Methods of Vegetation Study

This study performs a comparative evaluation of Frequency Ratio (FR), Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and Fuzzy AHP (FAHP) modeling techniques for forest fire susceptibility mapping in Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India. Locations of past forest fire events reported from November 2002 to July 2019 were collected from the Uttarakhand Forest Department and Forest Survey of India and combined with the ground observations obtained from the manual survey. Then, the locations were categorized into two groups of 70% (10,500 locations) and 30% (4500 locations), randomly, for training and validation purposes, respectively. Forest fire susceptibility mapping was performed on the basis of fourteen different topographic, biological, human-induced and climatic criteria such as Digital Elevation Model, Slope, Aspect, Curvature, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Moisture Index, Topographic Wetness Index, Soil, Distance to Settlement, Distance to Road, Distance to Drainage, Rainfall, Temperature, and Wind Speed. The Receiver Operating Characteristic curve and the Area Under the Curve (AUC) were implemented for validation of the three achieved Forest Fire Susceptibility Maps. The AUC plot evaluation revealed that FAHP has a maximum prediction accuracy of 83.47%, followed by AHP (81.75%) and FR (77.21%). Thus, the map produced by FAHP exhibits the most satisfactory properties. Results and findings of this study will help in developing more efficient fire management strategies in both the open and the protected forest areas (Rajaji and Jim Corbett National Park) of the district.

GIS-based forest fire susceptibility modeling in Pauri Garhwal, India: a comparative assessment of frequency ratio, analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy modeling techniques

Plants play an important role in the medicinal and healthcare regime of the people living in the remote areas of the Himalayan region, which can be attributed to their greater faith in the efficacy of herbal remedies and also the unavailability of modern healthcare facilities. The current study aimed to report the indigenous medicinal knowledge of plants among the indigenous people comprising of local traditional healers, tribal, and non-tribal people of the Churah subdivision of district Chamba, Himachal Pradesh. Despite the gradual sociocultural transformation, these local people still possess substantial knowledge of plants and their uses. Extensive field surveys were conducted to remote villages and interviews were conducted through well-structured questionnaires, interviews, and group meetings. The data generated were examined using various quantitative tools, and an extensive literature review was done to analyze the pharmacological activity and chemical constituents of the targeted plant species. A total of 78 plants were reported to cure 13 ailments with maximum species (42) to cure dermatological problems followed by respiratory problems (20 species) and digestive problems (19 species). New or lesser known therapeutic uses of 21 plant species were reported which emphasizes for its further pharmacological validation.

Use of medicinal plants for treating different ailments by the indigenous people of Churah subdivision of district Chamba, Himachal Pradesh, India

Plant invasion has been a major threat to biodiversity and ecosystem stability. In the present study, we have estimated the effect of two invasive alien species, Lantana camara and Ageratina adenophora on the understory vegetation composition and species diversity of chir pine (Pinus roxburghii) forests in the central Himalaya. We have selected three sites in pine forests and each site was divided into three subsites i.e. non-invaded (NI), Lantana camara invaded (LI) and Ageratina adenophora invaded (AI). In each subsite, 10 random quadrats for herbs (1 × 1 m) and shrubs (5 × 5 m) were laid down. In all the study sites, native herbs and shrubs species richness, diversity, and evenness changed due to invasive species. The presence of both the invasive species caused a reduction in native understory herbs and shrubs species number by 29–40% indicating a strong effect on native vegetation. Shrub density ranged from 6720 to 9680 individuals ha−1 and 8960 to 12000 individuals ha−1 in LI and AI sites, respectively. Total shrub basal area varied between 1.64 and 2.52 m2 ha−1 in LI sites and 1.76 and 2.24 m2 ha−1 in AI sites. Shrub density and basal area in NI sites (4200–6960 individual ha−1 and 0.60–0.96 m2 ha−1) were 2–3 times lower than LI and AI sites. Higher shrub density and basal area in LI and AI sites altered the vegetation composition and diversity of understory vegetation in pine forests. The dominance of invasive species also altered the soil physico-chemical properties. Their interrelationship among species assemblage, study sites and environmental variables showed the adverse impact of invasion on native species. This depletion of native flora is worrisome for both ecological as well as socio-economical perspectives and needs urgent attention of forest managers and policymakers.

