Kashmir Himalaya Research Articles

Length-weight relationship of six freshwater fish species from Wular Lake - A Ramsar site in Kashmir Himalaya, India

Aim: This study was undertaken to understand the length weight relation of six freshwater fish species from Wular Lake. Methodology: A total of 303 specimen belonging to two families (Cyprinidae and Nemacheilidae) and four genera (Schizothorax, Triplophysa, Crossocheilus, Puntius) from Wular Lake were collected from five different sites with the help of local skilled fishermen using cast nets and traditional nets. Total length and weight were measured to the closest 0.1 mm and 0.01 g employing a digital caliper and weighing balance, respectively. Results: The values of the exponent b in length-weight relationship was recorded as 2.05 for Triplophysa marmorata, 0.31 for Crossocheilus diplochilus, 0.12 for Pethia conchonius, 4.14 for Schizothorax niger, 2.58 for Schizothorax esocinus and 4.93 for Schizothorax curvifrons respectively. These results provide the primary basic information on length-weight parameters of these commercially important fish species from Wular Lake. Interpretation: Length-weight relationship can form a baseline data that can be further employed to study the growth pattern of fish species in the lake. This would help in the development of a strategy for conservation of natural stocks of these endemic fish species in Wular Lake. Key words: Ecological, Freshwater, Ramsar, Schizothorax, Wular Lake

Vegetation communities and identification of indicator species in the riparian areas of Zabarwan mountain range in the Kashmir Himalaya

Vegetation communities and identification of indicator species in the riparian areas of Zabarwan mountain range in the Kashmir Himalaya

Household spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of Kashmir Himalayas with three new records from India

Household spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) of Kashmir Himalayas with three new records from India

Diversity and utilization patterns of fodder resources in a Himalayan protected area.

In the Himalaya, collection of fodder from protected areas by local communities for sustenance of their livestock is an integral part of mountain farming systems. Here, we assess the diversity and utilization patterns of fodder resources collected by local communities from Overa-Aru wildlife sanctuary in Kashmir Himalaya. A multi-stage random sampling was employed to select sample villages (5) and households (81) for the survey. Data were collected through personal interviews of household heads administering an interview schedule and then analyzed using descriptive statistics and linear regression model. The results revealed that 74 fodder species were collected by the local communities from the sanctuary. The diversity and magnitude of fodder resource utilization varied across the study area. The fodder collection and utilization on per day and annual basis ranged from 25 to 90 and 2760 to 13,770kg/household, respectively. Across the surveyed villages, the fodder was mainly collected by the females (60%). A positive but non-significant relationship was found between the number of persons collecting fodder and quantity of fodder collection/household/day, while a positive and significant relationship was found between the herd size and quantity of fodder collection/household/day. We also found a negative but non-significant relationship between the education status of respondents and the number of livestock holding. Based on our findings, we suggest policy and management interventions such as regulating livestock grazing, promoting plantation of frequently collected fodder species, and better use of agriculture byproducts to guide the sustainable management of fodder resources in this Himalayan protected area, with learning for elsewhere.

Modeling the hydrological response of a snow-fed river in the Kashmir Himalayas through SWAT and Artificial Neural Network

Modeling the hydrological response of a snow-fed river in the Kashmir Himalayas through SWAT and Artificial Neural Network

Microclimate heterogeneity modulates fine-scale edaphic and vegetation patterns on the Himalayan treelines: Implications under climate change

