Biodiversity in the high ranges of the Alps: Ethnobotanical and climate change perspectives

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Abstract

Alpine plants, those predominantly occurring above a treeline, contribute significantly to biodiversity in mountain systems. Thus, one might expect a considerable part of the Alpine flora to be ethnobotanically relevant as has been documented for the Eastern Himalaya. As climate change, especially global warming, may lead to the extinction of Alpine plants, at least locally, loss of alpine species might be important to local people who rely on traditional medicine. How this holds for the Alps will be discussed in this contribution.

The Alps are different from the Himalayas in that land use has changed dramatically during the past century. Rural life and culture has changed and much land has been abandoned or is under modern land use systems (industrial farming, tourism, urbanisation). Though much traditional knowledge has disappeared, traditional medicinal practices are still popular as supplemental to modern medicine. In a representative region in the Central Alps, traditional healers use 268 plants species of which 158 can be considered native to that area. Of the 25 predominantly Alpine species three are restricted to the highest Alps where warming might lead to their extinction. In the Alps some ornamental plants are of particular interest from an ethnobotanical point of view. People are apparently much more interested in what happens to Edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinum) than to medicinal plants. Other famous ornamentals (Leontopodium, Rhododendron, Gentiana, Anemone species) do not grow at critical high elevations, but could disappear locally from mountains which are too low in elevation.

Introduction

Studies in mountain regions indicate that useful plants are directly related to biodiversity and vary with elevation (Salick et al., 1999, Salick et al., 2004, Salick et al., this issue). In Europe, though plant biodiversity decreases with increasing elevation (Körner, 2003), the group of Alpine plants that predominantly occurs at the treeline ecotone and above contributes essentially to the overall diversity of mountain regions. The Alpine flora of all the European mountain systems together amounts to 2500 species, which is about 20% of the total flora of the continent (Väre et al., 2003). As a consequence one might expect that a considerable portion of this flora is ethnobotanically relevant as documented for the Himalayas where Tibetan doctors use on average 61% of the Alpine plant flora (Salick et al., this issue as well as Salick et al., 2006).

Climate change affects this mountain world. As documented for the Scandes, the Urals, and Balcanic mountains, the trees at the treeline ecotone are growing more vigorous now, and population density has increased, leading to a shift of the treeline to higher elevations (Kullman, 2002, Kullman, 2003, Moiseev and Shiyatov, 2003, Meshinev et al., 2000). In the Alps, similar effects have been reported from the Alpine/Nival ecotone. At the GLORIA (Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments, www.gloria.ac.at) master site Schrankogel, Tyrol the population densities of Alpine plants occurring already at the Alpine/Nival ecotone increased significantly between 1994 and 2004, whereas population densities of the Nival cryofloral species declined (Pauli et al., 2007). Also related to observed warming, species richness of summits at the elevational limits of plant life in the Alps (above 3000 m) has increased during the past 100 years (Grabherr et al., 1994, Walther et al., 2005). It is evident that the Alpine flora has been, and will be, in a state of change (Grabherr, 2003). Though extinction scenarios which predict losses of species up to 60% for the European mountains (Thuiller et al., 2005) might be exaggerated, many populations of Alpine species may decrease, particularly those growing close to the limits of plant life. These highest plant species may even become extinct, at least locally.

In this paper I will discuss how these climate change effects may be relevant from an Ethnobotanical perspective for the Alps, as it is explored for the Himalayas by Salick et al. (this issue). I combine elevational gradient data from the GLORIA data sets (www.gloria.ac.at, Erschbamer et al., 2006) with investigations on medicinal plants in northern South Tyrol (Alto Adige, Italy; Pickl-Herk, 1995, Fig. 1), and refer to my own unpublished observations in the Montafon area, Vorarlberg, Austria.

Section snippets

Flora, vegetation, and land use in the Alpine environments of the Alps

The vascular plant flora of the Alps is estimated at about 4500 species of which 750–800 species grow predominantly above treeline. About 270 species of this Alpine flora are endemic to the Alps (Ozenda and Borel, 2003). The flora belongs to the Holarctic realm, thus showing high similarity at the generic and family levels to the Alpine floras of the northern hemisphere, including the Himalayas and the mountain systems of North America. From the treeline ecotone up to the limits of plant life

Study area and data sets

The effect of climate change on useful plants will be explored in this study focusing on medicinal plants of a representative region of the Central Alps – northern South Tyrol (Alto Adige), Italy (Fig. 1). The list of medicinal plants is taken from a diploma thesis carried out at the Institute of Pharmacognosy of the University of Vienna (Pickl-Herk, 1995). In the region of the Pustertal and tributaries, the area of Brixen, Feldthurns, and Säven, Pickl-Herk (1995) interviewed with 83 persons

Results

In the region of northern South Tyrol (Alto Adige) 268 plant species were mentioned to be used for medicinal purposes by the contacted traditional healers. Out of these, 158 species belong to the native regional flora (ca. 2000 species) and about 25 species of those can be considered Alpine (Appendix 1); however, some of these 25 species (e.g., A. montana and C. islandica) also occur at lower elevation (i.e. montane forests or pastures).

The occurrence of the useful Alpine plants (in total 31

Discussion

The case study from northern South Tyrol suggests that a considerable portion of the native flora has been used for medicinal purposes, although the percentage (about 10%) seems very low compared to the figure (61%) reported for the eastern Himalaya where traditional Tibetan medicine still flourishes (Salick et al., this issue as well as Salick et al., 2006). In the northern South Tyrol the percentage of medicinal plants holds also for Alpine plants, however among the species which are

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