Lantana camara and Ageratina adenophora invasion alter the understory species composition and diversity of chir pine forest in central Himalaya, India

Forest fires are a very common in India, especially in the hilly regions of the western and northeastern Himalayas, which puts adverse impacts on the environment and society. Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are the states most prone to forest fires; therefore, this research is intended to map forest fire occurrence in both states using geospatial techniques and machine learning algorithms (MLAs). To fulfill this objective, we used the meteorological data such as evapotranspiration, precipitation, temperature and wind speed data regarding aridity, elevation, slope, aspect, curvature and land use/land cover (LULC) data; and three MLAs: support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), and logistic regression (LR) along with an ensemble learning model were used for the modeling of susceptibility of forest fires. This produced forest fire susceptible maps that were finally validated using the global fire atlas of the NASA Earth DATA. The result showed that more than 50% of the area of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh states lies under the moderate, high, and very high forest fire susceptible zones. Further, most of the low hilly and foothill regions of both the states lie under the high and very high forest fire susceptible zones. The validation of the models used was completed using the ROC curve, which showed that the area under curve (AUC) of the ROC (experimental and binormal) was highest for ensemble model, i.e. 0.923 and 0.989, respectively followed by SVM (0.89 and 0.97), RF (0.887 and 0.96), and LR (0.85 and 0.92). This indicates that, although all the models produced satisfactory results, the accuracy of the ensemble model was highest. The output of this research can be utilized for the effective mitigation of forest fires, as well as forest management in the region. Further, similar approaches may be used in other parts of the world for forest fire susceptibility mapping using additional parameters. 

Forest Fire Susceptibility Mapping by Integrating Remote Sensing and Machine Learning Algorithms

The present study was carried out in oak (Quercus leucotrichophora) dominated forest of Pauri. Two permanent plots were selected of which one was BPS and other was UBPS. The vegetational data were analysed for both the sites i.e., floristic composition, density, basal cover, A/F, Shannon Wiener index and Simpson’s index of dominance (cd). A total of 6-8 trees species and 24-26 shrub species were found on both BPS and UBPS. BPS showed maximum density than UBPS. Contagious pattern of distribution was common. This paper represents a close association among man, fire and forest ecosystem.

https://environcj.in/wp-content/uploads/issues/2017/3/ECJ-99-106.pdf

Phytosociological analysis of woody vegetation under burnt and unburnt oak dominated forest at Pauri, Garhwal Himalaya, India

https://www.florajournal.com/archives/2017/vol5issue5/PartA/6-4-28-127.pdf

Indigenous uses of plants under Pinus dominated ecosystem at Pauri Garhwal, India

The objective deals with the phenological and reproductive observations of two members of Poaceae Arundinella nepalensis Trinius and Imperata cylindrica L. The investigations were made in the burnt protected site (BPS) and unburnt protected site (UPS) forest grazingland of Pauri Garhwal dominated by Pinus roxburghii. The phenological behaviour was studied on 6 point scale events: germination, vegetative growth, flowering, fruiting, seed maturation and senescence of the individual and an attempt have been carried out to analyze different phases monthly. The average plant height for Arundinella nepalensis was maximum (97.71±2.1) on BPS in contrast to the UPS (92.42±1.1). Plant height for Imperata cylindrica was also maximum (44.28±4.7) on BPS in compare to UPS (40.28±2.7). With respect to the reproductive phase, the proportion (%) of the flowering clump with flowering culms (CF) for Arundinella nepalensis was 31 % on BPS, 25% on UPS and for Imperata cylindrica CF was 71% on BPS, 68% on UPS. The reproductive phase was represented during peak growing rainy season and persistent up to winter season and again enhanced vegetative growth after resprouting during the summer season. The gradation appears to be peculiarity extended on the unburnt site and the phase initiation found comparatively prompt on the burnt site.

Phenology and reproductive behaviour of two perennial grasses under burnt and unburnt conditions at Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand India.

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Phytosociological analysis of woody vegetation under burnt and unburnt oak dominated forest at Pauri, Garhwal Himalaya, India

Indigenous uses of plants under Pinus dominated ecosystem at Pauri Garhwal, India

Phenology and reproductive behaviour of two perennial grasses under burnt and unburnt conditions at Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand India.