Abstract
BackgroundIndigenous biocultural knowledge is a vital part of Nepalese environmental management strategies; however, much of it may soon be lost given Nepal’s rapidly changing socio-ecological climate. This is particularly true for knowledge surrounding parasitic and mycoheterotrophic plant species, which are well represented throughout the Central-Eastern Himalayas but lack a collated record. Our study addresses this disparity by analyzing parasitic and mycoheterotrophic plant species diversity in Nepal as well as the ethnobotanical knowledge that surrounds them.MethodsBotanical texts, online databases, and herbarium records were reviewed to create an authoritative compendium of parasitic and mycoheterotrophic plant species native or naturalized to the Nepal Central-Eastern Himalaya. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted with 141 informants to better understand the biocultural context of these species, emphasizing ethnobotanical uses, in 12 districts of Central-Eastern Nepal.ResultsNepal is a hotspot of botanical diversity, housing 15 families and 29 genera of plants that exhibit parasitic or mycoheterotrophic habit. Over 150 of the known 4500 parasitic plant species (~3 %) and 28 of the 160 mycoheterotrophic species (~18 %) are native or naturalized to Nepal; 13 of our surveyed parasitic species are endemic. Of all species documented, approximately 17 % of parasitic and 7 % of mycoheterotrophic plants have ethnobotanical uses as medicine (41 %), fodder (23 %), food (17 %), ritual objects (11 %), or material (8 %).ConclusionsParasitic and mycoheterotrophic plant species exhibit high diversity in the Nepal Central-Eastern Himalaya and are the fodder for biocultural relationships that may help inform future environmental management projects in the region.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13002-016-0086-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Indigenous biocultural knowledge is a vital part of Nepalese environmental management strategies; much of it may soon be lost given Nepal’s rapidly changing socio-ecological climate
Our study aims to create the first compendium of Parasites and mycoheterotrophs (PMP) taxa in Nepal, including their growth habit, geographic distribution, altitudinal range, host plants, flowering and fruiting times
Parasitic and mycoheterotrophic plant diversity Nepal is a hotspot for PMP diversity
Summary
Indigenous biocultural knowledge is a vital part of Nepalese environmental management strategies; much of it may soon be lost given Nepal’s rapidly changing socio-ecological climate This is true for knowledge surrounding parasitic and mycoheterotrophic plant species, which are well represented throughout the Central-Eastern Himalayas but lack a collated record. O’Neill and Rana Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine (2016) 12:14 overharvest of medicinal plants, driven primarily by market demands in India and China [14], has disrupted historical ecosystem dynamics and transformed traditional livelihoods [15, 16] Beyond these acute sources of environmental degradation, trends in migrant labor and education have further stunted rates of IBK transmission, reducing the practicality of existing policies [17]. Future conservation strategies must, in part, preserve IBK that may provide human and ecological communities with greater adaptive capacity to cope with current and future environmental change
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