Project Detail

SUSTATINABLE HARVESTING STRATEGY OF ALPINE MEDICINAL PLANTS

Name:	SUSTATINABLE HARVESTING STRATEGY OF ALPINE MEDICINAL PLANTS
Researchers:	Münzbergová Zuzana (researcher)
Provider:	GACR
Number:	GA526/09/0549
Realization from:	2009
Realization to:	2012
Summary:	Due to the recent recognition that plants can provide a wide range of novel biomolecules and be used in treating different life threatening illness the trade value of medicinal plants in the world increased recently. The increasing demands lead to extensive harvesting pressure and calls for the research on the techniques of sustainable harvesting patterns. In spite of the number of studies on harvesting patterns, we still have almost no knowledge on long-term consequences of harvesting on population dynamics and genetic diversity of natural populations of medicinal herbs. The aim of this project is to develop model that would describe the long-term effect of different harvesting techniques on population dynamics and genetic diversity of selected alpine medicinal plants and use the model to design sustainable harvesting strategy. The second aim is to identify the effect of different habitat conditions on the predictions of the model.