Altitudinal variation in plant community, population structure and carbon stock of Quercus semecarpifolia Sm. forest in Kumaun Himalaya

Aim: To study the impact of altitudinal variation on plant community composition, structure, dispersion and regeneration status of Quercus semecarpifolia forest in Kumaun Himalaya. Methodology: Along the altitudinal gradient, the forest stands between 2400 and 2610 m asl were selected at low, mid and high altitude. The phyto-sociological analysis was carried by laying ten quadrats of 10m × 10m at each site. Soil samples were collected with the help of soil corer from two depths. Various ecological indices and population structure were investigated for each forest stand and regeneration status of forest was predicted by the population size of seedlings, saplings and trees. Tree biomass was estimated using allomatric equations and carbon stock was determined by multiplying biomass of species to factor 0.475. Results: With increasing altitude the number of tree species decreased and the shrub species richness increased, while herb species showed a unimodel pattern. Q. semecarpifolia was the dominant tree species at all the three sites with the IVI values of 220.14, 255.22 and 286.23 at LA, MA and HA, respectively. A complete absence of Q. semecarpifolia seedlings indicated no regeneration in low and high altitude stands while low proportion of seedlings in mid altitude forest stand indicated poor regeneration. Soil was acidic (pH 5.66-5.86), with higher silt content and showed decreasing pattern in physico-chemical properties with increasing altitude. The biomass of tree layer ranged from 871.49 to 1050.17 t ha-1. The tree layer carbon stock was maximum in high altitude forest (498.84 t ha-1) which was largely contributed by bole, stump roots and branches. Interpretation: Variation in species richness, distribution pattern and regeneration potential is related to site characteristics governed by altitude and require various efforts to conserve and protect these forests to check ecosystem imbalance.

Variation in Tree Layer Composition Across Mid and Higher Elevation Forest Sites in Kumaun Himalayan Region, Uttarakhand

The Himalayan forests are rich in biodiversity and distributed over a large extent from lower to higher elevations. The dependence of the locals for their daily requirements of fuel, fodder and medicinal plants is high on these forests. The study was conducted at altitude varied between 1725 and 3250 masl (above sea level) in Kumaun region. The study deals with the comparison of tree layer vegetation in higher elevation sites (HES) and mid elevation sites (MES) with reference to Diversity, Richness, Basal area (BA), Dominance and Important Value Index. The MES were dominated by mixed Quercus leucotrichophora and Pinus roxburghii forests where as HES sites were dominated by Quercus semecarpifolia and Aesculus indica forests and Rhododendron campanulatum in the understory. Across all the sites the tree species richness ranged between 9 and 15. Tree density was maximum (1400 trees/ha) at MES. Tree diversity and total basal area were maximum at HES. The study will be useful in developing baseline data for carrying out future studies. The data generated will be helpful for the conservation of biodiversity of the region.

Evaluation of Antimicrobial and Anticancer Activities of Selected Medicinal Plants of Himalayas, Pakistan

Medicinal plants are known for their diverse use in the traditional medicine of the Himalayan region of Pakistan. The present study is designed to investigate the anticancer and antimicrobial activities of Prunus cornuta and Quercus semicarpifolia. The anticancer activity was performed using cancerous human cell lines (HepG2, Caco-2, A549, MDA-MB-231, and NCI-H1437 carcinoma cells), while the antimicrobial activity was conducted with the agar-well diffusion method. Furthermore, toxicity studies were performed on alveolar and renal primary epithelial cells. Initially, different extracts were prepared by maceration techniques using n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, butanol, and methanol. The preliminary phytochemical screening showed the presence of secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, tannins, saponins, flavonoids, glycosides, and quinones. The chloroform extract of P. cornuta (PCC) exhibited significant inhibitory activity against Acinetobacter baumannii (16 mm) and Salmonella enterica (14.5 mm). The A. baumannii and S. enterica strains appeared highly susceptible to n-hexane extract of P. cornuta (PCN) with an antibacterial effect of 15 mm and 15.5 mm, respectively. The results also showed that the methanolic extracts of Quercus semecarpifolia (QSM) exhibited considerable antibacterial inhibitory activity in A. baumannii (18 mm), Escherichia coli (15 mm). The QSN and QSE extracts also showed good inhibition in A. baumannii with a 16 mm zone of inhibition. The Rhizopus oryzae strain has shown remarkable mycelial inhibition by PCM and QSN with 16 mm and 21 mm inhibition, respectively. Furthermore, the extracts of P. cornuta and Q. semicarpifolia exhibited prominent growth inhibition of breast (MDA-MB-231) and lung (A549) carcinoma cells with 19–30% and 22–39% cell viabilities, respectively. The gut cell line survival was also significantly inhibited by Q. semicarpifolia (24–34%). The findings of this study provide valuable information for the future development of new antibacterial and anticancer medicinal agents from P. cornuta and Q. semicarpifolia extracts.

Quantification and Diminution of Quercus semecarpifolia Forests Ecosystem Services in Himalayan Region- An Overview

The genus Quercus comprises very important tree species of the Himalayan forests. Oaks are crucial for a multitude of ecosystem services and livelihood support services reaped by the locals in the Himalayan region. Quercus semecarpifolia is the oldest and dominating species of the Himalayan region. It is considered a lifeline for people of this region due to the wider range of ecosystem and livelihood services provided by it. But this species forest is depleting very rapidly in his region due to over dependency. Major cause of overexploitation is lopping for fodder and fuelwood. The present study attempted to Quantify, recognize, and group the ecosystem services provided by Q. semecarpifolia. Further, certain factors responsible for regular shrinkage of Q. semecarpifolia forests were also addressed.

