Replacement of oak forest with pine in the Himalaya affects the nitrogen cycle

Atmospheric temperature and humidity demonstrated strong correlation with productivity in tropical moist deciduous forests

Tropical forests sequester six times higher carbon than that released by humans annually into the atmosphere. These biodiversity-rich tropical forests have high net primary productivity (NPP), which differs among constituent plant communities. Tropical moist deciduous forests occupy 179,335 km² of India's geographical area and constitute 44% of the country's total protected area (PA) forests. The productivity of these forests has neither been estimated specifically nor precisely. We measured the annual NPP of three predominant distinct community types, viz., mixed (DM), sal (SM), and teak (TP), in a tropical moist deciduous forest in northern India. The NPP was estimated from tree biomass data collected from nine long-term ecological research (LTER) plots of 1 ha each representing the above three community types. The estimated annual NPP were 10.28, 6.25, and 9.79 Mg ha^-1 year^-1 in DM; 8.93, 7.09, and 10.59 Mg ha^-1 year^-1 in SM; and 14.57, 7.14, and 13.56 Mg ha^-1 year^-1 in TP for the years 2010, 2011, and 2012, respectively. The NPP was correlated with tree density, height and DBH, species richness, diversity, microclimatic and edaphic variables, and leaf area index (LAI) using principal component analysis (PCA) and generalized linear modeling (GLM). Air temperature and humidity were strongly related to NPP in all the community types, while "complementarity" and "selection effects" contributed to the NPP in both the sal and mixed forest communities with equal importance, and the NPP in teak plantation ould point to "dominance effect."

Natural resources assessment and their utilization: analyses from a Himalayan state

The present paper quantifies and reviews the natural resource use in the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh (HP). Twenty-five percent of the geographical area of HP is under forests and harbour ca. 3,400 plant species. The available bioresources not only support the livelihood of nearly 6 million people but also fulfill the forage requirement of 5.2 million livestock. Thus, dependence on bioresources is manifold. Based on field surveys to different localities of HP and analyses of published information, two types of resource use patterns have been identified. One, the direct use of forest resources which is represented by extraction of timber, fuelwood and fodder; and the second represents indirect resource use from the forest that is represented by activities related to agriculture, tourism and industry. Amongst the direct resource use, annual timber requirement of the local people works out to be 310,063 m(3). On the other hand, annual fuelwood and fodder requirement of local people is to the tune of 3,646,348.8 and 10,294,116.5 tons, respectively. Extraction of fodder therefore appears to be one of the main reasons for forest degradation in HP as opposed to timber and fuelwood extraction. However, compared to direct resource use, indirect resource use and pressures have far more pronounced effect on the forests. Of the indirect pressures, shifts in agriculture patterns and increased tourism seem to be the most prominent.

Reproductive ecology of male and female Strobili and mating system in two different populations of Pinus roxburghii

We studied several flowering traits, namely, male-female cone phenology, male-female cone production per tree, mating system, sex ratio, air-borne pollen grains and pollen migration, over four successive years in two different natural populations of P. roxburghii from Garhwal Himalaya, India. Assessment of each trait mentioned except pollen dispersion was done by selecting five representative trees randomly in each population. The pollen migration was studied on naturally isolated source trees. The pollen trapping was done in all directions up to 2.5 km. The average reproductive period in P. roxburghii was 36 days with 3–5 days protandry. There were significant year and population effects for male and female cone output and pollen grains production per tree. In mass production year (1999), an average production of pollen cone per tree was estimated as 42.44 ± 8.32 × 10³ at lower altitude and 28.1 ± 0.89 × 10³ at higher altitude. The controlled pollination results in high level of outcrossing with 90% seed setting. We conclude that the high male-female ratio and tremendous pollen production capacity in P. roxburghii indicate high male competition among trees within populations. The isolation strip of 600 m is considered minimal for the management of seed orchard.

Effect of pre-germination treatments on seed physiology and germination of central Himalayan oaks?

The continuous decline in regeneration of two important species of central Himalayan oak, namely Quercus glauca and Q. leucotrichophora, is of great concern. A study was therefore, carried out to improve germination ability of these species using various presoaking treatments. Seeds of both the species lost viability following storage; tetrazolium staining pattern and germination capacity of seeds following different period of storage at 4 °C and 20 °C indicated retainment of viability for a period of 12 months at 4 °C. Of the various physical, chemical and plant growth regulator treatments examined to improve seed germination, only KNO3 1.0 % was found to be effective. Seeds scarified at the chalazal end exhibited significant improvement in germination in both the species (94.4 % compared to 56.7 % in control in Q. glauca and 82.7 % compared to 64.0 % in control in Q. leucotrichophora). The results of this study impart simple methods to improve seed germination for developing nurseries for commercial purposes.