In an era of global environmental change, the treeline shift triggered by recent climate warming has been reported worldwide. However, it is still unknown how site-specific microclimatic conditions regulate the soil-vegetation relationship at treelines, which constrains our capacity to down-scale broad global trends in the treeline shift at regional scale. In this study, we aimed to unravel fine-scale edaphic and vegetation patterns at two treeline sites in Kashmir Himalaya with in situ-measured microclimate using mini-loggers. At each site, we conducted sampling at the treeline leading edge, 100 and 300 m downslope and upslope. We employed boosted regression trees to find best predictors of the treeline vegetation among the microclimate and edaphic factors. We found intermediate microclimatic conditions at the leading edge but contrasting microclimates at the downslope and upslope. Our results demonstrate that the heterogeneity in microclimate driven by elevation strongly modulates the microsite edaphic conditions at the treelines, which in turn determines the fine-scale vegetation patterns. The soil temperature, moisture, pH, Cu, Zn, electrical conductivity and N were the best predictors of vegetation patterns at the treelines. The length of growing season measured at the treelines matched with the predicted values for the Himalaya, but growing season mean soil temperature of 7.31 – 8.15 °C recorded at the treelines is slightly higher than the postulated 6.4 °C global treeline isotherm. Our findings reveal that the soil microclimate strongly modulates edaphic and vegetation patterns at the treelines, thereby implying that even minor change in microclimate, like ongoing climate warming, can shift the current treeline position. However, this may be partially offset by the higher temperature isotherm in Kashmir Himalaya, thereby suggesting a slow-paced future treeline shift. Overall, the study advances our understanding about the crucial role of microclimate in determining soil-vegetation relationships at treelines with wide implications under ongoing and projected climate change.

Conservation genetics of endangered Trillium govanianum Wall. ex D. Don – A pharmaceutically prized medicinal plant from the Himalaya and implications for species recovery

Understanding the genetic diversity and population structure of pharmaceutically important endangered plant species is crucial for their conservation and sustainable use. Despite the continuous population decline in Trillium govanianum Wall. ex D. Don, a highly prized medicinal plant endemic to the Himalaya, information regarding its conservation genetics has been lacking. Here, we employed a conservation genetics approach to investigate how drastically declining populations in natural habitats impact population genetic diversity and structure of this endangered species across the Kashmir Himalaya. We used Start codon targeted (SCoT) and Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers to assess the intra- and inter-population genetic variation in seven sites across the study region. Based on these markers, we found a very low genetic diversity in T. govanianum populations. Very low levels of observed heterozygosity (Ho = 0.000) and that expected (He = 0.064) in the populations indicate high heterozygote deficiency and high levels of inbreeding depression (FIS = 1.000). A high genetic differentiation was observed among the populations for both SCoT (Gst = 0.719) and SSR (Fst = 0.707) markers. Both the markers showed low gene flow, SCoT (Nm = 0.195) and SSR (Nm = 0.119), depicting high among-population variation than within-population variation. Analysis of molecular variance also indicated a higher genetic variation between the populations than within populations. We also observed a significant positive correlation between genetic divergence and geographical distance, indicating that genetic differentiation in T. govanianum follows a pattern of isolation by distance. Bayesian structure and cluster analysis grouped the populations according to their geographical proximity. Further, redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed the presence of one polymorphic locus for each marker with high discriminatory power. Overall, our findings reveal a very low genetic diversity, high levels of inbreeding, and high genetic differentiation among the populations; likely resulting from habitat fragmentation, population isolation, bottleneck effect, low gene flow, and predominantly asexual reproduction currently operative in the species. Finally, based on the insights gained, we discuss the potential implications of our findings in guiding species recovery and habitat rehabilitation of T. govanianum in the Himalaya with conservation lessons for elsewhere in the world.

Dynamics of the wetland ecosystem health in urban and rural settings in high altitude ecoregion

The focus of the present study was to assess the dynamics of wetland ecosystem health in both urban and rural settings situated in the high-altitude Kashmir Himalayan ecoregion. The basic aim was to identify the drivers responsible for wetland degradation in order to sustain ecosystem services effectively. To achieve this, we examined water quality, trophic status, fish species diversity and human disturbances by analyzing changes in land use and land cover (LULC) since 1980. For the limnological characterization of the two wetlands, we evaluated a total of 21 physico-chemical parameters at 24 sites. Two-way analysis of variance revealed significant (p < 0.05) spatial and temporal variability in the water quality parameters. The trophic state index values of 67.7 and 76.7 indicated that the rural and urban wetlands were in eutrophic and hypertrophic status, respectively, signifying potential environmental stress. The data on fish fauna indicated a decline in fish species over the past 40 years, particularly the schizothoracine species. Urban wetlands showed a more significant decrease in species (06) compared to rural wetlands (01). LULC mapping and change analysis employing the visual interpretation technique showed significant transformations in the immediate catchment of wetlands. Substantial growth in the built-up (433.2 % and 2620 %) and decrease in aquatic vegetation (−83.4 % and − 97.5 %) in the immediate catchment was recorded in both the urban and rural wetlands respectively from 1980 to 2020. Our findings demonstrated a relationship between LULC classes and water quality parameters, with an increase in built-up and road areas showing a significant positive correlation with the rise in decadal mean values of total phosphorus, orthophosphorus, nitrate nitrogen, ammonical nitrogen, and calcium content. Based on these observations, we concluded that changes in land use and land cover within the immediate catchment areas of the wetlands were the primary drivers responsible for the deterioration of wetland ecosystem health.

