Anthropogenic disturbances and their impact on vegetation in Western Himalaya, India

CORC > 成都山地灾害与环境研究所 > 中国科学院水利部成都山地灾害与环境研究所 > Journal of Mountain Science > Journal of Mountain Science-2016 > Vol13 No.1

	Anthropogenic disturbances and their impact on vegetation in Western Himalaya, India
	Zubair A. MALIK; Rajiv PANDEY; Ajay Ballabh BHATT
刊名	Journal of Mountain Science
	2016-01
卷号	13 期号:1 页码:69-82
关键词	Human impact Species diversity Tree regeneration Conservation management Hydroelectric project Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary
ISSN号	1672-6316
通讯作者	Zubair A. MALIK
英文摘要	The present study assesses anthropogenic disturbances and their impacts on the vegetation in Western Himalaya, India on the basis of various disturbance parameters such as density, Total Basal Cover (TBC) of cut stumps, lopping percentage and grazing intensities. On the basis of canopy cover and frequency of disturbances (%), the studied forests were divided into highly disturbed (HD), moderately disturbed (MD) and least disturbed (LD) categories. The HD forests had the lowest canopy cover, lowest density and lowest TBC and the LD had the highest canopy cover, highest density and highest TBC. The MD forests occupied the intermediate position with respect to these parameters. Species richness was least in HD forests, highest in one of the MD forests while LD forest occupied an intermediate position. The percentage of regenerating species was lowest (54%) in HD and highest (72%) in MD. The density of seedlings and saplings was higher in one of the MD forests as compared to HD and LD. We concluded that the moderate disturbances do not affect the vegetation adversely; however the increased degree of disturbance causes loss in plant diversity; affects regeneration and changes community characteristics. Construction of hydroelectric projects at various places in the study area was found to be one of the most important sources of anthropogenic disturbances in addition to the routine anthropogenic disturbances like grazing, fuelwood collection and fodder extraction. If all proposed dams in the Indian Himalaya are constructed combined with weak national environmental impact assessment and implementation, it will result in a significant loss of species. Therefore, various agents of disturbances should be evaluated in cumulative manner and any developmental activities such as hydropower projects, which trigger various natural and anthropogenic disturbances, should be combined with proper cumulative environmental impact assessment and effective implementation to minimise the anticipated loss of vegetation.
收录类别	SCI
语种	英语
内容类型	期刊论文
源URL	[http://ir.imde.ac.cn/handle/131551/13876]
专题	成都山地灾害与环境研究所_Journal of Mountain Science _Journal of Mountain Science-2016_Vol13 No.1
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Zubair A. MALIK,Rajiv PANDEY,Ajay Ballabh BHATT. Anthropogenic disturbances and their impact on vegetation in Western Himalaya, India[J]. Journal of Mountain Science,2016,13(1):69-82.
APA	Zubair A. MALIK,Rajiv PANDEY,&Ajay Ballabh BHATT.(2016).Anthropogenic disturbances and their impact on vegetation in Western Himalaya, India.Journal of Mountain Science,13(1),69-82.
MLA	Zubair A. MALIK,et al."Anthropogenic disturbances and their impact on vegetation in Western Himalaya, India".Journal of Mountain Science 13.1(2016):69-82.