Long-Term Impact of Transhumance Pastoralism and Associated Disturbances in High-Altitude Forests of Indian Western Himalaya

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...

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Autores principales:	Shiekh Marifatul Haq, Umer Yaqoob, Eduardo Soares Calixto, Manoj Kumar, Inayat Ur Rahman, Abeer Hashem, Elsayed Fathi Abd_Allah, Maha Abdullah Alakeel, Abdulaziz A. Alqarawi, Mohnad Abdalla, Fayaz A. Lone, Muhammad Azhar Khan, Uzma Khan, Farhana Ijaz
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	ecosystem properties diversity biosphere forests Kashmir Himalaya Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/a8c9f2dc49164527965dac197465382e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:a8c9f2dc49164527965dac197465382e2021-11-25T19:01:34ZLong-Term Impact of Transhumance Pastoralism and Associated Disturbances in High-Altitude Forests of Indian Western Himalaya10.3390/su1322124972071-1050https://doaj.org/article/a8c9f2dc49164527965dac197465382e2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12497https://doaj.org/toc/2071-1050The 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, <i>Sibbaldia cuneata</i>, <i>Poa annua</i>, and <i>Abies pindrow,</i> 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<sup>−1</sup>; mean ± SD) than NNS forest type (120.40 ± 51.74 MgCha<sup>−1</sup>). 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.Shiekh Marifatul HaqUmer YaqoobEduardo Soares CalixtoManoj KumarInayat Ur RahmanAbeer HashemElsayed Fathi Abd_AllahMaha Abdullah AlakeelAbdulaziz A. AlqarawiMohnad AbdallaFayaz A. LoneMuhammad Azhar KhanUzma KhanFarhana IjazMDPI AGarticleecosystem propertiesdiversitybiosphereforestsKashmir HimalayaEnvironmental effects of industries and plantsTD194-195Renewable energy sourcesTJ807-830Environmental sciencesGE1-350ENSustainability, Vol 13, Iss 12497, p 12497 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	ecosystem properties diversity biosphere forests Kashmir Himalaya Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350
spellingShingle	ecosystem properties diversity biosphere forests Kashmir Himalaya Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Shiekh Marifatul Haq Umer Yaqoob Eduardo Soares Calixto Manoj Kumar Inayat Ur Rahman Abeer Hashem Elsayed Fathi Abd_Allah Maha Abdullah Alakeel Abdulaziz A. Alqarawi Mohnad Abdalla Fayaz A. Lone Muhammad Azhar Khan Uzma Khan Farhana Ijaz Long-Term Impact of Transhumance Pastoralism and Associated Disturbances in High-Altitude Forests of Indian Western Himalaya
description	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, <i>Sibbaldia cuneata</i>, <i>Poa annua</i>, and <i>Abies pindrow,</i> 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<sup>−1</sup>; mean ± SD) than NNS forest type (120.40 ± 51.74 MgCha<sup>−1</sup>). 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.
format	article
author	Shiekh Marifatul Haq Umer Yaqoob Eduardo Soares Calixto Manoj Kumar Inayat Ur Rahman Abeer Hashem Elsayed Fathi Abd_Allah Maha Abdullah Alakeel Abdulaziz A. Alqarawi Mohnad Abdalla Fayaz A. Lone Muhammad Azhar Khan Uzma Khan Farhana Ijaz
author_facet	Shiekh Marifatul Haq Umer Yaqoob Eduardo Soares Calixto Manoj Kumar Inayat Ur Rahman Abeer Hashem Elsayed Fathi Abd_Allah Maha Abdullah Alakeel Abdulaziz A. Alqarawi Mohnad Abdalla Fayaz A. Lone Muhammad Azhar Khan Uzma Khan Farhana Ijaz
author_sort	Shiekh Marifatul Haq
title	Long-Term Impact of Transhumance Pastoralism and Associated Disturbances in High-Altitude Forests of Indian Western Himalaya
title_short	Long-Term Impact of Transhumance Pastoralism and Associated Disturbances in High-Altitude Forests of Indian Western Himalaya
title_full	Long-Term Impact of Transhumance Pastoralism and Associated Disturbances in High-Altitude Forests of Indian Western Himalaya
title_fullStr	Long-Term Impact of Transhumance Pastoralism and Associated Disturbances in High-Altitude Forests of Indian Western Himalaya
title_full_unstemmed	Long-Term Impact of Transhumance Pastoralism and Associated Disturbances in High-Altitude Forests of Indian Western Himalaya
title_sort	long-term impact of transhumance pastoralism and associated disturbances in high-altitude forests of indian western himalaya
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/a8c9f2dc49164527965dac197465382e
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Long-Term Impact of Transhumance Pastoralism and Associated Disturbances in High-Altitude Forests of Indian Western Himalaya

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