Monitoring Studies of Arthropod Complex Fauna Associated with Rapeseed- Mustard Crop Grown in Kashmir Himalayas

Kashmir has quietly undergone a yellow revolution as thousands of hectares of land have been brought under mustard cultivation to double the farmers' income. Earlier, most of the land in Kashmir was used only for growing a single crop -- paddy in most areas but now farmers are rotating crops in Kharif and Rabi seasons just like in other parts of the country. There is still many challlanges which are hurdle in high production goal. Insect biodiversity is associated with the quantity and type of host plants available, environmental factors, and their physiological state. Arthropod complex of mustard was studied and about eight species of insects-pests at Mountain Research centre for field crops (MRCFC) during Rabi 2020 -21 was recorded. It has been observed that the mustard aphid, Lipaphis erysimi Kalt., persists constantly in a sizable population and causes substantial crop damage from the blossoming to the maturity stage. Phyllotreta cruciferae Goeze (flea beetle) occurred at the seedling stage, and Carpocoris sp. (shield bug) caused little harm to the crop from the seedling to the maturity stage. Leaves have been only infested by cabbage aphid, Brevicoryne brassicae, mustard aphid, Lipaphis erysimi (Kalt.), and mustard leaf miner, Chromatomyia horticola, and they been detected in sporadic, low-population occurrences. Among them, Brevicoryne brassicae is found at flowering stage. Pieris brassicae, the cabbage butterfly, occurs sporadically and with high abundance. The status of all eight insect-pests on Brassica species was observed as minor with irregular occurrence while L. erysimi as a regular key pest.six Insect pollinators were recorded during the bloom period of the crop.

Evaluating the drivers of groundwater spring discharge in Sindh basin of Kashmir Himalaya

Evaluating the drivers of groundwater spring discharge in Sindh basin of Kashmir Himalaya

Community Perception and Management of Ecosystem Services in a Protected Area in Kashmir Himalaya

Community Perception and Management of Ecosystem Services in a Protected Area in Kashmir Himalaya

Perceptions of pesticide use and health risks among apple growers in Kashmir Himalaya

AbstractBackgroundUnderstanding the patterns of pesticide use is important in protecting the environment and farmer's health for improvement of sustainability in chemical pest control. Studies on the knowledge and awareness of pesticides by farmers are often incomplete. Therefore, our study aimed at investigating the awareness and knowledge of pesticides from a detailed survey of 394 apple growers in the Kashmir Himalaya.ResultsThe study revealed that farmers have inadequate knowledge and awareness about pesticides. About 47.2% of the farmers are choosing pesticides based on the efficiency of the pest/pathogen control, 38.1% are choosing pesticides based on the cost of the product, and 14.7% of the farmers are choosing pesticides based on ease of availability. Most of the farmers rated the principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) as not important. The farmers believed that the use of pesticides is the only way of controlling the pest outbreaks that ultimately led to reckless spraying of pesticides. Our results revealed that farmers are spraying pesticides without protective gears and inappropriate dumping of pesticides and their containers, risking the health of humans and the environment. Almost 96% of the farmers feel burning and irritation to the eyes and skin, headache, and vomiting due to pesticide spraying. The results of this research work accentuate the requirement to educate apple growers about the adequate and safe use of pesticides to avoid risks to public and environmental health.ConclusionThe study concludes that farmers are significantly impacted by the use of pesticides. Ineffective actions of pesticide dealers, government regulations, and illiteracy of farmers are the main causes of the reckless use of pesticides. Therefore, special attention should be paid towards sustainable approaches of pesticide spraying and use of safety gears like personal protective equipment, for protection of human and environmental health.

