Biodiversity and invasibility: Distribution patterns of invasive plant species in the Himalayas,Nepal

Invasive plant species are exerting a serious threat to biological diversity in many regions of the world. To understand plant invasions this study aims to test which of the two plant invasiveness hypotheses; ‘low native diversity' vs. ‘high native diversity', is supported by the regional distribution patterns of invasive plant species in the Himalayas,Nepal. This study is based on data retrieved from published literatures and herbarium specimens. The relationship between invasive plant species distribution patterns and that of native plant species is elucidated by scatter plots, as well as by generalized linear models. The native plant species and invasive plant species have similar distribution patterns and the maximum number of invasive plant species is found in the same altitudinal range where the highest richness for native tree species is found. There is a clear trend of higher invasive plant richness in regions where native tree species richness is relatively high.Consequently, the native plant richness is highest in the central phytogeographic region, followed by the eastern and the western regions, respectively. The invasive plant species also follows a similar trend.Additionally, the invasive plant species richness was positively correlated with anthropogenic factors such as human population density and the number of visiting tourists. This study supports the hypothesis that ‘high native diversity' supports or facilitates invasive plant species. Further, it indicates that nativeand invasive plant species may require similar natural conditions, but that the invasive plant species seem more dependent and influenced by anthropogenic disturbance factors.     

Sustainability of transhumance grazing systems under socio-economic threats in Langtang,Nepal

The decline or loss of traditional social- ecological systems may induce adverse effects to the societies and ecosystems. Transhumance, the recurring and seasonal movement of grazing livestock, is increasingly constrained by a numbers of factors including policy, land use and soeio-economic changes in Nepal. To explore how these changes have affected the transhumance, this study investigated transhumance at the Langtang valley in central Nepal. The specific objectives of this study were to determine the herd size and composition, spatial-temporal patterns and to identify the major drivers of the system and the system changes. Data were collected from field study comprising semi-structured interviews with the herders, focus group discussions, key informants survey, and observations of rangeland and livestock management systems. The study revealed that the transhumanee system in the Langtang is influenced by two types of drivers. In one hand, traditional practices are contributing to the sustainability of the system. On the other hand, the grazing patterns and adaptive responses are strongly influenced by changes in government policies, socioeconomic and cultural transformation, livestock productivity, markets, rangeland conditions and climate change. The findings of this study help with the development and implementation of transhumance management policy for the sustainability.     

An assessment of Yarsagumba (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) collection in Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve,Nepal

Yarsagumba （Ophiocordyceps sinensis）, an endemic species to the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau, is one of the most valuable medicinal mushrooms in the world. In Nepal, it is distributed largely in isolated patches of alpine grasslands of 3,000-5,000 m elevation. Although it is reported from 27 northernmost districts of Nepal, the local distribution pattern of this species is largely unknown. Furthermore, the collection system and local management regime of this species are not well documented. We conducted a field survey at Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve （DHR） among the different stakeholders in January-June 2012 to assess collection sites, patterns and trends and to understand the management regime. We estimated that about 75 kg of Yarsagumba is collected every year from DHR and the amount has been declining since 2008. To manage the resource, locals have initiated regulating the collection by issuing permits, taxing to the collectors, and monitoring the activities of harvesters with the help of park authorities. The revenue generated at local level from the permits has been used for community developmental activities.     

Ecological responses to holocene millennial-scale climate change at high altitudes of east and Central Asia: A case study of Picea/Abies pollen changes in lacustrine sediments

