The Alpine Vegetation of the Khangchendzonga Landscape, Sikkim Himalaya

Tambe, Sandeep; Rawat, G. S.

doi:10.1659/mrd-journal-d-09-00058.1

Cited by 19 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…However, we did not find similar studies from the Sikkim State of the Eastern Himalaya region in India. Studies on the forest of Sikkim have mostly been carried out as case studies with concentrated sampling on watershed [40], alpine forests [41,42], timberline forest [43], and trekking corridors [44], with narrow altitudinal range [42,43]. Albeit more recently, Acharya et al [45] and Sharma et al [46] performed research with samples from multiple locations but did not describe the composition and size class distribution of trees.…”

Section: Past Studies In the Eastern Himalayasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Forest Structure and Composition along the Altitudinal Gradient in the State of Sikkim, Eastern Himalayas, India

Bhutia

Ravikanth

Ganesan

et al. 2019

Forests

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Understanding the structure and composition of native forests is a prerequisite in developing an adaptive forest management plan for Himalayan forest ecosystems where climate change is rapid. However, basic information on forest structure and composition are still limited in many places of the Eastern Himalayas. In this study, we aimed to understand the diversity, structure, and composition of forests and their variations along an altitudinal gradient in Himalayan forests. The study was conducted in the Indian federal state of Sikkim, Eastern Himalayas. We carried out a comprehensive and comparative evaluation of species diversity, stand basal area, and stem density along the altitudinal gradient from 900 m a.s.l. to 3200 m a.s.l. We used stratified random sampling to survey eighty-three plots each 0.1 ha in forest communities that occurred along the altitudinal gradient: (a) lower (900-1700 m) altitude forest (N = 24), (b) mid (1700-2500 m) altitude forests (N = 37), and (c) higher (2500-3200 m)altitude forests (N = 22). We measured and identified all living trees with a >3 cm diameter at breast height in each plot. We counted 10,344 individual plants, representing 114 woody species belonging to 42 families and 75 genera. The family Fagaceae and its species Lithocarpus pachyphyllus (Kurz) Rehder. were reported as the most dominant forest trees with the highest Importance Value Index. The Shannon diversity index was recorded as being the highest for the low-altitude forests, whereas measures of structural diversity varied among forests along with altitude: the mid-altitude forests recorded the highest stem density and the high-altitude forests showed the highest mean stem DBH (diameter at 1.3 m height). One significant finding of our study was the disparity of the size class distribution among forests along the altitudinal gradient. Overall, we found a reverse J-shape distribution of tree diameter signifying the uneven-agedness. However, we showed, for the first time, a complete lack of large trees (>93 cm DBH) in the lower altitude forests. Our study highlights conservation concerns for the low-altitude forests that record high species diversity, although lacked large-diameter trees. We anticipate that our study will provide a comprehensive understanding of forest diversity, composition, and structure along the altitudinal gradient to design conservation and sustainable management strategies

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Section: Past Studies In the Eastern Himalayasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Forest Structure and Composition along the Altitudinal Gradient in the State of Sikkim, Eastern Himalayas, India

Bhutia

Ravikanth

Ganesan

et al. 2019

Forests

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“…There are seven water catchments, of which Prek Chu was selected as the study area as it contains all of the habitat types occurring in the Reserve (Sathyakumar et al, 2011). The 182 km 2 of Prek Chu lies over 1,220 to 6,691 m and receives a total annual rainfall of 1,750–2,250 mm (Tambe, 2007). The major habitats and their percentage of the total area (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Precarious status of the Endangered dholeCuon alpinusin the high elevation Eastern Himalayan habitats of Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve, Sikkim, India

