Abstract:

The intensification of global climate change, characterized by temperature anomalies, spatiotemporal variability in precipitation and secondary disasters, has significantly affected the yield, quality and genuineness of plant−derived medicinal materials, and seriously threatened the cultivation and management of medicinal herbs. This study reviewed the effects of extreme climate events on the growth and pharmacological component contents of botanical Chinese medicinal materials, and discussed the interfering impacts of agro−meteorological disasters such as high temperature stress, low−temperature freezing injury, drought and flood on the physiological and ecological processes of Chinese medicinal herbs. It further explored how these events drove habitat migration and market speculation in the medicinal herb industry, while proposing countermeasures centred on meteorological monitoring and early warning systems, innovative adaptive cultivation techniques and ecological compensation mechanisms. The results showed that extreme climate events, such as heat stress, freezing injury and abnormal precipitation, significantly reduced medicinal herb yields. Regional extreme weather also could diminish the content of active compounds like total phenols, flavonoids and saponins, leading to fluctuations in efficacy, price volatility and weakened market stability. Targeted climate adaptation measures should be formulated in response to extreme climate events. The MaxEnt model could be adopted to clarify and optimize the suitable planting areas of medicinal materials. Facility cultivation such as greenhouse and breeding could be appropriately carried out for meteorological sensitive varieties with protective management. Meanwhile, it is necessary to construct an integrated disease prevention and control system, and coordinate the collaborative mechanism of post−disaster emergency recovery and long−term ecological compensation. These measures can improve the climatic and market adaptability of Chinese medicinal materials, so as to alleviate the adverse impacts of extreme climate change on medicinal material production.

Key words: Cultivation of Chinese herbal medicine, High?temperature stress, Low?temperature freezing injury, Precipitation anomaly, Adaptive cultivation, Ecological compensation