Distribution and altitudinal patterns of carbon and nitrogen storage in various forest ecosystems in the central Yunnan Plateau, China

The carbon (C) pool in forest ecosystems plays a long-term and sustained role in mitigating the impacts of global warming, and the sequestration of C is closely linked to the nitrogen (N) cycle. Accurate estimates C and N storage (SC, SN) of forest can improve our understanding of C and N cycles and help develop sustainable forest management policies in the content of climate change. In this study, the SC and SN of various forest ecosystems dominated respectively by Castanopsis carlesii and Lithocarpus mairei (EB), Pinus yunnanensis (PY), Pinus armandii (PA), Keteleeria evelyniana (KE), and Quercus semecarpifolia (QS) in the central Yunnan Plateau of China, were estimated on the basis of a field inventory to determine the distribution and altitudinal patterns of SC and SN among various forest ecosystems. The results showed that (1) the forest SC ranged from 179.58 ± 20.57 t hm−1 in QS to 365.89 ± 35.03 t hm−1 in EB. Soil, living biomass and litter contributed an average of 64.73%, 31.72% and 2.86% to forest SC, respectively; (2) the forest SN ranged from 4.47 ± 0.94 t ha−1 in PY to 8.91 ± 1.83 t ha−1 in PA. Soil, plants and litter contributed an average of 86.88%, 10.27% and 2.85% to forest SN, respectively; (3) the forest SC and SN decreased apparently with increasing altitude. The result demonstrates that changes in forest types can strongly affect the forest SC and SN. This study provides baseline information for forestland managers regarding forest resource utilization and C management.

Cross-transferability-based identification and validation of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers in oaks of western Himalayas

Cross-amplification is a cost-effective method to extend the applicability of SSR markers to closely related taxa which lack their own sequence information. In the present study, 35 SSR markers developed in four oak species of Europe, North America and Asia were selected and screened in five species of the western Himalayas. Fifteen markers were successfully amplified in Quercus semecarpifolia, followed by 11 each in Q. floribunda and Q. leucotrichophora, 10 in Q. glauca, and 9 in Q. lana-ta. Except two primer pairs in Q. semecarpifolia, all were found to be polymorphic. Most of the positively cross-amplified SSRs were derived from the Asian oak, Q. mongolica. The genoty-ping of 10 individuals of each species with positively cross-amplified SSRs displayed varied levels of polymorphism in the five target oak species, viz., QmC00419 was most polymorphic in Q. floribunda, QmC00716 in Q. glauca and Q. lanata, QmC01368 in Q. leucotrichophora, and QmC02269 in Q. semecarpifolia. Among five oak species, the highest gene diversity was depicted in Q. lanata and Q. semecarpifolia with expected heterozygosity (He = 0.72), while the minimum was recorded for Q. leucotrichophora and Q. glauca (He = 0.65). The SSRs validated here provide a valuable resource to carry out further population genetic analysis in oaks of the western Himalayas.

DOMINANCE AND DIVERSITY OF FALLEN EPIPHYTIC LICHENS IN A BROADLEAVED FOREST ECOSYSTEM OF GARHWAL HIMALAYA, INDIA

The communication is aimed at providing quantitative information on fallen epiphytic lichens in a broadleaved forest ecosystem dominated by Oak (Quercus semecarpifolia). A total of 17 lichen species were encountered during the field samplings. Parmotrema perlatum was the dominant lichen species with higher values of density and diversity followed by Lecanora chlaroteraa, the co-dominant species. Medium diversity index (Shannon-Wiener) is an indicator for further investigation at broader level of forest ecosystems.

Evidences of red panda in Rachuli VDC, Kalikot district, Nepal

Presence of the red panda was assessed in Rachuli Village Development Committee (VDC)(latitude 290 1.98’ N to 2903.57’ N and longitude 81013.52’ E to 81015.87’ E, at altitudinal range between 1800 to 4400 masl), Kalikot, mid-west Nepal. The interaction and interviews with local peoples was organised to collect initial confirmation on occurrence of the red panda. For sign survey of animal, altogether 20 quadrate plots (each of 10×10 sq. meters) at the point where pellets of red panda were found, were laid between altitude of 2800 m to 3300 masl. The presence of Red panda pellets in the study area was major evidence of presence of redpanda in the area. The lowest altitude in which pellet found was 2993 m and the highest was3297 m. The highest number of pellets was observed in altitudinal range of 3100 m to 3150m. The average number of pellets per group was 10.13 ± 5.33. The typical dominant species of trees in red panda habitat were Betula utilis, Abies spectabilis and Quercus semecarpifolia observed with the highest Important Value Index (IVI) of 83.80, 75.83 and 52.80 respectively. Nigalo (Thamnocalamus sp.), the most preferable food plant of red panda, was distributed widely in the study range. The number of pellets groups in the plots and nigalo density were positively correlated (0.795, significant statistically at 0.01 levels (2-tailed)).