Socio-economic differentiation in the trade of wildlife species for traditional medicines in the Lowveld,South Africa: Implications for resource management initiatives

Surveys of trade in wildlife products utilised in traditional medicine were conducted between 1997 and 1999 on the western boundary of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Although the extent of trade and numbers of people operating in this sector were lower than other regions of South Africa, this study again highlighted the value of indigenous wildlife products to subsistence economies. Apart from cultural diversity, socioeconomic differentiation occurred at a number of levels. (i) There were socio-economic differences between the traders and vendors. (ii) Gender differences were apparent, with women earning significantly less than men and having to undergo more social challenges in their operation in the market place. (iii) Operational differences were noted between the vendors and traders, as well as between the street and pension day vendors. (iv) Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) highlighted the socio-economic differentiation at the household level, emphasizing in particular one of the most vulnerable groups, the elderly. The potential influence of this socio-economic differentiation needs to be considered during the development of Community-Based Conservation programmes, if the dual aims of conserving biodiversity and improving the lives and livelihoods of those who traditionally rely on medicinal plants are to be met.     

Studies on the water extracts of medicinal plants grown in copper mining areas and their antioxidant effects

High copper (Cu) accumulation in medicinal plants might favor lipid peroxidation and hence affect antioxidant responses. This effect was studied by determining antioxidant activities in the water extracts of medicinal plants from Cu mining impact site and compared with control samples. Antioxidant activities of the extracted medicinal plants were assayed by measuring (1) total phenolic and flavonoid contents, (2) diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)^? free radical scavenging activity, and (3) inhibition capacities of lipid peroxidation. The total phenolic as well as total flavonoid contents of the mining impact samples and control samples are not significantly different. However, inhibition of lipid peroxidation capacities was significantly less (12–60%) for mining impact samples as reflected by the IC₅₀ values. These anomalies were attributed to high concentrations of Cu (2–4-fold higher) in mining impact samples as measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. A positive correlation was observed between Cu levels and IC₅₀ values for the inhibition of lipid peroxidation for mining impact samples.     

The medicinal and aromatic plants business of Uttarakhand: A mini review of challenges and directions for future research

The medicinal and aromatic plants resources of Uttarakhand, India offer significant opportunities of employment and livelihood for rural communities and contribute a large share in the medicinal and aromatic plants trade of India. With the growing trade of medicinal and aromatic plants resources in the global market, the medicinal and aromatic plants business of Uttarakhand is also continuously growing in terms of trade volume, value and market reach. But, considering the ecological importance as well as unregulated exploitations of these resources, the growing business activities in this sector appear incompatible to the sustainability agenda. Through a mini review, this study assesses the medicinal and aromatic plants sector of Uttarakhand and identifies key challenges that seem incompatible for resource and business sustainability and offers some prospective research directions essential for identifying pragmatic solutions to support sustainability in the sector. This review identifies nine key challenges to sustainability in Uttarakhandʼs medicinal and aromatic plants sector. It is therefore pertinent that future research focus on the prevailing challenges of the medicinal and aromatic plants sector of Uttarakhand to develop strategies for sustainable business prospects.     

羌药资源及其分布规律的研究

经调查鉴定，羌族民间常用药有２２５种，来源于１０３科２３６属，包括植物药２０４种，隶属于９３科２２２属；动物药１７种，隶属于１０科１４属；矿物药４种。发现四川省分布新记录种５种，并择其重要种类介绍了羌药的分布规律、新资源及其开发研究前景。     

三峡库区药用植物资源特征及其保护对策

三峡库区共有药用植物１１２９种,隶属于６０３属,１７４科。菊科、百合科、蝶形花科等１９个大科的种数达总种数的４９４％,蓼属、铁线莲属等２６个大属的种数达１８５％。中国特有种类占３７２％,显示出其在库区的丰富性。根茎类药用植物占４２１％,提示我们应适度采挖,做到永续利用。以林地为生境的药用植物占４８９％,表明森林是库区药用植物的资源库。三峡水库对库区药用植物资源的淹没损失不大,但其间接影响巨大。保护天然林是保护库区药用植物资源的重要途径。     

利用甘露醇生产中的“高温盐”研制药用氯化钾

利用“高温盐”废料研制成功药用氯化钾,是海藻制碘中的又一联产品。它不但解决了废料(高温盐)对环境的污染,而且还给企业带来了明显的经济效益。研制过程中的技术关键是如何去除糖胶、色素等杂质,提高溶液的澄清度,使各项指标达到药典标准。     

Application of TISM and MICMAC for analysis of influential factors of sustainable development of tablet devices: a case study

Abstract

With the advancements in technology and increase in demand for eco-efficient products, manufacturers are focusing on sustainable development of products. Enticing a huge demand over the recent years, sustainable development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) products are a subject of interest for most practitioners and academicians. A number of factors are found to influence the sustainable development of ICT products. It is necessary to identify the most important factors and determine the dependencies of factors among themselves. In this regard, a case study has been conducted in the context of sustainable development of tablet devices. The most influential factors have been identified from literature and with experts input. The factor dependencies are established using Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM) methodology. MICMAC analysis is used to classify the factors based on their ability to influence other factors. The output of TISM forms the input for MICMAC analysis. From the study, it was found that the factors, ‘Customer pressure’, ‘Government regulations’, ‘Competitiveness’, ‘Organization initiative’ and ‘Technological advancements’ are the most driving factors. Factors ‘Environmental impact’, ‘Energy efficiency’ and ‘Opportunities to upgrade’ were found to be dependent.     

