fisheries have tremendous cultural and educational importance in human societies. The world is undergoing fast environmental and cultural changes, and local knowledge is being lost. Understanding how people interpret environmental change and develop practices in response to such change is essential to comprehend human resource use.