Extreme precipitation events and landslide activity in the Kashmir Himalaya

Extreme precipitation events and landslide activity in the Kashmir Himalaya

Evaluation of Various Physicochemical Properties and Their Seasonal Variation in Wulur Lake of Kashmir Himalayas

Evaluation of Various Physicochemical Properties and Their Seasonal Variation in Wulur Lake of Kashmir Himalayas

Geo-investigation and Slope Stability Analysis of Debris Slides along Ramban-Gool Road Network, Jammu and Kashmir, India

Abstract The prevalent landslides in the Kashmir Himalaya are the result of a combination of several geo-environmental parameters in a precarious terrain and extensive developmental activities. The Ramban-Gool road network is one of the landslide prone regions in the valley which has witnessed a constant increase in the landslides, damaging the public property apart from creating major threat to human life and geo-environment. Keeping in view the peril of slope failures, stability assessment of a few vulnerable slopes was carried out along with geological and geotechnical investigation. The stability analysis was carried out using two-dimensional numerical simulation tool limit equilibrium method (LEM) and finite element method (FEM) in both dry and saturated conditions. The results obtained from the study have very clearly demarcated the stability of the slopes in terms of factor of safety. The factor of safety obtained revealed that except for two slopes having factor of safety marginally greater than 1, the other four slopes have factor of safety less than 1 under dry condition indicating unstable condition. The factor of safety further decreases for all the slopes under saturated condition. Furthermore, results obtained from both LEM and FEM show a close approximation with values varying from 1.33 to 0.75 in case of LEM analysis while FEM values vary from 1.31 to 0.76. From FEM analysis, total displacement was also determined for each slope to assess the extent of potential damage.

Multicriteria Evaluation of Tourism Potential of Designated Tourist Destinations in Kashmir Himalayas, India

ABSTRACT The present study focuses on evaluating the main tourist destinations in the erstwhile Baramulla district of the Kashmir Himalayas to promote tourism. Various variables such as topography, land use/forest cover, vegetation diversity, climate, food availability, accessibility, accommodation, tourism attraction characteristics, and other infrastructure amenities were used to create different indices. A field study/sample survey was conducted to gather data from tourists at each destination. The composite score method was employed to determine the level of development at each destination. The total score values (8.5 to 24) were categorized into three groups: High (8.5–13.6), Medium (13.6–18.8), and Low (18.8–24.0). The results reveal that Gulmarg and Baba Rishi Shrine have a high level of development with some degree of variation. Manasbal and Wular Lake exhibit medium levels of development, while Baba Shakur Ud Din shrine demonstrates a low level of development. The study emphasizes the need for bottom-up and top-down planning, aggressive tourism marketing, development of tourist service infrastructure, and technical assistance and training for tourism organizations to ensure proper planning and management.

Analysis of physiological and proteomic changes in marigold (Calendula officinalis) in response to short term cold stress

C. officinalis, pot marigold, is an important plant growing in China, Europe and USA which can withstand harsh winters in Kashmir Himalayan region in India. We investigated the cold stress tolerance mechanism in Calendula officinalis by assessing various physiological dimensions and two dimensional (2D) proteomic analysis on exposure to 4 °C at different time intervals. Seeds of C. officinalis were grown at 25 °C for two weeks, transferred to growth chamber set at 4 °C and tissues were analyzed every after 24 h for one week for physiological and proteomic alterations. Differentially expressed proteins were subjected to MALDI-TOF-MS analysis. The plant shows an increased dry weight with an increased relative water content maintaining the cell turgidity and photosynthetic activity during cold stress. The enhancement of ascorbate-glutathione pathway and accumulation of various non-enzymatic antioxidants (AsA, GSH and GSSG) protects the plant against the oxidative damage during cold stress. Total of 24 proteins spots exhibit significant changes at least after 24 h cold stress. The up-regulated proteins in response to cold stress belonged to photosynthesis, respiration, stress resistance, fatty acid metabolism, antioxidant defense, plant development and signal transduction. Three proteins corresponding to spot 90, 136 and 356 were found to be unique which may play a crucial role in cold tolerance mechanism in C. officinalis. Besides, some cold responsive proteins identified in C. officinalis are also involved in salt, heavy metal and abiotic stress response, which strongly suggest their cross-tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress. The transcript expression of some selected cold responsive proteins demonstrates a correlation with the proteomic data, which suggests that the proteomic data is reliable and can be used for further studies. Furthermore, this is the first report of proteomic study on C. officinalis in response to cold stress that opens novel insights in understanding the mechanism of cold tolerance in ornamental plants, which are important source of gene pool for plant breeding initiatives leading to the development of cold resilient commercial crops.