Bashir

Bhattacharya

Poudyal

et al. 2013

Oryx

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During 2008-2010 we investigated the ecology of the Endangered dhole or wild dog Cuon alpinus in Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve in the Eastern Himalaya in Sikkim, India. We conducted camera trapping (n 5 71 sites, 6,278 camera-days) and sign surveying along trails (n 5 24; 629.43 km of effort) to assess the relative abundance, distribution and activity pattern of the dhole. Morphological characteristics evident in the 61 camera-trap photographs indicate that the dhole population in the Reserve may be the rare and genetically distinct subspecies C. alpinus primaevus. We detected dholes over a wide elevation range (2,501-4,100 m) that encompassed the upper temperate, subalpine, and alpine scrub zones. Dholes were diurnal, with peak activity at 08.00-10.00. Analysis of 41 scats indicated a diet comprising mainly mountain ungulates, rodents and pikas Ochotona sp. Although the frequency of occurrence of rodents was highest (32%) in the scats, 98.7% of the total biomass consumed was of mountain ungulates. Historical reports (1888-1894) indicated that the dhole was formerly abundant in Sikkim but was hunted to meet the high demand for its alleged medicinal properties. With no information on the status of the dhole in Sikkim for over a century, our study suggests that the species is now rare in the Reserve. To aid the conservation of the dhole and its main ungulate prey species extensive research and monitoring are required in the Reserve and elsewhere in the Eastern Himalaya.

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“…In the topographic class, we showed that altitudinal gradients offer an important range of different environmental variables, highlighting the existence of micro-climates that drive the structure and composition of plant species in each micro-region. We compared our results with other vegetation surveys carried out in allied 51 and neighboring Himalayan regions 115 – 117 which similarly described the influential role of altitude. As a result, the northern slopes sustained the denser and homogenous growth of conifers in Manoor Valley, Himalayan forests, Pakistan.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Vegetation–environment interactions: plant species distribution and community assembly in mixed coniferous forests of Northwestern Himalayas

Rahman,

Hart,

Afzal

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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One of the main goals of ecological studies is to disentangle the dynamics that underlie the spatiotemporal distribution of biodiversity and further functions of the ecosystem. However, due to many ecological and geopolitical reasons, many remote areas with high plant species diversity have not been assessed using newly based analytical approaches for vegetation characterization. Here, we classified and characterized different vegetation types (i.e., major plant communities) based on indicator species and on the influence of different environmental gradients in the Himalayan mixed coniferous forest, Pakistan. For that, we addressed the following questions: Does the vegetation composition of the Himalayan mixed coniferous forest correlate with climatic, topographic, geographic, and edaphic variables? Is it possible to identify plant communities through indicator species in relation to environmental gradients using multivariate approaches? Can this multivariate be helpful for conservation planning? During four consecutive years we assessed the vegetation composition and environmental variables (21 variables divided in geographic, climatic, topographic, and edaphic groups) of 156 50 m-trasects between an elevation of 2000–4000 m. Using newly based analytical approaches for community characterization, we found a total of 218 plant species clustered into four plant communities with the influence of environmental gradients. The highest index of similarity was recorded between Pinus-Cedrus-Viburnum (PCV) and Viburnum-Pinus-Abies (VPA) communities, and the highest index of dissimilarity was recorded between PCV and Abies-Juniperus-Picea (AJP) communities. Among these four communities, highest number of plant species (156 species) was recorded in PCV, maximum alpha diversity (H’ = 3.68) was reported in VPA, highest Simpson index (0.961) and Pielou’s evenness (0.862) were reported in VPA and AJP. The edaphic gradients (i.e., organic matter, phosphorous, pH and soil texture) and climatic factors (temperature, humidity) were the strongest environmental gradients that were responsible for structuring and hosting the diverse plant communities in mixed coniferous forest. Finally, the Himalayan mixed coniferous structure is more influenced by the spatial turnover beta-diversity process (βsim) than by the species loss (nestedness-resultant, βsne). Our analysis of the vegetation structure along the environmental gradient in the Himalayan mixed coniferous forest supported by sophisticated analytical approaches reveled indicator species groups, which are associated to specific microclimatic zones (i.e., vegetation communities). Within this focus, we side with the view that these results can support conservation planning and management for similar and different areas providing mitigating and preventive measures to reduce potential negative impacts, such as anthropic and climatic.

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The Alpine Vegetation of the Khangchendzonga Landscape, Sikkim Himalaya

Cited by 19 publications

References 9 publications

Assessing Forest Structure and Composition along the Altitudinal Gradient in the State of Sikkim, Eastern Himalayas, India

Assessing Forest Structure and Composition along the Altitudinal Gradient in the State of Sikkim, Eastern Himalayas, India

Precarious status of the Endangered dholeCuon alpinusin the high elevation Eastern Himalayan habitats of Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve, Sikkim, India

Vegetation–environment interactions: plant species distribution and community assembly in mixed coniferous forests of Northwestern Himalayas

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