Land use induced blurring of forest-grassland transition in north-west Himalaya-A case study using Moving Split Window boundary detection technique

Transition zone or ecotone is a unique community sandwiched between two communities/ecosystems/biomes.These ecotones in Himalaya remained unexplored for many ecological aspects like biodiversity,phyto-sociology,boundary detection and even impact of change in land use pattern(anthropogenic activity).The most accepted and widespread technique called as Moving Split Window(MSW) technique is used for detection of vegetation and environmental boundaries at four different sites in the lesser stratum of north-west Himalaya.All the four sites were at different distances from the nearest human inhabited area.Anthropogenic activities like grazing,herb collection,wood collection etc.were common at proximal sites.Such activities have led to the change in land use pattern.In this study,we have tried to work out the impact of the change in land use pattern(human interference) on the vegetation and basic environmental parameters like soil pH,electrical conductivity and moisture on forestgrassland ecotone in north-west Himalaya.Data on mountain steepness was also collected and analyzed.The dissimilarity profile using the statistical tool Squared Euclidian Distance(SED) indicated that species turnover locations increase with the increase in distance of ecotones from human settlements.The ecotones at distant locations from human villages are characterized with blunt as well as sharp peaks for vegetation data,however,conditions are reverse in case of the proximal sites.The study also reveals that as the distance between the ecotone and human settlements increases,the complex conditions like multiple vegetation boundaries prevails on the transitions.In this regard,land use induced blurring of forest-grassland transition in north-west Himalaya is summed up in the study.

Environmental variables vis-a-vis distribution of herbaceous tracheophytes on northern sub-slopes in Western Himalayan ecotone

Background:In the northern hemisphere,the north face of the mountains has a high diversity of species which is attributed to the moist and shady conditions at the north face.Other environmental variables may also influence the species diversity on the northern faces of the mountain and therefore needs to be studied in detail.The northern slopes represent three different sub-slopes—north,north east,and north west.During the current investigation of Pir-Panjal and Dauladhar ranges in Bhadarwah valley,fine-scale studies on the relationship between vegetation and four variables(soil pH,moisture content,electrical conductivity,and steepness)were conducted.The study determined the role of these variables on the vegetation of three different sub-slopes.The sampling was done at the confluence of two communities(forest and grassland)at three sites on the northern sub-slopes of the lesser stratum in western Himalayan.Results:The result revealed that rich herbaceous diversity prevails on the lesser Himalayan stratum(Bhadarwah valley).As many as 65.8%species differ from site to site,whereas species commonality among the sites is minimum.The role of environmental variables on the species composition at different sub-slopes of the north mountain face is deduced through canonical correspondence analysis(CCA).Conclusions:The availability of solar light increases air and soil temperature on the north east–facing slope.All the environmental variables(soil pH,moisture,electrical conductivity,and mountain steepness)are insignificant at pure north face for the species composition.Therefore,it can be concluded that some other environmental variables may influence the species composition which are needed to be further investigated.