Study On Investigation And Assessment Of Ex-Situ Conservation Of Traditional Chinese Medicine Resources

China is a big country of biological diversity and one of the countries with the most abundant medicinal biological resources.China's resources for Chinese medicines are rapidly decreasing,many rare medicinal plants are on the verge of extinction,and the sustainable use of Chinese herbal resources is facing an unprecedented crisis.It is extremely urgent to carry out conservation assessment of traditional Chinese medicine resources.Ex-situ Conservations refers to special protection and management and an important means of protecting species that the ways in which species that have been seriously threatened for survival and reproduction are relocated to the zoo,botanical gardens,seed banks,etc.(www.iucn.org).China has carried out ex-situ conservation of medicinal plants from various aspects,but there are still unknown species of protected species(how many medicinal plants have been protected,how many have not been protected),lack of protection priorities,and lack of protection theory and assessment methods,low efficiency of protection and lack of national uniformity planning and other issues.In this paper,field surveys and literature data were collected to collect data on ex-situ conservation of medicinal plants in the coumtry,and a corresponding database was constructed to lay the data foundation for ex-situ conservation assessment.The method of assessing the priority of ex-situ conservation of medicinal plants was constructed using the analytic hierarchy process and expert scoring,and 13 777 medicinal plants collected in the database were systematically evaluated to establish the list of priority protected species.Using biodiversity hotspots and statistical analysis methods,the layout of medicinal botanical gardens was studied based on the distribution and elevation of priority protected species.Apply cost-benefit analysis method to study the economic benefits of ex-situ conservation of traditional Chinese medicine resources.Based on the above research,we have further proposed policy recommendations to improve ex-situ conservation of TCM resources.The main findings of this paper are as follows:(1)Constructed a database of ex-situ conservation of medicinal plants in China.Through field research and documentation,this study collected 31 lists of ex-situ conservation plants(covering more than 30,000 items of ex-situ conservation information)from 31 botanic gardens in 20 provinces,cities,and regions across the country;There are more than 60,000 traditional Chinese medicine resources in the modern alphabet books written in Latin.The Latin name of the collected plants was calibrated using the Catalogue of Life(COL)and a database of ex-situ conservation and threats for medicinal plants was constructed.It contains 13,777 medicinal plants,16,351 ex-situ cultivated plants and "Chinese biological diversity".More than 30,000 kinds of plants in the Sex Red List-Higher Plant Volume(hereinafter referred to as the "Red List")lay the foundation for the analysis and research on the protection status.According to the database,we can know that China has expropriated 6,949 medicinal plants,belonging to 276 families and 1,936 genera,accounting for 50%of all medicinal plants;1.280 species of medicinal plants of threatened species.(20%of the threatened species),including 60%of ex-situ cultivation;3,988 unique Chinese medicinal plants(accounting for 23%of China's endemic species),and 53%of ex-situ cultivation.It shows that the ex-situ conservation of medicinal plants in our country still has many problems.(2)Summing up and referring to the methods of plant threatened and prioritized conservation assessment in the world,an assessment method for ex-situ conservation priority for medicinal plants(abbreviation;priority protection assessment method)was constructed.The method adopts a logical framework of hierarchical analysis to determine the priority coefficient(A)of ex-situ conservation of species from two aspects:the current ex-situ conservation index(C)of medicinal plants and the medical plant protection need index(S).The land protection index(C)includes the degree of protection of the plant(X1)and the degree of protection of the plant(X2);the protection demand index(S)includes the threat index of the species(X3),the value index(X4)and the urgency protection factor(X5).The above five indicators are characterized by strong representation,easy access to data,and strong operability.Taking case assessment of 10 kinds of herbs such as ginseng,feasibility of the method,the results show that the new method in sensitivity index data acquisition ease mass appraisal and so on have further ascension,applicable to evaluate the key to conservation of medicinal plants in China.(3)13,777 medicinal plants were systematically assessed using the priority protection assessment method and medicinal plants were divided into 6 priority protection grades.Among them,there are 374 highest priority levels in Level ?;1,290 in Level ?;3.260 in Level III;3,911 in Level IV;the lowest level is Level VI,followed by Level V.which is 1 185.Species and 3 757 species.Study and analyze the scores of each index in each level and found that only 36%of cunent medicinal plants have reached the actual protection needs of the species;About 12%of medicinal plants have a high priority for protection and urgently need to increase the protection of ex-situ conservation.As a result,we have established a list of priority protected species,including 1,664 medicinal plants(see Attached Table 2).We recommend that this list be the focus of future ex-situ conservation efforts.In this paper,the research on suitable locations of medicinal botanical gardens was carried out using the method of biodiversity hotspots,and eight priority areas for ex-situ conservation of medicinal plants were proposed.The geographical distribution and elevation of the priority protected species were extracted and analyzed based on the Chinese flora records.The results showed that China's priority for the protection of medicinal plants is mainly distributed in the southwest and southern China,followed by northern Xinjiang,southern Tibet,and central China.The optimal altitude for the priority protection of medicinal plants ranges from 1 000 m to 3 000 m.It is recommended that priority be given to the establishment of new national medical botanical gardens in areas with greater altitude differences or in more economically developed cities.The priority areas for the ex-situ conservation of 8 medicinal plants are northern Xinjiang,northeastern Inner Mongolia,eastern Shanxi,southern Shaanxi and Gansu,the junction of Hubei and Chongqing,the junction of Yunguichuan,the junction of Hunan and Guangdong and Guangdong,and the eastern part of Zhejiang and Fujian(Wuyishan Area).Taking Poria cocos as a case study to study whether the ex-situ conservation of Chinese medicine resources is economically feasible.Using field research and cost-benefit analysis(CBA),the process of ex-situ conservation of Poria cocos resources to commodity circulation and the costs,benefits,and yields of various production processes were studied.The results showed that the cost-benefit ratio for the preservation and production of Poria cocos was as high as 233%.It is indicated that the ex-situ conservation of traditional Chinese medicine resources and the associated industries have good economic benefits.The state should vigorously support the ex-situ conservation of Chinese medicine resources and encourage enterprises to participate in conservation activities of Chinese medicine resources.Based on the above investigation and research results,this paper puts forward the policy recommendations for ex-situ conservation of TCM resources:First,the conservation of TCM resources that are highly valued and fully recognize that the ex-situ conservation has an important supporting role for TCM industry.The second is to build a system of ex-situ conservation of Chinese medicine resources and organically integrate protection,variety breeding and industrial development.The third is to strengthen exchanges and cooperation between ex-.situ conservation of medicinal plants at home and abroad,and improve the efficiency of protection.The fourth is to plan the layout of the national medicinal botanical gardens in an overall plan,with priority given to the protection of medicinal plants.The fifth is to expand the channels for raising funds for Chinese medicine resources and assess the effectiveness of ex-situ conservation to improve the efficiency of ex-situ conservation.