Individuals of Tawny Fish-Owl (Ketupa flavipes) were sighted and photographed in a sacred grove in Zemithang, Tawang district, Arunachal Pradesh during nine months fieldwork between June 2017 and ...February 2018. Previous records from ebird have only listed the occurrence of Tawny Fish-Owl from Pakke Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh. The present sighting is the first photographic evidence from Tawang district in Western Arunachal Pradesh. The record shows the importance of sacred groves in the conservation of wildlife, which is threatened due to an upcoming hydroelectric power project in the area.
The objective of forest management in the tropics, in recent decades, has shifted from timber production to biodiversity conservation and maintenance of life support system. However, past forestry ...practices have greatly influenced the structure of plant communities, preponderance of foreign invasive species, populations of high value medicinal plants as well as other non-wood forest products. We assessed the abundance and distribution of medicinal plants in managed and undisturbed forests of Dehradun Forest Division (DFD), Uttarakhand (India). A total of 80 transects (each 1 km long) were laid in various categories of forest types in DFD. This paper deals with distribution, availability and regeneration status of five commercially important species viz., Justicia adhatoda, Aegle marmelos, Phyllanthus emblica, Terminalia bellirica and Terminalia chebula, across different forest types. The study reveals that open canopy forest patches, Lantana infested patches and Acacia catechu-Dalbergia sissoo (Khair -Shisam) woodlands in the eastern part of the DFD have excellent potential for the production and sustainable harvest of Justicia adhatoda. Areas those are less suitable for timber production viz., open hill forests, have greater potential for conservation and development of Aegle marmelos, Phyllanthus emblica and Terminalia bellirica. For the production and management of high value medicinal plants in the DFD these ecological considerations need to be kept in mind.
Patterns of leaf characteristics, forest structure, tree species diversity, biomass, and productivity across a gradient of 3300 m and 15.7@?C in mean annual temperature in Kumaun, in the Indian ...central Himalaya, were summarized and compared to values from other similar forests. Throughout the elevational gradient, the annual rainfall was high (100-300 cm), but not correlated with elevation. Evergreen species with a 1-yr leaf life-span dominated most of the elevational transect; above 1800 m, species with deciduous and multiyear evergreen leaves were also well represented. Although variability among sites within forest types was high, a number of consistent patterns were apparent. Forests of Pinus roxburghii and those at high elevations were most consistently different from other forest types. Leaf life-span was not strongly correlated with leaf mass, specific leaf mass, or leaf production efficiency (net primary productivity per unit leaf mass), contrary to relationships presented in the literature. Tree species richness and basal area were lower than for most similar types in Nepal. Biomass and productivity of the forests in Kumaun were relatively high, compared to mean values for similar forest types elsewhere. Measured values for most variables describing these forests (but not all) fell within the ranges for the variables in similar forests worldwide. The maximal values for forest biomass remained high, 500-600 Mg/ha, up to 2600 m elevation, but declined sharply in birch forest (@?170 Mg/ha) above 3100 m. Net primary productivity (NPP) varied little (15-20 Mg@?ha^-^1@?yr^-^1) below 2700 m, despite a 10@?C gradient in mean annual temperature and marked changes in basal area, tree density, growth form, and leaf characters. The level of productivity appeared not to be limited by rainfall, forest structure, leaf type, or temperature above an annual mean of 11@?C. Leaf mass (LM) varied considerably among forest types, being 3.7-8.6 Mg/ha for deciduous species, 5.7-8.9 Mg/ha for P. roxburghii, and 10.0-28.2 Mg/ha for evergreen broad-leaved species. Leaf mass duration (leaf mass x months of the year with leaves present) was related directly to NPP and inversely to leaf production efficiency (NPP/LM). These data add substantially to the data base for forest properties, especially for broad-leaved evergreen forests.
The present paper gives an insight into the distribution and use pattern of medicinal shrubs in Uttaranchal State. A total of 222 medicinal and aromatic shrub species have been appended based on ...secondary information. Euphorbiaceae, Rosaceae, Verbenaceae, and Fabaceae have the highest representatives of medicinal shrubs. Twenty one families had one species each in medicinal use. Verbenaceae and Euphorbiaceae in the sub-tropical region, Rosaceae in the temperate region, and Ericaceae and Rosaceae in the sub-alpine and alpine regions, respectively, had the highest representatives of medicinal shrubs. The distribution of medicinal shrubs was 42 % in sub-tropical, 29 % in warm temperate, 13 % in cool temperate, 9 % in sub-alpine and 7 % in the alpine region. Of the total species, 70 medicinal shrubs were native to the Himalayas and 22 native to Himalayan region including other Himalayan countries. The most frequently used plant parts for various ailments were leaves （31%） and roots （23 %）. Most shrubs are being used for the diseases, viz. skin diseases, dysentery, cough, fever, wounds, and rheumatism. The present paper will help in the execution of strategies for promotion and cultivation of medicinal shrubs in Uttaranchal State.
