Medicinal plants constitute an important component of agrobiodiversity in Indigenous landscapes, where wild, cultivated, and locally managed resources contribute to household health care, biocultural continuity, and biodiversity conservation. This study characterized medicinal plant agrobiodiversity, therapeutic uses, management practices, and intracultural variation in ethnobotanical knowledge in Santiago Ixtaltepec, a Mixtec Indigenous community in Oaxaca, Mexico. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to 32 adult household members. After taxonomic standardization and data-quality control, 578 individual use reports representing 82 operational medicinal taxa were documented, of which 78 taxa were assigned to 37 botanical families. Citation-frequency diversity was high (Shannon-Wiener H′ = 3.902; Simpson 1 - D = 0.972), while Hill diversity declined from 82 observed taxa at q = 0 to 49.51 and 35.71 effective taxa at q = 1 and q = 2, respectively. Calea ternifolia had the highest relative frequency of citation (RFC = 0.781), followed by Tournefortia mutabilis (RFC = 0.688), while culturally defined illnesses showed the highest informant consensus (ICF = 0.809). Medicinal plant knowledge richness varied markedly among informants and was negatively associated with age but positively associated with formal education, whereas no significant gender differences were detected. Collection from the surrounding landscape involved 76.8% of medicinal taxa, while 40.2% were associated with backyard cultivation, indicating overlapping acquisition and management strategies. Multivariate analyses detected no significant differentiation in medicinal plant repertoires according to gender, age, education, or agricultural involvement, whereas correspondence analysis revealed distinct therapeutic gradients, particularly for digestive disorders and culturally defined illnesses. Overall, these findings show that medicinal plant diversity is embedded within a broader biocultural management system integrating household practices, landscape use, therapeutic knowledge, and culturally specific health traditions. This study highlights the importance of community-based approaches to the conservation and governance of medicinal agrobiodiversity, while emphasizing the need for complementary population- and habitat-level assessments to evaluate ecological sustainability and harvesting impacts.
IntroductionAconitum heterophyllum, a member of family Ranunculaceae, is a critically endangered Himalayan medicinal herb widely used in traditional Indian medicine for its pharmacological properties, including anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and cardioprotective effects. Despite its medicinal importance and conservation priority, genomic resources for this species remain scarce. MethodsThis study reports the first and complete chloroplast genome of A. heterophyllum, assembled de novo using Oxford Nanopore long-read sequencing, enriching genomic resources for the genus Aconitum. ResultsThe circular genome is 157,327 bp in length with a GC content of 37.96%, exhibiting the typical quadripartite structure comprising a large single-copy (LSC) region (87,803 bp), a small single-copy (SSC) region (17,102 bp), and two inverted repeats (IRs) of ~26.2 kb each. The genome encodes 124 genes, including 83 protein-coding genes, 34 tRNAs, and 7 rRNAs. Codon usage analysis revealed a bias toward A/T-ending codons, with overall weak codon usage bias. Phylogenetic reconstruction using 74 core chloroplast genes from 65 Aconitum genomes identified A. coreanum as the closest plastome-level relative of A. heterophyllum, while nuclear ITS evidence suggests affinity with A. polycarpum, supporting its placement within subgenus Aconitum and section Sinaconitum, consistent with previous morphological and phytochemical classification. DiscussionThis study provides a high-quality chloroplast genome resource that complements existing phylogenomic frameworks and supports future studies on molecular identification and conservation genetics of Aconitum species.
