Study on Distribution Threats and Conservation of Pitcher Plant Nepenthes Khasiana Hook f in Meghalaya India

Abstract

newline xx newlineABSTRACT newlineThe pitcher plant, Nepenthes khasiana, being endangered and endemic, is presently on the verge of extinction owing to different human-developmental factors and negligence of the inhabitants of Meghalaya. The pitcher plant has its own ecological and economic worth which has not been emphasized academically and felt by the local people residing there. Hence, the present work was carried out to find out the present distribution, role of soil ecological factors, threats, ethnological use, and conservation perspectives of N. khasiana in Meghalaya, India. A trail survey was employed to find the present distribution, slope direction, and elevation of pitcher plants between 2018 and 2022. The species occurrence data was further fitted into the MaxEnt model in the SSDM package in R and predicted the potential habitat area of the pitcher plant using ArcGIS 10.1. Additionally, the present extent of occurrence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO) of pitcher plants were calculated using the Geospatial Conservation Assessment Tool (GeoCAT) provided by Kew Botanical Garden. The study on various soil ecological factors was conducted following the standard protocol. For identification of the prey species, 90 pitcher samples (30 from each hill) were collected randomly and identified up to lower taxa levels. The extent, impact, and permanence of threats to pitcher plants and their habitat were assessed as per IUCN threats categories within a 100 m radius. A questionnaire survey was conducted covering five villages randomly from each hill with a total 360 numbers of respondents to document the ethnomedicinal properties and peoples perception of threats. Due to the therapeutic properties of the pitcher plant, pioneer work was also undertaken where the GC-MS technique was used to detect and identify the phytochemical substances present in the unopened pitcher fluid of N. khasiana. newlineThe present study predicted some new distribution records of pitcher plants at Garo, Khasi, and Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya, India