title: Patterns and Environmental Determinants of Medicinal Plant : Vascular Plant Ratios in Xinjiang, Northwest China.
abstract: With both a full collection of native vascular plant distributions and a full checklist of source plants of the Chinese Materia Medica (CMM), the Uygur Medicine (UM), and the Kazak Medicine (KM) for the Xinjiang region, we defined medicinal plant: vascular plant ratios (simplified as medicinal plant ratios hereafter) as the value of medicinal plant richness divided by vascular plant richness. We aimed to find whether the ratios are constant or change in different environments, which environmental variables determine medicinal plant ratios, and whether the ratios are more influenced by human or by natural environments. Finally, suggestions for medicinal plant conservation were addressed. We found that (1) medicinal plant ratios were not constant, and they were high in the Tarim Basin which was largely covered by desert, while they were relatively low in mountainous areas, especially in the Tianshan Mountains where the general species richness was high; (2) medicinal plant ratios were not significantly influenced by human activities, indicated by human population density distributions, but they were highly correlated with plant species richness and climate, i.e. ratios decreased with plant species richness and MAP, and were related quadratically with MAT; (3) CMM ratio and UM ratio were more influenced by plant richness than by climate, while KM ratio was more influenced by climate. We concluded that the percentages of plants used as medicines were not influenced by distances from human settlements, but were determined by species richness or climate. We suggest that (1), in general, the medicinal plant ratio could be a complementary indicator for medicinal plant conservation planning and (2), for the region of Xinjiang, not only high diversity areas, but also some extreme environments should be considered as compensation for a better protection of medicinal plants.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.|Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Resources Utilization of Chinese Herbal Medicine (Peking Union Medical College), Ministry of Education, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Liping
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5550-1932
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Resources Utilization of Chinese Herbal Medicine (Peking Union Medical College), Ministry of Education, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.|Xinjiang Institute of Chinese and Ethnic Medicine, Urumqi, China.
authors.forename: Bengang
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Resources Utilization of Chinese Herbal Medicine (Peking Union Medical College), Ministry of Education, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Peigen
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Resources Utilization of Chinese Herbal Medicine (Peking Union Medical College), Ministry of Education, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yaodong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Resources Utilization of Chinese Herbal Medicine (Peking Union Medical College), Ministry of Education, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Resources Utilization of Chinese Herbal Medicine (Peking Union Medical College), Ministry of Education, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.|Xinjiang Institute of Chinese and Ethnic Medicine, Urumqi, China.
authors.forename: Haitao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Xinjiang Institute of Chinese and Ethnic Medicine, Urumqi, China.
authors.forename: Xiaojin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Xinjiang Institute of Chinese and Ethnic Medicine, Urumqi, China.
authors.forename: Guoping
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecological Interactions, German Federal Institute of Hydrology, Koblenz, Germany.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Terwei
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D002681:China; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D006801:Humans; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000502:physiology*