IntroductionSeagrass restoration efforts have been motivated by global decreases in coverage associated with anthropogenic influences on the environment. In the Indian River Lagoon (IRL), FL, USA, seagrass declined by 75% between 2011 and 2021. During this time, abundance of the native macroalga Caulerpa prolifera increased substantially in this system. As restoration efforts began in the IRL, it became apparent that varying abundance of C. prolifera could impact the recovery of seagrass. Halodule wrightii is the most abundant seagrass in the IRL and often targeted for restoration use.MethodsExperiments were done using outdoor, recirculating-water mesocosms to test the effects of C. prolifera abundance on planted H. wrightii.Results and DiscussionResults showed a competitive effect on outcomes of H. wrightii transplants when C. prolifera occurrence is 90%. Within the context of restoration, this indicates that newly transplanted fragments of H. wrightii could struggle to establish themselves due to resource deficiencies in areas with high coverage (90% occurrence) of C. prolifera. Mixed results with medium coverage of C. prolifera (65% occurrence) and no effect in areas with low coverage (25% occurrence) indicate a potential transition range above 65% occurrence and below 90% occurrence of C. prolifera where consistent effects of competition begin to appear on H. wrightii growth. Therefore, the success of transplanted H. wrightii fragments into low-to-medium C. prolifera abundance is not likely to be limited by competition with this native macroalga.
Human infrastructure can affect wildlife by altering habitat access, human encounter risk, hunting pressure, and the spatial distribution of resources, but species may respond through different behavioral pathways. Some species may avoid infrastructure locally, others may shift the timing of activity, and many may show weak or context-dependent responses. We used camera-trap data from 483 stations across the Las Piedras region of Madre de Dios, Peru, to evaluate how distance from human infrastructure was associated with temporal activity and local use across 30 Neotropical mammal taxa. We modeled two complementary binomial responses: nocturnality, defined as the probability that independent detections occurred at night rather than during the day, and detection-night probability, defined as the probability that a species was detected on a given active camera night. Hierarchical generalized additive models estimated nonlinear species-specific and trophic-group responses to infrastructure distance while accounting for species identity, trail placement, spatial structure, survey grid, camera station, and relevant environmental covariates. The best-supported final models combined species-specific and trophic-group distance smooths, while trophic-group-only models remained strongly unsupported. Across the primary near–far contrast from 0.85 to 7.20 km from infrastructure, responses were uneven across both species and response dimensions. Lowland tapir showed the clearest temporal response, with predicted nocturnality higher near infrastructure than farther away. Detection-night responses were generally smaller in absolute magnitude, but small rodents showed higher predicted detection-night probability nearer infrastructure and collared peccary showed higher predicted detection-night probability farther from infrastructure. Brocket deer showed a similar positive but less certain detection-night trend farther from infrastructure, and tayra showed a small, supported increase in detection-night probability nearer infrastructure. Many carnivores showed weak, nonlinear, or uncertain near–far detection-night responses. Overall, Amazonian mammals did not respond to human infrastructure through a single behavioral pathway. Instead, temporal and local-use responses were concentrated in particular taxa and ecological contexts, highlighting the value of evaluating when species are active alongside where they are detected.
Scholars have proposed the adoption of a contemporary global taboo against bats to prevent the outbreak of diseases to which humans are susceptible (zoonotic diseases). Zoonotic disease outbreaks are driven by environmental change and can result in collective human traumas that span generations. The proposal inspired us to explore the extent and characteristics of traditional wildlife taboos for zoonotic disease risk mitigation. We conducted a literature review to assess the role of zoonotic disease as a catalyst for traditional taboo development and enculturation. Out of concern that contemporary taboos could facilitate or amplify collective human trauma, we also contemplated the ethics of constructing and promoting contemporary wildlife taboos to serve health security aims. In this Perspective, we report on our review of traditional wildlife taboos as they relate to zoonotic disease risk mitigation, noting information shortfalls and observable linkages. We also respond to the call for contemporary wildlife taboos by exploring neocolonial approaches to conservation and achieving public health goals; the dynamics of values, ethics, and morals; and potential adverse impacts on biodiversity conservation. We conclude that the historical role of taboos as risk mitigation measures is not well-established due to data limitations; linkages cannot be readily drawn between specific wildlife species and specific pathogens. However, in general, there appears to be a reasonable likelihood that some taboos arose when communities repeatedly observed human health problems following contact with certain wildlife species. We do not recommend contemporary taboos as risk mitigation measures. If “taboo campaigns” are developed, we urge socio-cultural sensitivity, knowledge, and community participation. To safeguard the affected communities, socio-cultural and ecological impact assessments should be conducted as standard practice.