Ecosystem response to climate change in high-altitude regions is a focus on global change research. Picea/Abies forests are widely distributed at high altitudes of East and Central Asia, and their distribution changes are sensitive to climate change. Humidity is an important climatic factor that affects high-altitude ecosystems; however, the relationship between distribution changes of Picea/Abies forests and millennial-scale variability of humidity is still not dear. Palynological records can provide insights into millennial-scale paleovegetation changes, which have been successfully used to reconstruct past climate change in East and Central Asia. In this study, we synthesized 24 Picea/Abies pollen and humidity/moisture changes based upon Holocene lake records in East and Central Asia in order to explore the response of high-latitude ecosystem to millennial-scale climate change. The changing pattern of Holocene lacustrine Picea/Abies pollen in arid Central Asia differs from that of monsoonal East Asia, which can be due to different millennial-scale climate change patterns between monsoonal and arid Central Asia. Then, the relationship between changes in Picea/Abies pollen and humidity/moisture conditions was examined based on a comparison of pollen and humidity/moisture records. The results indicate that millennial-scale Picea/Abies distribution changes aremainly controlled by moisture variability at high altitudes, while the temperature effect plays a minor role in Picea/Abies distribution changes. Moreover, this research proves that lacustrine Picea/Abies pollen can be used as an indicator of millennial-scale humidity/moisture evolution at high altitudes in East and Central Asia.     

Plant species diversity along an altitudinal gradient of Bhabha Valley in western Himalaya

The present study highlights the rich species diversity of higher plants in the Bhabha Valley of western Himalaya in India. The analysis of species diversity revealed that a total of 313 species of higher plants inhabit the valley with a characteristic of moist alpine shrub vegetation. The herbaceous life forms dominate and increase with increasing altitude. The major representations are from the families Asteraceae, Rosaceae, Lamiaceae and Poaceae, suggesting thereby the alpine meadow nature of the study area. The effect of altitude on species diversity displays a hump-shaped curve which may be attributed to increase in habitat diversity at the median ranges and relatively less habitat diversity at higher altitudes. The anthropogenic pressure at lower altitudes results in low plant diversity towards the bottom of the valley with most of the species being exotic in nature. Though the plant diversity is less at higher altitudinal ranges, the uniqueness is relatively high with high species replacement rates. More than 90 % of variability in the species diversity could be explained using appropriate quantitative and statistical analysis along the altitudinal gradient. The valley harbours 18 threatened and 41 endemic species, most of which occur at higher altitudinal gradients due to habitat specificity.     

青藏高原及周缘深部结构的重力异常解释与尼泊尔Ms8.1地震

利用离散小波变换获得青藏高原布格重力异常不同尺度的总水平梯度(HGM)和横向、纵向、对角分量平方和的平方根(HVDM)图像。结果表明:1)4、5阶小波细节之和的HGM高值区域存在于尼泊尔喜马拉雅地区、喜马拉雅东构造结和阿尔金断裂带中段,即青藏高原周缘较为活跃的构造带;2)尼泊尔喜马拉雅地区和阿尔金断裂带西段存在5阶小波逼近高值HGM,较高值HGM带呈现环青藏高原形态,反映了青藏高原与周缘构造块体地壳深度变化和岩石圈地幔顶部物质性质的差异性变化特征;3)HVDM高值带分布于喜马拉雅地区、喜马拉雅东构造结地区、阿尔金断裂带和龙门山断裂带,体现了青藏高原周缘构造带形态特征;4)2015尼泊尔Ms8.1地震发生在地壳深部的HGM高-低-高分布形态的低值区和HVDM高值带的边界,是印度板块和欧亚板块持续汇聚及周缘大型走滑断裂带的调节作用、累积能量释放的结果。     

Heterogeneous Expansion of End-moraine Dammed Lakes in the Hindukush-Karakoram-Himalaya Ranges of Pakistan during 2001-2013

Global climate change during the twentieth century had a significant impact on the glaciers that resulted in creation of new lakes and expansion of existing ones, and ultimately an increase in the number of glacial lake outburst floods(GLOFs) in the Himalayan region. This study reports variation of the end-moraine dammed lakes in the high altitude Hindukush-Karakoram-Himalaya(HKH) region of Pakistan to evaluate future floods hazard under changing climate in this region. An integrated temporal remote sensing and Geographic information system(GIS) based approach using satellite images of Landsat-7 and 8 was adopted to detect 482 endmoraine dammed lakes out of which 339 lakes(0.02 km2) were selected for temporal change analysis during the 2001-2013 period. The findings of the study revealed a net expansion in the end-moraine dammed lakes area in the Karakoram(about 7.7%) and in the Himalayas(4.6%), while there was a net shrinkage of about 1.5% in the lakes area in the Hindukush range during this period. The percentage increase in the lakes' area was highest above 4500 m asl in the Hindukush, within 3500-4000 m asl in the Himalayas and below 3500 m asl in the Karakoram range. The overall positive change in the lakes' area appears to prevail in various altitudinal ranges of the region. The heterogeneous areal changes in the endmoraine dammed lakes might be attributed to different climate regimes and glacial hydrodynamics in the three HKH ranges. A periodic monitoring of the glacial lakes and their associated glaciers is essential for developing effective hazard assessment and risk reduction strategies for this high altitude Himalayan region.     

