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Wang Z, Da W, Negi CS, Ghimire PL, Wangdi K, Yadav PK, Pubu Z, Lama L, Yarpel K, Maunsell SC, Liu Y, Kunte K, Bawa KS, Yang D, Pierce NE. Profiling, monitoring and conserving caterpillar fungus in the Himalayan region using anchored hybrid enrichment markers. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20212650. [PMID: 35473372 PMCID: PMC9043734 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.2650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The collection of caterpillar fungus accounts for 50–70% of the household income of thousands of Himalayan communities and has an estimated market value of $5–11 billion across Asia. However, Himalayan collectors are at multiple economic disadvantages compared with collectors on the Tibetan Plateau because their product is not legally recognized. Using a customized hybrid-enrichment probe set and market-grade caterpillar fungus (with samples up to 30 years old) from 94 production zones across Asia, we uncovered clear geography-based signatures of historical dispersal and significant isolation-by-distance among caterpillar fungus hosts. This high-throughput approach can readily distinguish samples from major production zones with definitive geographical resolution, especially for samples from the Himalayan region that form monophyletic clades in our analysis. Based on these results, we propose a two-step procedure to help local communities authenticate their produce and improve this multi-national trade-route without creating opportunities for illegal exports and other forms of economic exploitation. We argue that policymakers and conservation practitioners must encourage the fair trade of caterpillar fungus in addition to sustainable harvesting to support a trans-boundary conservation effort that is much needed for this natural commodity in the Himalayan region.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhengyang Wang
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Wa Da
- Tibetan Plateau Institute of Biology, Tibet Autonomous Region, Lhasa 850001, People's Republic of China
| | - Chandra Singh Negi
- Department of Zoology, M B Government Postgraduate College, Haldwani (Nainital) 263139, Uttarakhand, India
| | - Puspa Lal Ghimire
- Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources (ANSAB), Baneshwor, Kathmandu, Nepal
| | - Karma Wangdi
- Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environmental Research, Lamai Goempa, Bumthang, Jakar 32001, Bhutan
| | - Pramod K Yadav
- Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-0735, USA
| | - Zhuoma Pubu
- Tibetan Plateau Institute of Biology, Tibet Autonomous Region, Lhasa 850001, People's Republic of China
| | - Laiku Lama
- Himalayan Herbs Traders, Baluwatar-4 Bagta Marga 161, Kathmandu, Nepal
| | | | - Sarah C Maunsell
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Yong Liu
- Institute of Plant Protection, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu 610066, People's Republic of China
| | - Krushnamegh Kunte
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru 560065, India
| | - Kamaljit S Bawa
- University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA 02125, USA.,Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bangalore 560024, India
| | - Darong Yang
- Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, People's Republic of China
| | - Naomi E Pierce
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
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