Four communities, formed as a result of locally varying site conditions, were identified and studied along the timberline ecotone in part of Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS). Communities on the ...vicinity of pilgrimage site and along gentler slopes were highly disturbed having sharp timberlines, while those located far and in the steep slopes were less affected, forming a little broader transition. The tree density ranged from 340 to 780 trees/ha, while the basal cover of communities varied greatly and ranged from 6.4 to 55.1 m2/ha. Birch dominated community had lowest basal area among all the communities, while mixed community had the highest. In all the respective communities, from subalpine zone, density and basal area was higher than that of timberline zone. The Importance Value Index (IVI), which used to determine the overall importance of each species in the community structure, of dominant species at timberline was more than 200 in all the communities, except in the mixed community. Influence of the anthropogenic disturbances was apparent on the regeneration performance of all the studied tree species. Rhododendron campanulatum was the dominant shrub species of the area and formed krummholz, while distribution of other species varies greatly with forest type. The shrub density decreased from high to low disturbance, while the herbaceous species density increased with prevalence of a few species favoring the high disturbance (grazing). The shrub and herb species richness was higher in the ecotone zone. Some uncommon species like Balanophora involucrata and Aralia cissifolia were also found at timberline. Three species of Lady's Slipper orchid were reported together from Betula utilis community at timberline ecotone.
Gleadovia ruborum Gamble & Prain (Orobanchaceae), a rare root parasite is recorded after a gap of 57 years from a new locality in Uttarakhand, western Himalaya. A total of four individuals were ...located in a shady moist forest of Abies pindrow-Quercus floribunda at Surkanda hill near Mussoorie. All the individual plants were growing on the roots of Rubus pedunculosus D. Don. The current communication provides an updated description, habitat characteristics and host species of Gleadovia ruborum.
Located in the extended buffer zone of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve in Western Himalaya, Niti valley represents a cold arid region. The reserve has been extensively surveyed in terms of floral ...diversity by various workers, albeit highly confined to the core zones. The current survey recorded 495 species belonging to 267 genera and 73 families of vascular plants through systematic collection in the years 2011, 2012 and 2014. Of the recorded species, 383 were dicots, 93 monocots, 9 pteridophytes and 10 gymnosperms. Asteraceae was most diverse family (32 genera with 58 species), followed by Poaceae (22 genera with 41 species), Lamiaceae (15 genera with 19 species) Fabaceae (14 genera with 22 species), Brassicaceae (12 genera with 12 species) and Rosaceae (11 genera with 36 species). The present survey also updates the existing flora of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (801 species) with addition of 167 species. This study reveals that the Niti valley forms a transition zone, as the floral elements have affinity with Trans as well as Greater Himalaya.
The present paper deals with the vegetation communities and their diversity patterns in Chenab valley, the buffer zone of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR) in Chamoli District of Uttarakhand, ...India. A total of 42 sites were selected randomly based on the landform heterogeneity of the area. Eight forest communities with overlap among vegetation types and also various plant associations were noticed through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) following PAST program and two shrub communities identified separately were, Berberis and bamboo. The range of density in various forest communities was from 203-545 trees ha-1 and total basal area from 17.5-71.7 m2 ha-1. The range of species richness of tree layer, shrub layer and herb layer was from 2-14, 1-10 and 4-14 and diversity from 0.693-2.304, 0.514-2.052 and 1.202-2.583, respectively. The distribution pattern of trees, shrubs and herbs shows that the species were evenly distributed in most of the sites and the -diversity of the present study area is 7.4. Rhododendron and Taxus, the undercanopy species facilitated the regeneration of Chimnobambusa falcata, while the conversion of lower girth class individuals to higher girth class individuals is steady and progressive. Though, evergreen and deciduous species had good population of seedlings and saplings, but the conversion to next girth class was very poor due to the high anthropogenic pressure. The present study reveals that the forest vegetation in Chenab valley is better than that of other parts of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, for which conservation strategies have been discussed in the paper.
The objective of forest management in the tropics, in recent decades, has shifted from timber production to biodiversity conservation and maintenance of life support system. However, past forestry ...practices have greatly influenced the structure of plant communities, preponderance of foreign invasive species, populations of high value medicinal plants as well as other non-wood forest products. We assessed the abundance and distribution of medicinal plants in managed and undisturbed forests of Dehradun Forest Division (DFD), Uttarakhand (India). A total of 80 transects (each 1 km long) were laid in various categories of forest types in DFD. This paper deals with distribution, availability and regeneration status of five commercially important species viz., Justicia adhatoda, Aegle marmelos, Phyllanthus emblica, Terminalia bellirica and Terminalia chebula, across different forest types. The study reveals that open canopy forest patches, Lantana infested patches and Acacia catechu-Dalbergia sissoo (Khair -Shisam) woodlands in the eastern part of the DFD have excellent potential for the production and sustainable harvest of Justicia adhatoda. Areas those are less suitable for timber production viz., open hill forests, have greater potential for conservation and development of Aegle marmelos, Phyllanthus emblica and Terminalia bellirica. For the production and management of high value medicinal plants in the DFD these ecological considerations need to be kept in mind.
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