Conservation with local people: Medicinal plants as cultural keystone species in the Southern Alps

The concept of “cultural keystone species” (CKS) combines ecological and socioeconomic aspects and has a great potential for improving the overall success of conservation and restoration of ecosystems. In our study, we combined an ecological analysis of traditional medicinal plant species with an explorative analysis of the stakeholder landscape to understand the importance of plants for local communities. We investigate the feasibility of the CKS concept for traditional medicinal plants using the Southern Alps (Northern Italy) as a case study. Based on a comprehensive survey of traditional medicinal plants, we analyzed the habitats where they occur and their significance as CKS candidates. We applied the index of identified cultural influence (ICI). We identified some of the relevant stakeholders and their potential interest in traditional medicinal plants. From a total of 273 native medicinal species, we ranked the 10 most important CKS candidates. These comprised species with different ecology such as the herbs Achillea millefolium agg., Alchemilla xanthochlora, Arnica montana, Hypericum perforatum, Matricaria chamomilla, Peucedanum ostruthium, Urtica dioica, the shrub Juniperus communis, and the tree species Betula pendula. By merging their importance for the local communities with their occurrences in the habitats of South Tyrol, the concept of CKS can stimulate species and habitat conservation, and ecosystem restoration