The issue of foraging for wild food plants among migrants and relocated communities is an important one in environmental studies, especially in order to understand how human societies rearrange their practices linked to nature and how they adapt to new socioecological systems. This paper addresses the complexity of Traditional/Local Environmental Knowledge (LEK) changes associated to wild vegetables and herbs across four different groups of Afghan refugees living in Mansehra District, NW Pakistan, since 1985. Via interviews with eighty study participants, forty-eight wild vegetables and herbs were recorded, representing both the past and present wild plant gastronomic heritage. The majority of the quoted wild plant ingredients were only remembered and no longer actively used, thus suggesting an important erosion of LEK. Moreover, the number of wild vegetables and herbs currently used by Afghan Pashtuns engaged in farming activities is much higher than those reported by the other groups. The findings indicate that practiced LEK, i.e., knowledge that is continuously kept alive via constant contact with the natural environment, is essential for the resilience of the biocultural heritage, which is, however, also influenced by the rearrangement of social life adopted by refugees after relocation.

The direct effects of relative humidity and soil on aboveground biomass (AGB) versus the indirect effects mediated by stand structural diversity remain unclear in forest ecosystems across large-scale elevation gradients. Forest inventory data containing 15,260 individual trees and 104 tree species from 200 forest plots were collected. The result shows that the relative humidity, elevation, and Coefficient of Variation of Diameter at breast height (CVD) significantly influence AGB in the Tropical Thorn Forest (TTF). Regarding elevation, CVD was positive and significant, and relative humidity and SR negatively impacted AGB in sub-tropical broad-leaved forests (STBLF). In moist temperate mixed forests (MTMF), soil phosphorus and CVD have a significant positive impact, while relative humidity, elevation, and SR negatively influence AGB. Elevation and CVD have positive, while SR and soil phosphorus have a negative and insignificant effect on AGB in Dry Temperate Conifer Forests (DTCF). Soil phosphorus and relative humidity positively affected AGB (β = 0.021), while elevation, CVD, and SR negatively affect AGB in dry temperate, pure pine forests (DTPPF). Relative humidity and soil phosphorus have a positive direct effect on AGB in multi-species forests. The current study suggests that AGB primarily depends on relative humidity, soil phosphorus, and elevation in different forest types.