Abstract:

Plant Ecology in a Human Context: Mondia whytei in Kakamega Forest, Kenya

Lauren McGeoch

Advisors: Johanna Schmitt, Steven Hamburg

Undergraduate Thesis, May 2004

Submitted as Partial Fulfillment of Sc.B Degree in Environmental Science

Despite intensive efforts to understand the biochemistry and ethnopharmacology of tropical medicinal plants, there appears to be a lack of basic ecological data on many important plant species. Mondia whytei, a medicinal liana that grows in Kakamega Forest, a rainforest in western Kenya, is one such species; though biochemical studies have begun to illuminate its medicinal properties, little work has been done on the plant’s ecology or socio-economic context. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, the study examined the current status of wild populations of M. whytei in the forest, assessed anthropogenic threats to these wild populations, explored local knowledge about the plant’s ecology, and evaluated a cultivation project designed to generate local income and reduce pressures on the wild M. whytei population. We found that although the plant is not currently rare in the forest, local people believe it has been getting scarcer. Our data indicate that the population may be experiencing a reproductive collapse that could potentially be responsible for the inferred decline. Future studies will be able to track changes in population size and examine potential drivers more specifically. Plants were most dense in indigenous forest managed by the Forest Department, and tallest in indigenous forest managed by the Kenya Wildlife Service; indicating that management may have important impacts on the wild M. whytei population. Qualitative data indicated that harvesting may be responsible for reproductive decline, and that sustainable harvesting systems or harvesting alternatives may assist wild M. whytei populations.  Although local farmers had some knowledge about M. whytei ecology, they had mixed opinions about optimal growing conditions. Farmers are optimistic about the on-farm cultivation project, but  they do not currently see it as a profitable enterprise. Cultivation of M. whytei needs to become more profitable relative to harvesting of native populations or the cultivation of other crops before it will reduce pressure on native populations.