Wild Allium species (Alliaceae) used in folk medicine of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

BACKGROUND: Hitherto available sources from literature mentioned several wild growing Allium species as "edible" or "medicinally used" but without any further specification. METHODS: New data were gained during recent research missions: Allium plants were collected and shown to the local population which was asked for names and usage of these plants. RESULTS: Information was collected about current medical applications of sixteen wild species, nine of which belong to different sections of Allium subgenus Melanocrommyum. These plants are used against headache, cold, and stomach problems, and are mostly applied fresh or after boiling. CONCLUSION: Close taxonomic relatives of the common onion were used similar to cultivated onion species, but medical use like garlic was mostly reported for species taxonomically not related to garlic

Mapping Asia Plants: Current status of floristic information for Central Asian flora

Central Asia, which is composed of five countries - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, is an important global biodiversity hotspot, but a botanically poorly-known part of Asia. As part of the Mapping Asia Plants (MAP) project, we reviewed the history of botanical investigations, floristic works and publications in this region, as well as key floras, checklists, herbaria and online databases in Central Asia. The published Floras and Checklists dating back to 1851 lay a solid foundation for botanical research in Central Asia today. Eight Floras (61 vol) and four Cheklists for this region were listed and introduced in this paper. At the regional level, the full eleven volumes Conspectus Florae Asiae Mediae, containing 9341 species of vascular plants belonging to 1245 genera and 161 families across Central Asia, were published during 1968-2015. At the country level, the national Floras of five countries which were published during 1932-1991, listed 5631, 3576, 4445, 2607 and 4148 species of vascular plants in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, respectively. The species counts were updated to 5658, 3927 and 2800 in the national Checklists of vascular plant in Kazakhstan (1999), Kyrgyzstan (2014) and Turkmenistan (1988), respectively. We also simply introduced the key herbaria in this region which contain about 2.5 million specimens in total. However, some major gaps and limitations, i.e. the outdate publications, national Floras mainly in local language, the massive non-digitized specimens, and the lack of an online database or platform, should be addressed in terms of their global applications. (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V

Challenges and solutions to biodiversity conservation in arid lands

The strategic goals of the United Nations and the Aichi Targets for biodiversity conservation have not been met. In-stead, biodiversity has continued to rapidly decrease, especially in developing countries. Setting a new global biodiver-sity framework requires clarifying future priorities and strategies to bridge challenges and provide representative solutions. Hyper-arid, arid, and semi-arid lands (herein, arid lands) form about one third of the Earth's terrestrial surface. Arid lands contain unique biological and cultural diversity, and biodiversity loss in arid lands can have a dis-proportionate impact on these ecosystems due to low redundancy and a high risk of trophic cascades. They contain unique biological and cultural diversity and host many endemic species, including wild relatives of key crop plants. Yet exten-sive agriculture, unsustainable use, and global climate change are causing an irrecoverable damage to arid lands, with far-reaching consequences to the species, ground-water resources, ecosystem productivity, and ultimately the commu-nities' dependant on these systems. However, adequate research and effective policies to protect arid land biodiversity and sustainability are lacking because a large proportion of arid areas are in developing countries, and the unique di-versity in these systems is frequently overlooked. Developing new priorities for global arid lands and mechanisms to prevent unsustainable development must become part of public discourse and form the basis for conservation efforts. The current situation demands the combined efforts of researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and local communities to adopt a socio-ecological approach for achieving sustainable development (SDGs) in arid lands. Applying these ini-tiatives globally is imperative to conserve arid lands biodiversity and the critical ecological services they provide for future generations. This perspective provides a framework for conserving biodiversity in arid lands for all stakeholders that will have a tangible impact on sustainable development, nature, and human well-being

Challenges and solutions to biodiversity conservation in arid lands

The strategic goals of the United Nations and the Aichi Targets for biodiversity conservation have not been met. Instead, biodiversity has continued to rapidly decrease, especially in developing countries. Setting a new global biodiversity framework requires clarifying future priorities and strategies to bridge challenges and provide representative solutions. Hyper-arid, arid, and semi-arid lands (herein, arid lands) form about one third of the Earth's terrestrial surface. Arid lands contain unique biological and cultural diversity, and biodiversity loss in arid lands can have a disproportionate impact on these ecosystems due to low redundancy and a high risk of trophic cascades. They contain unique biological and cultural diversity and host many endemic species, including wild relatives of key crop plants. Yet extensive agriculture, unsustainable use, and global climate change are causing an irrecoverable damage to arid lands, with far-reaching consequences to the species, ground-water resources, ecosystem productivity, and ultimately the communities' dependant on these systems. However, adequate research and effective policies to protect arid land biodiversity and sustainability are lacking because a large proportion of arid areas are in developing countries, and the unique diversity in these systems is frequently overlooked. Developing new priorities for global arid lands and mechanisms to prevent unsustainable development must become part of public discourse and form the basis for conservation efforts. The current situation demands the combined efforts of researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and local communities to adopt a socio-ecological approach for achieving sustainable development (SDGs) in arid lands. Applying these initiatives globally is imperative to conserve arid lands biodiversity and the critical ecological services they provide for future generations. This perspective provides a framework for conserving biodiversity in arid lands for all stakeholders that will have a tangible impact on sustainable development, nature, and human well-being