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Pak. J. Bot., 48(3): 999-1012, 2016.

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THREATENED PLANT RESOURCES: DISTRIBUTION AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN THE WORLD’S HIGH ELEVATION PARK OF THE KARAKORAM RANGES

ARSHAD ALI SHEDAYI^1,2, MING XU^3*, FARRUKH HUSSAIN⁴, SEHRISH SADIA⁵, IQNAA NASEER⁶ AND SEEMA BANO²

Abstract: This study aims to investigate diversity, distribution, status, ecosystem services and threats to the plant resources in the study area based on field survey and ethno ecological knowledge for effective conservation and sustainable ecosystem services. The present study was conducted in the world’s high elevation Khunjerab National Park (KNP) of the Karakoram ranges in Pakistan bordering China. Tremendous ecosystem services are obtained from the park and considered the most important habitat for many plant biodiversity and wildlife species. Field surveys were conducted to collect plants in transect along the road side of seven valleys ranging from 3160m to 4934m altitudinal variation. The names and traditional uses were recorded from the local people of the area by semi structured questionnaires and direct interviews. The data was analyzed by excel spreadsheets, direct matrix ranking, and pair comparison tests. Asteraceae was the dominant family with 15% species followed by Chenopodiaceae 10%, Poaceae 8%, Papilionaceae and Rocaceae 7%each, Brasicaceae 6%. Plant resources contribute direct and indirect ecosystem services such as food, medicine, fuel, timber, thatching, water purification, mineral and soil retention, and most importantly as sink of global carbon stock especially in the high altitude peatlands. Herbs were the dominant species in the area with 89%. Fodder is the most common usage for plants, followed by medicine. Plants with percentages 27% and 39% found to be highly palatable and palatable respectively. Competition for food between wildlife and livestock was high recorded for 60% plants. Plants used to cure various diseases including stomachache, asthma, cancer and tuberculosis etc. Plant resources in KNP are unique and vary with climate and altitude. This floral wealth is under tremendous threats of global climate change and anthropogenic activities like overgrazing, increasing population, and a rapidly declining traditional knowledge for sustainable use. Awareness for sustainable harvesting of plants, reducing grazing pressure, equitable resource sharing, marketing of the products, effective management and policy decisions and research on ecosystem services assessment, valuation and climate change impact on wild plant resources are recommended.

Key words: Distribution, Diversity, Ethnobotany, Ethno-ecology, KNP, Medicinal plants, Palatability, Ecosystem services, Threats.

¹Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Research Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

²Department of Biological Sciences, Karakoram International University, Gilgit, Pakistan

³Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

⁴Department of Botany University of Peshawar, Pakistan

⁵College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

⁶Department of Botany, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan

*Corresponding author email: mingxu@crssa.rutgers.edu