We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Long-Term Impact of Transhumance Pastoralism and Associated Disturbances in High-Altitude Forests of Indian Western Himalaya.
- Authors
Haq, Shiekh Marifatul; Yaqoob, Umer; Calixto, Eduardo Soares; Kumar, Manoj; Rahman, Inayat Ur; Hashem, Abeer; Abd_Allah, Elsayed Fathi; Alakeel, Maha Abdullah; Alqarawi, Abdulaziz A.; Abdalla, Mohnad; Lone, Fayaz A.; Khan, Muhammad Azhar; Khan, Uzma; Ijaz, Farhana
- Abstract
Summary: Transhumance has become a major disturbance over the world, affecting the resilience and resistance of forest ecosystems. For millennia, nomadic communities have had an impact on the Himalayan woodlands. Although livestock in a forest area can be considered more environment friendly compared to industrialised facilities, they have the potential to negatively influence the natural ecosystem, particularly in terms of vegetation and ecosystem degradation. In this study, we looked at how nomadic settlement and associated disturbances affected plant species composition, diversity characteristics, ecosystem features, and fire incidence in high-altitude forests in India's Western Himalaya. We categorised forest types as near nomadic settlement (NNS) and away nomadic settlement (ANS) based on the distance between nomadic settlement and forest. We investigated the changes in the composition and diversity of plant communities changed as a function of location and disturbance levels. The findings demonstrated that differences in anthropogenic disturbance were reflected in plant diversity. We also observed that the ecological features of forest types (biomass and carbon stock) decline as the disturbance intensity from nomadic settlements increases. We found a significant difference in all nine plant-related parameters evaluated between sites for dead plants. Finally, we found significant differences in fire incidences, normalized differential vegetation index and enhanced vegetation index between forest types. Overall, our findings cover knowledge gaps about the impact of nomadic settlements in Kashmir's high-altitude forest. Such empirical data can aid in the development of scientific policy management tools for efficiently rebuilding the Himalayan region's degraded forest ecosystems. The Himalayan Mountains are geodynamical important, featuring a wide climatic range with a rich diversity of flora, fauna, human communities, culture, and social set-up. In recent decades, due to constant anthropogenic pressure and considerable changes witnessed in the climate of the region, species of this region are threatened. Here, we assessed the impact of nomadic settlement and associated disturbances on plant species composition, diversity parameters, ecosystem properties, and fire incidence in high-altitude forests of Western Himalaya, India. Based on the distance between nomadic settlement location and forest, we classified forest as near nomadic settlement (NNS) or away nomadic settlement (ANS) forest types. We found a significant variation in plant species composition between forest types. Three species, namely, Sibbaldia cuneata, Poa annua, and Abies pindrow, contribute 25% of the cumulative variation in plant species composition. Studying live plants, we found a significant difference only for density, in which ANS had a higher average density than NNS. Considering dead plants, we found a significant difference in all nine plant-related parameters evaluated between sites. NNS had a higher value of all parameters evaluated, except for height, which was higher in ANS sites. ANS forest type show 1.3 times more average carbon stock (160.39 ± 59.03 MgCha−1; mean ± SD) than NNS forest type (120.40 ± 51.74 MgCha−1). We found a significant difference in plant diversity evaluated between forest types. ANS had higher values of Margalef and Fisher diversity but lower values of evenness. We found that NSS had significantly higher values of fire incidences, whereas ANS has a higher normalized differential vegetation index and enhanced vegetation index. Overall, our study showed that species composition, diversity, and fire incidence are strongly impacted due to nomadic settlements. These findings are paramount for designing appropriate livelihood options for indigenous communities and management policies of the long-term forest harvest to achieve global goals and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration targets (2021–2030) to protect the sustainable development of forest mountainous regions.
- Subjects
HIMALAYA Mountains; INDIA; FOREST resilience; FOREST fire ecology; UNITED Nations; PLANT communities; LOGGING; PLANT diversity; TRANSHUMANCE; FOREST degradation
- Publication
Sustainability (2071-1050), 2021, Vol 13, Issue 22, p12497
- ISSN
2071-1050
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/su132212497