The impacts of climate change were severe on indigenous medicinal plant species and their dependent communities. The harvesting calendar and picking sites of these species were no longer coinciding and the changes were affecting harvesters’ and cultivators’ abilities to collect and use those species. Secondary sites: road-heads, wastelands, regenerated forests, and so forth, were being prioritized for collection and the nonindigenous medicinal plant species were being increasingly introduced into the medical repertoire as a substitution and to diversify the local medicinal stock. Acceptance and application of nonindigenous species and sites for livelihood and ethnopharmacopoeias with caution were considered as an important adaptation strategy. Findings on species and site specific accounts urged further researches on medicinal plants, ethnomedicine, and their interrelationship with impacts of climate change.
The rate of warming is increasing in high altitude areas [
It is hypothesized that as species shift their ranges due to climate change, general and nonindigenous species may fill the vacated niches and outcompete the native species by overwhelming resource exploitation [
A total of six field visits each in one conservation area of Nepal were made. Six different conservation areas (Langtang National Park, Rasuwa district; Shey-Phoksundo National Park, Dolpa district; Rara National Park, Mugu district; Khaptad National Park, Doti district; Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve, Baglung district; and Apinampa conservation area, Darchula district) (Figure
Study area.
Field observations, informal meetings, discussions, and consultations were employed to collect information about folk uses of medicinal plants and local livelihood. In total, two hundred and forty-nine respondents (
Matching information between individual surveys and group discussions was taken into account for further analysis. All species encountered during participatory field observations were free-listed and the medicinal plant species were collected during the day and displayed in the evening for discussions. Most of the species were identified in the field using literature of Polunin and Stainton [
Rapid assessments and the random field samplings were conducted and the geocoordinates were collected using Garmin eTtrex GPS. Multivariate test was carried out to see the effects of different environmental variables on species richness. The field data of Langtang National Park were grouped in accordance with altitudinal gradients, aspects, and sites and analyzed in the test as a case. Detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) was used to test the heterogeneity of dataset. As the gradient length was 2.567, we used liner redundancy analysis (RDA) method for showing the relationship between species and environment variables following Jongman et al. [
Both the published and unpublished literatures were reviewed and the internet based materials were referenced. Databases of Ethnobotanical Society of Nepal (
The contribution of herbarium collections to understand local and regional scales of impacts of climate change on ecological processes and species distribution has recently been realized [
A total of 238 useful plant species consisting of 215 genera and 102 families were recorded and among them 192 species were frequently cited as medicinal. Among the medicinal species, 170 species were indigenous and 22 species were nonindigenous. Species are regarded as indigenous at territory, national, and regional level but in the international level they can be considered as nonindigenous [
The use of high percentages (80) of indigenous species was an indicative of ancient healing tradition but remained somewhat diffused because of the application of nonindigenous ones. The use of nonindigenous species in local traditional medicine was similar to the findings of a number of other ethnobotanical studies [
Distribution of medicinal plant species was species specific. Tree species
The biogeographic information of plant herbarium showed the higher altitudes of collections over time. The result was consistent with the earlier observations as found on
RDA biplot showing composition of significant environmental variables that influence the distribution of plant species in Langtang National Park, Central Nepal. Species abbreviated in figure are as follows Abispe =
Because of the changes in distribution and upshifts, some of the picking sites of medicinal plant species were no longer coinciding and the abilities of the harvesters’ to collect and use plants were being affected. The picking sites of medicinal plants were particularly dissenting in conservation areas such as Khaptad National Park and Rara National Park at lower elevation and the secondary sites were increasingly sought. At lower elevation of study sites invasion of nonnative plants
Small, stunted, and multistemmed individuals as adaptive features of trees were seen at higher elevations in response to climate change, yet the individuals were in isolation.
Besides the changes in phenology, morphology, and distribution of plants, the secondary metabolites and other compounds of Plants-produce which usually value for therapeutic properties [
The result supported that the longer the history of contact of a community with nature, the higher the number of medicinal plants used, as well as the higher the number of ailments treated [
Species
Livelihood diversification (subsistence agriculture to commercial farming and ecotourism), crop substitution (seeking new crops and varieties), changing calendars (pre- or postfarming), off-farm employment (porter, trekking, and hotel), seasonal migration, and so forth were dominant traditional adaptation strategies for climate change however they were varied in sites. Off-farm employment was increasingly adopted in Langtang National Park where there was a huge impact of visitors. Intensive crop and farming related strategies were frequent in study districts of Apinampa Conservation area and Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve where folks have long been involving in subsistence agriculture and they have not been greatly intruded by visitors, thanks to the rugged terrain and physiography of these conservation areas. Seasonal migration, a traditional adaptation strategy and common in Shey-Phoksundo National park, offers scopes for sharing ideas and goods. Folks were intending to diversify the livelihood in Shey-Phoksundo, Rara, and Khaptad National Parks where there were mixed impacts of tourism, commercial farming, and modernization. As a result, acceptance and application of new species and sites for livelihood were considered important for adaptation. New sites, previously neglected such as road sides, disturbed forests, forest fringes, and agricultural ecotones, were increasingly being browsed attributed to the business of local communities and accepting the sites as adaptation assets. Again, knowledge, cultivation, and maintenance of these species within rural communities were decreasing caused by the modernization processes, such as acculturation. Loss of traditional knowledge and even the physical annihilation of indigenous groups not only impede the search for new drug plants but also handicap the efforts to conservation [
Present study found 22 nonindigenous species (
Adjustments in distribution, phenology, and population of plants jeopardized the species survival and livelihood of mountain communities. Tree species
Authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.
Authors are particularly grateful to all communities who participated in their field works and dedicated a lot of time and efforts. The authors would like to thank Hari P Sharma, Lila N Sharma, Maan Rokaya, Ganesh K Pokharel, Tulasi Acharya, and Mushfiqur Rahman