Sustaining Traditional Ethnomedicinal Knowledge and Protected Areas in Synergy: A Case Study of Overa-Aru Wildlife Sanctuary in Kashmir Himalaya.

The ethnic communities living near protected areas are critically dependent on medicinal plants for their healthcare. Although several ethnomedicinal studies are available from the Himalaya, quantitative studies focusing on protected areas in this region are largely overlooked. In this study, we aimed to document the ethnomedicinal plants of the Overa-Aru wildlife sanctuary in Kashmir Himalaya. We conducted a systematic field survey in the study area during 2020 - 2021 to collect primary data from 110 participants through semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. The data was analyzed using quantitative indices and Pearson's correlation. We recorded 64 plant species used against 8 human disease categories, including some first-time reports from the region. Asteraceae and Lamiaceae were the most dominant families and herbs were the dominant growth form. The most common plant part used were leaves, and the main method of preparation was decoction. Plant species with the highest relative frequency of citation was Achillea millifolium (0.83). Informant consensus factor for each disease category ranged from 0.94 to 0.97. We found a strong positive correlation between participants' age and citations (r = 0.85), but a negative correlation between the participants' education status and citations (r = - 0.11). Our results revealed that the younger generation possesses the least ethnomedicinal information. We recommend that the species with high use values and fidelity level merit priority in phytochemical and pharmaceutical studies. Our findings highlight that protected areas, besides their prime importance in biodiversity conservation, play a pivotal role in providing the healthcare provisioning ecosystem services to the ethnic communities.

Plant invasion shifts soil microbiome and physico-chemical attributes along an elevational gradient in Kashmir Himalaya.

Soil microbial communities, being situated at the interface of aboveground plant and belowground soil systems, can play a pivotal role in determining ecosystem response to the drivers of global environmental change, including invasive species. In mountains, invasive plants occurring along elevational gradients offer a unique natural experimental system to investigate the impact of invasions in determining patterns and relationships of soil microbial diversity and nutrient pools at much shorter spatial distances. Here, we studied the impact of a global plant invader, Leucanthemum vulgare, on the diversity of soil microbiome and physico-chemical attributes along an elevational gradient (1760-2880m) in Kashmir Himalaya. We used Illumina MiSeq platform to characterize the soil microbiome in pair-wise invaded and uninvaded plots at four different sites along the gradient. We found a total of 1959 bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) belonging to 152 species, and a relatively higher number of 2475 fungal OTUs belonging to 589 species. The α-diversity of soil microbiome showed a gradual increase from low to high elevation and differed significantly (p < 0.05) between the invaded and uninvaded plots. The β-diversity revealed distinct microbiome clustering among the sampling sites. Plant invasion also altered soil physico-chemical attributes along the elevational gradient. Overall, our findings suggest that the L. vulgare-induced shifts in soil microbiome and nutrient pools may be a belowground self-reinforced mechanism to facilitate its successful invasion along the elevational gradient. Our study provides new insights into invasive plant-microbe relationships with wide implications for climate warming-driven elevational range shifts in mountains.

Occurence and distribution of two new libellulids (Odonata: Insecta) of the Kashmir Valley, India: Orthetrum sabina (Drury, 1770) and Palpopleura sexmacaluta (Fabricius, 1787)

Odonates from the Kashmir Himalaya have been least studied with only 22 species reported from this region. After a long gap of 41 years, the present work forms the first observations on occurence and distribution of two new odonates from the Kashmir valley. Two dragonflies Orthetrum sabina (Drury, 1770) and Palpopleura sexmaculata (Fabricius, 1787) belonging to the family Libellulidae are reported for the first time from this region. The findings open new insights about phenology, distribution patterns, behaviour, and the effects of climate change on Himalayan Odonata.