Fragmented Forest Patches in the Indian Himalayas Preserve Unique Components of Biodiversity: Investigation of the Floristic Composition and Phytoclimate of the Unexplored Bani Valley

Abstract

Subtropical and temperate forests are amongst the most threatened habitats of Asia, due to large-scale habitat loss and the fragmentation of landscapes. Inspite of these, the Asiatic regions preserve their endemic biodiversity, and provide a favorable environment for the abundant growth of vegetation. In the Himalayas, many interior regions are still unexplored from a biodiversity perspective, due to remote locations and high snow-clad mountains. In this study, we investigated the unexplored Bani Valley in order to reduce the gap of uninventorized areas of rich biodiversity in the Himalayas and formulate plant conservation and management strategies. Thirteen field expedition tours were undertaken during 2017 and 2020 for data collection in different growing seasons in the study area. All plant species were collected as voucher samples, identified, and deposited in the internationally recognized Janaki Ammal Herbarium (acronym RRLH). GPS points were recorded in order to study the forest types and vegetation components of the study area. A total of 196 plant species belonging to 166 genera and 68 families were identified in Bani Valley, covering a total area of 2651 km2. Approximately 70.62% of the species were native and 29.38% were non-native. In total, 46% of species were Indo-Malayan, followed by 22% Palearctic species. In angiosperms, dicotyledon species (68.37%) dominated. Poales were the most dominant order, with 38 species (19.38%). The most abundant families were Poaceae with 29 species (14.79%), Fabaceae (17, 8.67%), Rosaceae, Cyperaceae, and Asteraceae (9, 4.59% each). The life form analysis showed 50% of species as phanerophytes, followed by therophytes (25.77%). The leaf size spectra show mesophyllous species (34.69%) as the dominant group. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants categorized Ailanthus altissima as endangered (EN), Aegle marmelos and Quercus oblongata as near threatened (NT), Ulmus wallichiana and Plantago lanceolata as vulnerable (VU), Taxus baccata and 75 other species as least concern (LC), and 2 species as data deficient (DD). The remaining 113 species of plants had not been evaluated according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This study will help to shape conservation and management plans for threatened species for future implementation, and will help in biodiversity conservation. This study will serve as a database for future reference materials in terms of biodiversity management.

Lomatogonium madhmaheshwariansis, a new species of Gentianaceae from Himalaya, India

“…Uttarakhand, also known as Herbal State of India, is one of the floristically richest regions of The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) (Bargali et al 2021), worldwide known for its Hindu pilgrimage sites such as Rishikesh, Kedarnath, Hemkund and various others (Saini and Singh 2021). This mountainous state of Himalaya encompasses three biogeographic provinces, viz , upper Gangetic plain (7A), west Himalaya (2B) and cold arid regions (1C) (WII 2015, Kumar et al 2017, Singh et al 2021, Singh 2022) and abode with a documented 4990 plant species (Rana and Rawat 2017). Several virgin pockets of western Himalaya, especially Uttarakhand, Ladakh and Kashmir Himalaya, are still waiting for complete botanical inventory due to remote and unapproachable locations.…”

“…(Asteraceae), Saxifraga Tourn. ex (Saxifragaceae), Sedum (Crassulaceae) and Swertia (Gentianaceae) and recent explorations have led to the discovery of many interesting taxa (Bhellum and Singh 2016, Singh et al 2018, Thakur et al 2020, Bhat et al 2021, Singh 2021, Haq et al 2021, Surmal et al 2022, Wani et al 2022).…”

Crop Wild Relatives (CWRs) Threatened and Endemic to Italy: Urgent Actions for Protection and Use

“…Taxa that are known to be endemic to a country or those that occur in only a few countries or regions may be considered vulnerable. Species with a restricted distribution should therefore be given higher priority than species occurring more widely [ 8 , 11 , 12 ].…”

Endemic Hemicryptophyte Grasslands of the High Mountains of the Caribbean

“…The island of Hispaniola is a hotspot due to the high rate of endemisms, account for 2050 out of a total of 6000 species, even compared to other well-known hot spots in the worldwide as [52][53][54][55]. This is due to its orography and diversity of climate and substrates; its ombrotype ranges from semi-arid to hyper-humid, its thermotype from infratropical to supratropical, and its substrates are siliceous, carbonate rocks and serpentines…”