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Patterns of floristic and functional diversity in two treeline ecotone sites of Kashmir Himalaya

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Abstract

Globally, the treelines at higher elevations in mountains are reported to be advancing up-slope in response to recent climate warming. However, little is known about the treeline advancement in the Himalaya due to paucity of baseline vegetation data with which to compare, thus making their assessment and monitoring challenging. To fill this knowledge gap, the present study documented floristic and functional diversity of two treeline ecotone sites in Kashmir Himalaya. At each site, we conducted field sampling by laying five 20-m2 plots, with one at the highest limit (T0 plot), two plots below and two above the treeline and two nested subplots of 5-m2 for shrubs and five 1-m2 for herbs in each plot. We recorded 97 plant species belonging to 33 families from the two sites. We observed a considerable difference in species composition and distribution along the treeline ecotone. Majority of the species reported were perennial herbs. We observed a significant association of growth forms with the particular plots along the treeline ecotone. At both the sites, we recorded highest species richness at the T0 plot which was correlated well with the functional traits, thus indicating convergence of floristic and functional diversity at this transition zone. Interestingly, the T0 plot at both the sites showed maximum overlap of species with the plots above and below the treeline. In an era of climate warming, our study provides crucial baseline data that will facilitate assessment and monitoring of the Himalayan treelines.

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All the data supporting the results and R codes are available from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the research scholars of BIOTA Lab and staff at the Centre for Biodiversity and Taxonomy, University of Kashmir for their support in the field and Laboratory work. We would also like to thank the staff at KASH herbarium for permitting us to access preserved plant specimens. We thank the esteemed reviewer and editor for valuable comments on earlier version of the manuscript, which significantly improved its quality.

Funding

Funding for this study was provided to A.A.K. by Space Applications Centre (SAC) ISRO, Ahmedabad, India, under SHRESTI project (Grant number: SAC/EPSA/ALPINE/SHRESTI/10/2019) and by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), New Delhi, under AICOPTAX project (Grant number: F No. 22018/12/2015/RE(Tax)).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Biodiversity & Taxonomy, Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, 190 006, India

    Aadil Gulzar, Maroof Hamid, Firdous A. Dar, Sajad A. Wani, Akhtar H. Malik & Anzar Ahmad Khuroo

  2. Department of Environmental Science, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, 190 006, India

    Aadil Gulzar & Azra N. Kamili

  3. Department of Botany, Central University of Kashmir, Ganderbal, Jammu and Kashmir, 191 201, India

    Azra N. Kamili

  4. Space Applications Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Ahmedabad, 380 015, India

    C. P. Singh

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  1. Aadil Gulzar
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  2. Maroof Hamid
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  3. Firdous A. Dar
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Contributions

A.G. and M.H. contributed equally to this manuscript and therefore share the first authorship. A.A.K. and C.P.S conceived the research idea and design. Field data collection and formal analyses were performed by A.A.K., A.G., M.H., F.A.D., S.A.W., and A.H.M. The original draft was equally written by A.G. and M.H. with detailed review and inputs from A.A.K. The manuscript was revised by M.H. and A.A.K. All the authors reviewed and approved the final draft of the manuscript for submission.

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Correspondence to Anzar Ahmad Khuroo.

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Aadil Gulzar and Maroof Hamid equally shared first authorship.

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Gulzar, A., Hamid, M., Dar, F.A. et al. Patterns of floristic and functional diversity in two treeline ecotone sites of Kashmir Himalaya. Environ Monit Assess 194, 420 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10044-5

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