CRB: Effects of Harvesting and White-Tailed Deer Browsing on Demography and Population Viability of American Ginseng

West Virginia University Research Corporation, Morgantown WV

Investigators

Abstract

0212411 McGraw American ginseng an uncommon perennial plant native to the eastern deciduous forest. Harvest of natural populations occurs in response to demand for roots of this slow-growing, medicinally active plant from the Asian market. Its harvest by rural, often poor, Appalachian people serves several economic, social and cultural functions. Multiple lines of evidence suggest ginseng as a natural resource of our forests has declined in both abundance and stature over the past two centuries. Ginseng is potentially a victim of a dual problem - one caused by competition among harvesters for the root, and a second caused by collateral effects of too many white-tailed deer. The federal government, in cooperation with states, is required to certify the sustainability of harvest since ginseng is listed on Appendix II of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). However, no standardized monitoring procedure, demographic statistics, or population viability estimates are available for ginseng in the U.S. The primary goal of this research is to fill this gap by assessing population growth rates, diagnosing causes of low population growth rates where they occur (focusing on harvest and browsing as possible factors), and evaluating possible prescriptions for reversing population decline. This study will also provide a prognosis for ginseng in terms of extinction probabilities as they may vary with management schemes. Natural ginseng populations from a four-state area (Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia) will be studied over a four-year period (2002 - 2005), continuing a data collection process begun in 2000. Using the analysis and modeling tools of population biology, the research goals described above will be addressed. This research will be the most extensive, in-depth effort to evaluate the status and potential conservation strategies for ginseng to date. The research has the potential to impact tens of thousands of ginseng harvesters as well as numerous local, state, and federal land managers and regulatory agencies. In the science of conservation biology and population biology, the example of ginseng could become a model for how knowledge of population biology can be applied to preserve both a native plant species and the cultural traditions that have developed around that species. Undergraduate and graduate student involvement with research on this charismatic native plant will develop further expertise and interest in conservation biology.