Phylogeny reveals non‐random medicinal plant organ selection by local people in Benin

Gaoue, Orou G.; Yessoufou, Kowiyou; Mankga, Ledile T.; Vodouhè, Fifanou G.

doi:10.1002/ppp3.10202

Cited by 22 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 107 publications

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“…Instead, large plant families contain more medicinal plants than expected, thus supporting the non-random selection hypothesis of medicinal plants. Such positive relationship has been reported in numerous studies across different continents (Asia [ 18 ], South America [ 19 , 20 ], and North America [ 6 , 17 , 37 , 50 ], including in the Pacific [ 10 ], and in Africa [ 2 , 4 ]. Our results, using the southern African flora, provide additional support to the hypothesis, and we therefore suggest that the non-random hypothesis could perhaps be regarded as a generalizable pattern in ethnobotany.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

“…Several alternative hypotheses have been formulated to explain the patterns of plant use by local people (see review in [ 1 ]). However, existing studies examined these hypotheses individually [ 2 – 4 ], and this limits our broad understanding of how multiple drivers shape local people’s plant knowledge and use [ 5 ]. In the present study, we tested three interlinked hypotheses to explain the integration of alien plants into local medicinal flora: non-random selection, diversification, and versatility hypotheses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Alien woody plants are more versatile than native, but both share similar therapeutic redundancy in South Africa

et al. 2021

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Understanding why alien plant species are incorporated into the medicinal flora in several local communities is central to invasion biology and ethnobiology. Theories suggest that alien plants are incorporated in local pharmacopoeias because they are more versatile or contribute unique secondary chemistry which make them less therapeutically redundant, or simply because they are locally more abundant than native species. However, a lack of a comprehensive test of these hypotheses limits our understanding of the dynamics of plants knowledge, use and potential implications for invasion. Here, we tested the predictions of several of these hypotheses using a unique dataset on the woody medicinal flora of southern Africa. We found that the size of a plant family predicts the number of medicinal plants in that family, a support for the non-random hypothesis of medicinal plant selection. However, we found no support for the diversification hypothesis: i) both alien and native plants were used in the treatment of similar diseases; ii) significantly more native species than alien contribute to disease treatments particularly of parasitic infections and obstetric-gynecological diseases, and iii) alien and native species share similar therapeutic redundancy. However, we found support for the versatility hypothesis, i.e., alien plants were more versatile than natives. These findings imply that, although alien plant species are not therapeutically unique, they do provide more uses than native plants (versatility), thus suggesting that they may not have been introduced primarily for therapeutic reasons. We call for similar studies to be carried out on alien herbaceous plants for a broader understanding of the integration of alien plants into the pharmacopoeias of the receiving communities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alien woody plants are more versatile than native, but both share similar therapeutic redundancy in South Africa

et al. 2021

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“…From a phylogenetic perspective, this is an indication of non-random selection of alien plants. However, taxonomic non-random plant selection was initially suggested almost four decades ago to explain human-plant interactions, particularly for native plants used in traditional medicine [6,41,42]. This was later supported in several other studies, but mostly for native plants used in traditional medicine [8,[43][44][45].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…; [1][2][3][4][5]). The selection and use of plants by humans have been shown to be non-random, but this nonrandomness has been widely demonstrated for native plants (e.g., [6][7][8][9][10]). However, it is increasingly shown that alien species intentionally selected and introduced into new environments for human use (e.g., medicine) are also non-random selections from local floras (e.g., [11]; see [12] for further references).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Introduced Alien Species More Predisposed to Invasion in Recipient Environments If They Provide a Wider Range of Services to Humans?

Yessoufou

Ambani

2021

Diversity

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The drivers of invasion success of alien species remain, to some extent, a matter of debate. Here, we suggest that the services (the benefits humans obtain from a species) provided by alien plants could predict their invasion status, such that alien species providing more services would be more likely to be invasive than not. The rationale for this expectation is that alien species providing multiple services stand a better chance of being introduced in various numbers and multiple times outside their native range (propagule pressure theory). We investigated this hypothesis on alien woody species in South Africa. First, we defined 12 services provided by all the 210 known naturalized alien woody plants in South Africa. Then, we tested for a phylogenetic signal in these services using a DNA barcode-based phylogeny. Finally, we tested for potential links between the services and invasion status by fitting GLM models with appropriate error families. We found a phylogenetic signal in most services, suggesting that closely related species tend to provide similar services. Counter-intuitively, we consistently found that alien non-invasive species tend to provide more services, or even unique services, in comparison to alien invasive species. Although alternative scenarios are plausible to explain this unexpected finding, we speculate that harvesting alien plants for human benefits may limit their invasion ability. This warrants further investigation.

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“…Recently, an increasing number of authors are calling for the vast wealth of ethnobotanical knowledge documented over centuries to be used to test hypotheses and theories or to formulate new ones [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13], a common practice in any scientific discipline. Some authors even questioned whether ethnobotany, as a scientific discipline, has a unifying theory, since the discipline remains, for too long, largely descriptive without clearly defined theoretical frameworks [13][14][15][16]. Consequently, there has been repeated calls for a para-digm shift towards more theory-inspired or hypothesis-driven research in ethnobotany [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time, Mediated through Plant Versatility, is a Better Predictor of Medicinal Status of Alien Plants

Yessoufou¹,

Ambani²,

Elansary³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Ethnobotany has been, for too long, a descriptive discipline. However, ethnobotanists are increasingly calling for a paradigm shift towards the formulation of unifying theories and hypothesis-driven research in ethnobotany. Here, we formulated a theory, termed time-since-introduction theory, to explain the integration of alien plants into local pharmacopoeias in their recipient environment. This theory suggests that the factor time is paramount in determining which alien plants are more likely to be included in the medicinal flora of the areas they are introduced in. The theory relies on three hypotheses, the availability and versatility hypotheses alongside the residence time hypothesis newly proposed in the present study. We tested this theory by fitting a structural equation model to ethnobotanical data collected on South Africa’s alien woody flora. Although residence time is a direct predictor of medicinal status of alien plants, it is a better predictor when mediated through plant versatility. These findings are in support of the theory, and we consequently proposed a framework with which to understand different paths linking all three hypotheses. Collectively, our study shows the value of time in the development of ethnobotanical knowledge and fully responds to the pressing call for paradigm shift in ethnobotany.

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Phylogeny reveals non‐random medicinal plant organ selection by local people in Benin

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Cited by 22 publications

References 107 publications

Alien woody plants are more versatile than native, but both share similar therapeutic redundancy in South Africa

Alien woody plants are more versatile than native, but both share similar therapeutic redundancy in South Africa

Are Introduced Alien Species More Predisposed to Invasion in Recipient Environments If They Provide a Wider Range of Services to Humans?

Time, Mediated through Plant Versatility, is a Better Predictor of Medicinal Status of Alien Plants

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