Conservation with local people: medicinal plants as cultural keystone species in the Southern Alps

Abstract

The concept of "cultural keystone species" (CKS) combines ecological and socioeconomic aspects and has a great potential for improving the overall success of conservation and restoration of ecosystems. In our study, we combined an ecological analysis of traditional medicinal plant species with an explorative analysis of the stakeholder landscape to understand the importance of plants for local communities. We investigate the feasibility of the CKS concept for traditional medicinal plants using the Southern Alps (Northern Italy) as a case study. Based on a comprehensive survey of traditional medicinal plants, we analyzed the habitats where they occur and their significance as CKS candidates. We applied the index of identified cultural influence (ICI). We identified some of the relevant stakeholders and their potential interest in traditional medicinal plants. From a total of 273 native medicinal species, we ranked the 10 most important CKS candidates. These comprised species with different ecology such as the herbs Achillea millefolium agg., Alchemilla xanthochlora, Arnica montana, Hypericum perforatum, Matricaria chamomilla, Peucedanum ostruthium, Urtica dioica, the shrub Juniperus communis, and the tree species Betula pendula. By merging their importance for the local communities with their occurrences in the habitats of South Tyrol, the concept of CKS can stimulate species and habitat conservation, and ecosystem restoration.

Understanding old herbal secrets: The renaissance of traditional medicinal plants beyond the twenty classic species?

“…The great majority of interviewees highlighted the renaissance of traditional medicinal plants after a decline in the 1980s and 1990s (e.g., I1-5, I7 -I4). This supports results of previous studies in the region (Grabherr et al, 2009;Petelka et al, 2020;Petelka et al, 2022;Cavalloro et al, 2022). Most interviewees emphasise the great treasure of traditional medicinal plants and underline their potential to enhance regional sustainability, protect biodiversity and to face current global challenges such as ecosystem degradation, environmental and health crises or cultural desintegration (Anyinam, 1995;Alves and Rosa, 2007).…”

“…We used qualitative, semi-structured guided interviews (Mattisek et al, 2013) with local actors to explore the role of medicinal plants in environmental education. Based on previous studies on stakeholder analysis in the region (Petelka et al, 2022), we identified people with many years of knowledge about and working experience with medicinal plants, for example, farmers, lecturers or employees in educational institutions. Interviews are a basic method for socioecological studies and do not focus on numbers, but primarily on obtaining the opinions of various stakeholders who are relevant for new insights.…”

“…The questionnaire was sent in advance by e-mail. We extended a questionnaire previously used in the region (Petelka et al, 2022), also asking about the role of traditionally used medicinal plants for environmental education. We specifically asked the following questions: Who do you consider relevant to the topic of traditional medicinal plants in South Tyrol?…”

“…A more holistic and sustainable vision of conservation and habitat restoration is capable of incorporating cultural and socio-economic factors and making conservation efforts meaningful to local people (e.g., Volenzo and Odiyo, 2020;Zerbe, 2023). Concepts of cultural keystone species (e.g., Garibaldi and Turner, 2004;Petelka et al, 2022) or biocultural diversity (e.g., Maffi, 2018), which have built bridges from ecological to social sciences, recognize the role of species in the identity and culture of a local community, help to develop conservation strategies based on traditional ecological knowledge, and identify the local community as a key institution for sustainable resource management (Berkes et al, 2000;Volenzo and Odiyo, 2020).…”

“…South Tyrol in the European Alps is a refugia for herbal medicine and preserved knowledge (Grabherr, 2009;Petelka et al, 2020). Traditional medicinal plants have been identified here as ideal as cultural keystone species to protect biodiversity and nature (Petelka et al, 2022). Despite the general trend of habitat loss and cultural erosion, there is growing evidence in South Tyrolian communities of renewed social and scientific interest in traditional medicinal plants and associated knowledge, which foster both biodiversity conservation and cultural identity (Pieroni and Giusti, 2009;Abbet et al, 2014;Pinela et al, 2017;Schunko et al, 2019;Petelka et al, 2020).…”