Ecological niche modeling of customary medicinal plant species used by Australian Aborigines to identify species-rich and culturally valuable areas for conservation

Customary medicinal plant species used by Australian Aborigines are disappearing rapidly with its associated knowledge, due to the loss of habitats. Conservation and protection of these species is important as they represent sources of novel therapeutic phytochemical compounds and are culturally valuable. Information on the spatial distribution and use of customary medicinal plants is often inadequate and fragmented, posing limitations on the identification and conservation of species-rich areas and culturally valuable habitats.In this study, the habitat suitability modeling program, MaxEnt, was used to predict the potential ecological niches of 431 customary medicinal plant species, based on bioclimatic variables. Specimen locality records were obtained from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) data portal and from Australia's Virtual Herbarium (AVH).Ecological niche models of 414 predicted species, which had 30 or more occurrence points, were used to produce maps indicating areas that were ecologically suitable for multiple species (concordance of high predicted ecological suitability) and having cultural values. For the concordance map, individual species niche models were thresholded and summed. To derive a map of culturally valuable areas, customary medicinal uses from Customary Medicinal Knowledgebase (CMKb) (www.biolinfo.org/cmkb) were used to weight individual species models, resulting in a value within each grid cell reflecting its cultural worth.Even though the available information is scarce and fragmented, our approach provides an opportunity to infer areas predicted to be suitable for multiple species (i.e. concordance hotspots) and to estimate the cultural value of a particular geographical area. Our results also indicate that to conserve bio-cultural diversity, comprehensive information and active participation of Aboriginal communities is indispensable.     

Popular Use, Chemical Composition and Trade of Cerrado's Medicinal Plants (Goiás, Brazil)

This survey was done to register information of cerrado's medicinal plants sellers, who trade in downtown Anápolis (Brazil). The information obtained was pertaining to medicinal purposes, the most used portion of the plants, ecological lore and the best selling plants. A cluster analysis was performed to group the plants by medicinal use and by their chemical composition, obtained in the current literature. To verify if differences in chemical compounds correspond to differences in medicinal use, a Mantel test was applied to assess the correlation in those grouping. The results showed a low but significant correlation between medicinal use and chemical composition of the plants, nevertheless, there is still little published information on the pharmacological potential of cerrado's plant. Trade of cerrado's medicinal plants has local economic importance for a low income and illiterate population and the urbanization of the activity caused the loss of some traditional knowledge, like ecological information about the plants. A traveling salesman of medicinal plants (raizeiro) seems to have the most traditional lore, but he was not found to the interview. The excessive use of roots for medicinal purposes can be a threat to cerrado biome coupled with other human pressures in this ecosystem. Traditional knowledge of medicinal plants is endangered as much as the ecosystem that originated it.     

湿润亚热带典型白云岩流域不同土地利用下的试片溶蚀速率及岩溶碳汇

土地利用对石灰岩溶蚀速率的影响已有较多研究报道,但白云岩溶蚀速率对于土地利用的响应研究却罕见相关报道。因此,探究不同土地利用对白云岩溶蚀速率的影响具有一定的意义,并可为评估白云岩地区的岩溶碳汇效应积累基础数据。本文以湿润亚热带典型白云岩小流域——贵州施秉黄洲河白云岩小流域为研究区,利用白云岩溶蚀试片对流域内不同土地利用下的白云岩溶蚀速率及其影响因素进行了研究。结果表明：不同土地利用条件下白云岩试片溶蚀速率的大小为旱地（4.25 mg/（cm²·a））>林地（1.01 mg/（cm²·a））>水田（0.14 mg/（cm²·a））;白云岩试片溶蚀速率随土壤有机质含量增加、土壤pH值减少而增大;但其与土壤CO₂浓度呈相反的变化趋势;土壤含水量、容重对溶蚀速率的影响不大。由白云岩试片的溶蚀速率估算该白云岩流域的岩溶碳汇总量为351.70 tCO₂/a,岩溶碳汇通量为7.31 tCO₂/（km²·a）,与前人利用水化学径流法计算相比明显较小。与以往在石灰岩区使用溶蚀试片法和水化学径流法计算的岩溶碳汇强度差异大致相同。