Research
Impact of Biotic Stresses on the Alpine Scrub, Pasture Land and Forest Area of Branwar Forest Division, Kashmir Himalaya
The present study was carried out for assessing different type of biotic stresses in Branwar Forests of Kashmir Himalaya. The Present Study area i.e., Branwar Forest Range lies over and above famous tourist area of Yus Marg on one side and Neel Nag Forest Lake on the other side. The present investigation was carries out from April, 2010 to April, 2011. The cumulative effect of the biotic interferences was significantly seen in the reduction of vegetation cover. The present study revealed that the prominent factor for the exploitation of the vegetation cover of Branwar forest study area at herbaceous level is simply the overgrazing. The increasing disturbances not only disturb the plant species diversity, richness and evenness significantly but various plant species have got completely eliminated by different kinds of interferences like overgrazing, deforestation, hydal power production, forest fire, Stone extraction, road construction etc. The forests in the region are suffering from severe biotic stress. The forests are intimately linked with the agro-ecosystems in the mountainous areas of the Himalaya and the depletion has definite and obvious impacts on the overall socioeconomic and agricultural scenario of the entire region.
Geomicrobiology and Geochemistry of Cave Spring Water From Jaintia and East Khasi Hills of Meghalaya, India
The present study was undertaken to know the concentration of various trace elements and the condition of water quality parameters in the cave water samples besides studying the role the microbes play in the precipitation of minerals in caves. The results revealed that the concentration of various trace elements such as copper, zinc, nickel and cadmium were low and below the water quality standard limits given by WHO, 2006. While that of manganese it was exceptionally high, may be due to erosion of the manganese minerals deposits by the spring cave water. The results also revealed that phosphate is present in very low concentration while sulphate is present in high concentration which again may be due to erosion of secondary sulphate minerals. The co-relation matrices and one tailed analysis of variance of physic-chemical factors have been computed and analyzed .The positive correlation coefficient was observed between pH and alkalinity, hardness and conductivity, sulphate and turbidity. The one tailed ANOVA confirms that site spatial variations have less significant effect on concentration of trace elements. Microbial analysis showed that various types of microbes are present in cave sample which may play an important role in mineral precipitations.
Microdistribution and Spatial Variation of Macroinvertabrate Populations in Sonamarg, Kashmir
Present investigation attempted to explore the occurrence, distribution and diversity of epigeal invertebrate fauna in the different micro-habitats of the Sonamarg (34°.40’ 31â€7 N latitude 74°71’29â€E longitude) Kashmir. A checklist of epigeal invertebrate fauna was prepared and determines the effect of various micro habitats determined. Six sites were selected in the study area. A total of 34 species belonging to 11 different orders were reported. The maximum number of species belonged to order Coleoptera (10 species) followed by Araneida (5 species) and Hymenoptera (5 species), Hemiptera (3 species), Dermoptera, Diptera, Oligochaeta and Scolopendramorpha (2 species each), Dictyoptera, Juliformia and Orthoptera (1 specie each). Various relative parameters such as, density, relative-density, frequency, relative frequency, abundance, relative abundance and importance value index were computed. It was concluded that the maximum abundance and diversity pertained to the habitat rich in organic matter followed by the forest area. The epigeal fauna exhibited fairly good degree of variation both site as well as month wise.
