Abstract
Any resource of high value and relevance to rural livelihoods is at risk of overexploitation. The anthropogenic pressure on the caterpillar fungus, Ophiocordyceps sinensis (Berk.) G.H. Sung, J.M. Sung, Hywel-Jones & Spatafora 2007, commonly referred to as yartsa gunbu, is intense, especially given the absence of traditional sustainable collection techniques. Stable harvests are the result of 2 factors: more people searching more intensely and extensively and the ongoing discovery of new areas for harvest. Increasing international demand and prices (presently around US$ 20,000 per kg) have resulted not just in overexploitation but also in the degradation of the fungus’s habitat, thus endangering its future viability. This article reports on a rapid vulnerability assessment involving 2511 harvesters in 9 broad study sites and 110 villages in the Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand state, India, in the central Himalaya, and recommends ways to lessen the pressure on this valuable species.
Highlights
The parasitic fungus grows on and derives nutrients from around 60 species of lepidopteran larva in the Himalayan and Tibetan Plateau (Chu et al 2004; Sung et al 2007; Wang and Yao 2011), primarily those belonging to the genus Thitarodes, a moth species belonging to the order Lepidoptera and the family Hepialidae, globally represented by 60 genera and 587 species (Nielsen et al 2000), often referred to as ghost moths
The total vulnerability score for yartsa gunbu elicited through the Rapid vulnerability assessment (RVA) was 39 for 17 factors
Even though the yartsa gunbu yield per hectare has declined according to the information collected during the RVA, the overall yield has increased remained more or less steady in the study period (Figure 4), because every year new harvest sites are added and existing sites are enlarged as harvesters explore more inaccessible patches
Summary
Ophiocordyceps sinensis (Berk.) G.H. Sung, J.M. Sung, HywelJones & Spatafora 2007, commonly referred to as yartsa gunbu, which translates from Tibetan as “winter worm, summer grass,” and in Kumaun and Garhwal Himalaya as keera ghaas, referring to the larva (keera) and the emergent fruiting body that resembles sprouting grass (ghaas), is a genus of mostly entomophagous flask fungi (Pyrenomycetes, Ascomycotina) belonging to the family Ophiocordycipitaceae. Yartsa gunbu consists of a completely mummified larva, filled and coated with mycelia, with a slender, brown, club-shaped fruiting body that usually emerges from the ground just above the eyes of the larva, reaching a total length of 8–15 cm (Figure 1A). The fruiting body emerges around mid-May, as soon as the snow melts. By mid-July, the collection season is over, but mature fruit bodies with low value are reported to persist until mid-August (Negi et al 2006; Negi et al 2014)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
