Abstract
ABSTRACTThe present study aimed to analyze the regeneration dynamics, population structure, and forest composition in some ridge forests of the Western Himalaya to elucidate the impact of climate change. The highest species richness (trees, 17; saplings, 16; seedlings, 16) was recorded in mixed Rhododendron arboreum forest. The maximum tree density (737 ± 25.93 trees ha−1; mixed Quercus floribunda); sapling density (5342 ± 587.54 saplings ha−1; mixed Quercus semecarpifolia), and seedling density (71,429 ± 26,632.29 seedlings ha−1; mixed Cedrus deodara) were recorded in forests of higher altitudes. The mean basal cover values in these forests oscillated between 39.21 ± 1.53 m2 ha−1 (mixed Quercus leucotrichophora) to 87.65 ± 15.45 m2 ha−1 (mixed Abies pindrow). The highest Shannon index value (0.51 ± 0.05) and species evenness (0.36 ± 0.02) for trees were recorded in mixed Rhododendron arboreum forest. Some species like Betula utilis, Myrica esculenta, Ficus rumphii, Ilex dipyrena, Quercus floribunda, Litsea elongata, Symplocos paniculata, and Abies spectabilis were noticed as new recruiters (recent invaders) in new habitats, which may change the future forest composition. This study revealed that ridge forests of the Bhagirathi catchment area were in transition phase at middle altitudes. Mixed Quercus floribunda forest was observed to be the youngest regenerating forest; however, mixed Abies pindrow forest was the most mature old-growth forest.
Highlights
Himalayan mountain forests are one of the most fascinating and characteristic entities among forests of the world because of their unique ecology, having a temperate climate within a tropical zone
The maximum number of individuals in all the forest types were recorded in 21–40 cm diameter at breast height (DBH) class (MQSF = 50.52%; mixed Q. floribunda forest (MQFF) = 82.50%; mixed Q. leucotrichophora forest (MQLF) = 71.45%; mixed Rhododendron arboreum forest (MRAF) = 61.17%; mixed Abies pindrow forest (MAPF) = 49.72%; mixed Cedrus deodara forest (MCDF) = 53.49%), which clearly
In this study we focused only on ridge forest ecosystems in which we found that, due to limited altitudinal distribution of MQLF, the growth of Q. leucotrichophora was restricted to a narrow range resulting in lower species richness
Summary
Himalayan mountain forests are one of the most fascinating and characteristic entities among forests of the world because of their unique ecology, having a temperate climate within a tropical zone. It is supposed that, in the event of a rise in the temperature at lower elevations, the movement/migration of vegetation would be towards upper elevational ridge tops. This is understandable because of ecological relationships, alteration in plant life history, and general upward shift in the species distributional ranges (McKone et al 1998; Klanderund 2005; Jurasinski and Kreyling 2007; Pauli et al 2012)
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