Swertia chirayta, a Threatened High-Value Medicinal Herb: Microhabitats and Conservation Challenges in Sikkim Himalaya, India

Bharat Kumar Pradhan,Hemant Kumar Badola

doi:10.1659/mrd-journal-d-14-00034.1

Abstract

Assessing the impact of threats, identifying favorable growing conditions, and predicting 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 the 10 major plant communities identified. Among 9 major types of disturbance identified, human movement and collection of non-timber forest products appeared as the biggest threats to S. chirayta. Disturbances significantly affected the availability of the species. S. chirayta, though under high anthropogenic threat, maintains high microhabitat pliability, which is vital for its conservation a...

Highlights

In recent years, extraction of natural resources, economic pressure, inappropriate forest management policies, inadequate knowledge, and insufficient legislative initiatives on sustainable use of bioresources (Wickens 1991; Uniyal et al 2011) have resulted in depletion of biodiversity (Badola and Aitken 2010)
Chirayta density varied among the populations (Figure 2A); populations 10 and 8 recorded the lowest and the highest average density, respectively
Our study indicated that past anthropogenic disturbances can be a threat to chirayta, because human disturbances lead to faster replacement of native species by invasive species (Yan et al 2001; Kunwar 2003)

Summary

Introduction

Extraction of natural resources, economic pressure, inappropriate forest management policies, inadequate knowledge, and insufficient legislative initiatives on sustainable use of bioresources (Wickens 1991; Uniyal et al 2011) have resulted in depletion of biodiversity (Badola and Aitken 2010). Knowledge of threatened plants’ microhabitat requirements would help in planning their conservation and management (Hegland et al 2001; Colling and Matthies 2006; Kalliovirta et al 2006; Pradhan and Badola 2012). This necessitates undertaking microlevel habitat assessment, which can help determine the performance of a species under different conditions and provide information on its ecological requirements (Hegland et al 2001; Pradhan and Badola 2012)

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion