Conocimiento tradicional de la flora silvestre en las comunidades campesinas del Santuario Histórico de la Pampa de Ayacucho (Quinua, Ayacucho, Perú) / Traditional knowledge of the wild flora in the rural communities of the Pampa de Ayacucho Historic Sanctuary (Quinua, Ayacucho, Peru)

El presente estudio registra el uso, conocimiento tradicional y distribución de la flora silvestre en las ocho comunidades campesinas andinas que rodean al Santuario Histórico de la Pampa de Ayacucho, ubicada en el distrito de Quinua, Perú. La metodología se basó en la recolección de la flora silvestre utilizada por los pobladores, entrevistas abiertas y semiestructuradas. Se reportan 137 especies utilizadas, agrupadas en 49 familias y 101 géneros, siendo las familias Asteraceae, Poaceae y Fabaceae las de mayor número de especies, con 34, 11 y 9 especies respectivamente. Las especies fueron clasificadas en nueve categorías de usos, siendo las categorías Medicinal (91 especies), Social (46 especies) y Alimenticio (35 especies) las más representativas por el número de especies que presentan. Se concluye que los pobladores del área de estudio aún conservan el conocimiento tradicional de sus recursos vegetales, evidenciado en el número de especies y en la diversidad de usos que presentan.

This study records the use, traditional knowledge and distribution of the wild flora in the eight Andean rural communities surrounding the Pampa de Ayacucho Historic Sanctuary, placed in the Quinua District, Peru. The methodology was based on the collection of the wild flora used by local people, open and semi-structured interviews. A total of 137 species used, grouped in 49 families and 101 genera, were registered; Asteraceae, Poaceae and Fabaceae are the families with the highest number of species, with 34, 11 and 9 species respectively. The species were classified into nine categories of uses; being the categories Medicinal (91 species), Social (46 species) and Food (35 species) being the most representative by the number of species present. We conclude that people living in the study area still maintaining the traditional knowledge of their vegetal resources, evidenced by the number of species and the diversity of uses that they present.

Plantas comercializadas por herbolarios en el mercado del distrito de Cajabamba (Cajamarca, Perú) / Plants commercialized by herbalists in the market district of Cajabamba (Cajamarca, Peru)

El estudio registra el conocimiento y uso de las plantas comercializadas en el mercado de Cajabamba, así como el ambiente donde se desarrollan y el estado de conservación que presentan. Se entrevistaron 60 herbolarios, registrándose 123 especies que en su mayoría son extraídas de su hábitat natural. Las familias más representativas fueron Lamiaceae y Asteraceae con 18 y 17 especies respectivamente. La mayoría de especies (85) fueron medicinales, indicadas principalmente contra afecciones digestivas. Nueve especies están incluidas en alguna categoría de conservación de la legislación peruana y ocho son endémicas. Se concluye que el conocimiento tradicional se conserva y es transmitido especialmente por la mujer.

The study records the knowledge and use of plants sold in the market of the Cajabamba district, the environment where they develop and the status of conservation they expose. 60 herbalists were interviewed, which recorded 123 species, most of them are taken from their natural habitat. The most representative families were Lamiaceae and Asteraceae with 18 and 17 species respectively. Plants of medical category had the highest number of species, used mainly against digestive disorders. Nine are included under categories of conservation according to Peruvian regulation, and eight of them are endemics. It is concluded that traditional knowledge is preserved and is especially transmitted by women.

Estimating species diversity and distribution in the era of Big Data: to what extent can we trust public databases?

AIM: Massive digitalization of natural history collections is now leading to a steep accumulation of publicly available species distribution data. However, taxonomic errors and geographical uncertainty of species occurrence records are now acknowledged by the scientific community - putting into question to what extent such data can be used to unveil correct patterns of biodiversity and distribution. We explore this question through quantitative and qualitative analyses of uncleaned versus manually verified datasets of species distribution records across different spatial scales. LOCATION: The American tropics. METHODS: As test case we used the plant tribe Cinchoneae (Rubiaceae). We compiled four datasets of species occurrences: one created manually and verified through classical taxonomic work, and the rest derived from GBIF under different cleaning and filling schemes. We used new bioinformatic tools to code species into grids, ecoregions, and biomes following WWF's classification. We analysed species richness and altitudinal ranges of the species. RESULTS: Altitudinal ranges for species and genera were correctly inferred even without manual data cleaning and filling. However, erroneous records affected spatial patterns of species richness. They led to an overestimation of species richness in certain areas outside the centres of diversity in the clade. The location of many of these areas comprised the geographical midpoint of countries and political subdivisions, assigned long after the specimens had been collected. MAIN CONCLUSION: Open databases and integrative bioinformatic tools allow a rapid approximation of large-scale patterns of biodiversity across space and altitudinal ranges. We found that geographic inaccuracy affects diversity patterns more than taxonomic uncertainties, often leading to false positives, i.e. overestimating species richness in relatively species poor regions. Public databases for species distribution are valuable and should be more explored, but under scrutiny and validation by taxonomic experts. We suggest that database managers implement easy ways of community feedback on data quality.

Antimicrobial activity of selected Peruvian medicinal plants.

The antimicrobial activity of 36 ethanol extracts from 24 plants, all of them currently used in the Peruvian traditional medicine for the treatment of several infectious and inflammatory disorders, was tested by means of the agar-well diffusion assay against four bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and four fungi (Candida albicans, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Microsporum gypseum and Sporothrix schenckii). Twenty-five (69%) extracts showed some degree of antimicrobial activity against at least one microorganism. The plants with the greatest antimicrobial activity were Cestrum auriculatum L. Heritier (Solanaceae), Iryanthera lancifolia Ducke Suesseng (Myristicaceae), Lepechinia meyenii (Walp.) Epling (Lamiaceae) and Ophryosporus peruvianus (Gmelin) King & H. Rob. (Asteraceae).