MEDICINAL PLANT BIODIVERSITY AND SECONDARY METABOLITE DISCOVERY FRAMEWORK INTEGRATING ETHNOBOTANICAL KNOWLEDGE, ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION, AND METABOLOMICS PROFILING FOR CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE UTILIZATION

Abstract

Medicinal plant biodiversity represents a critical nexus of cultural heritage, ecological integrity, and pharmaceutical innovation. However, the accelerating loss of plant diversity and associated traditional knowledge systems highlights the need for integrated, evidence-based frameworks that simultaneously support conservation and sustainable utilization. This study developed and validated a tri-disciplinary framework integrating ethnobotanical knowledge documentation, phytosociological ecological characterization, and untargeted UHPLC-QTOF metabolomics profiling across 348 medicinal plant species documented in five ecologically distinct South Asian habitat types. Semi-structured interviews with 210 traditional healers, phytosociological assessments across 340 quadrat plots, and metabolomics profiling of 174 prioritized plant extracts generated a multidimensional dataset enabling the simultaneous evaluation of traditional-use significance, ecological importance, and secondary-metabolite bioactivity.

The study documented 653 secondary-metabolite features across ten major phytochemical classes, including 45 putatively novel structures identified through molecular networking analysis. Alkaloids and terpenoids exhibited particularly high bioactivity rates, while the most potent antimicrobial activity, with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 0.016 mg/mL, was observed among the highest-performing prioritized extracts. Use-value analysis identified Ocimum sanctum (UV = 0.94) and Tinospora cordifolia (UV = 0.91) as the highest-priority ethnobotanical species. A statistically significant negative correlation between use-value indices and antimicrobial minimum inhibitory concentrations (r = −0.74, p < 0.001) demonstrated that species with greater ethnobotanical importance tended to exhibit stronger antimicrobial activity. The composite conservation-priority framework identified 55 high-priority species requiring immediate conservation intervention, while 23.1% of documented medicinal species were classified as threatened or near-threatened. Species-accumulation analyses further indicated that tropical moist forest habitats supported the greatest medicinal-plant richness, with a Shannon diversity index of 3.84. Collectively, these findings provide an integrated evidence base for conservation-oriented bioprospecting, Nagoya Protocol-compliant benefit-sharing, and the prioritization of 16 lead compounds for further pharmaceutical investigation.