Diversity, distribution and vegetation assessment in the Jahlmanal watershed in cold desert of the Lahaul valley, north-western Himalaya, India

doi:10.3832/ifor0532-003

Diversity, distribution and vegetation assessment in the Jahlmanal watershed in cold desert of the Lahaul valley, north-western Himalaya, India

YS Rawat⁽¹⁾ , SCR Vishvakarma⁽¹⁾, SS Oinam⁽²⁾, JC Kuniyal⁽²⁾

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Volume 3, Issue 3, Pages 65-71 (2010)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor0532-003
Published: May 17, 2010 - Copyright © 2010 SISEF

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Geo-mapping

Relict vegetation in the Jahlmanal watershed is sparsely and scantily distributed on forest land. Farmers maintain tree species (Salix spp., Populus spp., Hippophae rhamnoides) on the boundaries of terraced agriculture fields to meet the fodder and fuel wood requirements. Juniperus macropoda was found in relict forest patches in sparse and stunted conditions. The density of Salix fragilis was 3340 trees ha^-1 under agroforestry and 5520 trees ha^-1 under forestry. The density of J. macropoda was 4200 tree ha^-1 in natural forest followed by 700 tree ha^-1 in agroforestry and 160 tree ha^-1 in managed forestry systems. The agroforesty system of the watershed consists of 30% trees, 35% small trees and 35% shrubs species. Shrubs contributed the highest density with 59.1% of the total, followed by density of trees (29.5%) and small trees (11.3%). Trees contributed highest basal area in all the three systems, i.e., agroforestry, forestry and forest. The relict forest patches are subjected to deforestation due to anthropogenic pressure, hence in-situ and ex-situ conservation are required. Efforts are needed for plantation of ecologically suitable multipurpose tree species with indigenous species in the watershed. Technological interventions are also required to improve the quality and resistance against drought and climate change.

Keywords

Vegetation analysis, Agroforestry, Forestry, Forest, Watershed, Lahaul valley, Cold desert, Indian Himalaya

Authors’ address

(1)

G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora 263 643 Uttarakhand (India)

(2)

G.B. Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, Himachal Unit, Mohal-Kullu 175 126 Himachal Pradesh (India)

Corresponding author

YS Rawat
yas_rawat@yahoo.com

Citation

Rawat YS, Vishvakarma SCR, Oinam SS, Kuniyal JC (2010). Diversity, distribution and vegetation assessment in the Jahlmanal watershed in cold desert of the Lahaul valley, north-western Himalaya, India. iForest 3: 65-71. - doi: 10.3832/ifor0532-003

Paper history

Received: Dec 24, 2009
Accepted: Apr 21, 2010

First online: May 17, 2010
Publication Date: May 17, 2010
Publication Time: 0.87 months

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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