Improvement of glacial lakes detection under shadow environment using ASTER data in Himalayas, Nepal

The detection of glacial lake change in the Himalayas, Nepal is extremely significant since the glacial lake change is one of the crucial indicators of global climate change in this area, where is the most sensitive area of the global climate changes. In the Himalayas, some of glacial lakes are covered by the dark mountains′ shadow because of their location. Therefore, these lakes can not be detected by conventional method such as Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), because the reflectance feature of shadowed glacial lake is different comparing to the ones which are located in the open flat area. The shadow causes two major problems: 1) glacial lakes which are covered by shadow completely result in underestimation of the number of glacial lakes; 2) glacial lakes which are partly identified are considered to undervalue the area of glacial lakes. The aim of this study is to develop a new model, named Detection of Shadowed Glacial Lakes (DSGL) model, to identify glacial lakes under the shadow environment by using Advanced Space-borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data in the Himalayas, Nepal. The DSGL model is based on integration of two different modifications of NDWI, namely NDWIs model and NDWI she model. NDWIs is defined as integration of the NDWI and slope analysis and used for detecting non-shadowed lake in the mountain area. The NDWIshe is proposed as a new methodology to overcome the weakness of NDWIs on identifying shadowed lakes in highly elevated mountainous area such as the Himalayas. The first step of the NDWIshe is to enhance the data from ASTER 1B using the histogram equalization (HE) method, and its outcome product is named ASTER he . We used the ASTER he for calculating the NDWI he and the NDWIshe . Integrated with terrain analysis using Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data, the NDWI she can be used to identify the shadowed glacial lakes in the Himalayas. NDWIs value of 0.41 is used to identify the glacier lake (NDWIs≥0.41), and 0.3 of NDWIshe is used to identify the shadowed glacier lake (NDWIshe≤0.3). The DSGL model was proved to be able to classify the glacial lakes more accurately, while the NDWI model had tendency to underestimate the presence of actual glacial lakes. Correct classification rate regarding the products from NDWI model and DSGL model were 57% and 99%, respectively. The results of this paper demonstrated that the DSGL model is promising to detect glacial lakes in the shadowed environment at high mountains.     

Rural coping and adaptation strategies for climate change by Himalayan communities in Nepal

Climate change has major impacts on the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities. The unpredictable weather conditions in rural Nepal have been attributed to a changing climate. This study explored the climate change adaptation and coping strategies that rural communities adopt for the conservation of natural resources and livelihoods in the mid-hills of Nepal. This paper explored major climatic hazards, assessed different coping and adaptation measures, and barrier faced to climate change adaptation based on perceptions by forest-dependent communities. We conducted focus group discussions, questionnaire surveys, and semistructured interviews with local communities and stakeholders. The results showed that rural communities had experienced significant impacts of climate change and variability. In response, they are practicing diverse coping and adaptation strategies,including the construction of bioengineering structures and planting different species that grow quickly and establish promptly.     

Plant functional type approach for a functional interpretation of altitudinal vegetation zones in the Alborz Mts., Iran

Mountains are an excellent system for evaluating ecological and biogeographical patterns. The obvious variations of the environmental factors along the altitude create different zones with adapted plant assemblages. However, few studies make use of plant functional type(PFT) for describing the variation of vegetation along altitudinal gradients. A PFT is a group of taxa with similar traits which respond similarly to the environmental gradients. In this study, we used PFTs as indicators describing five vegetation zones in the western Alborz Mt, Iran from 2000 – 4500 m. The plant trait data presented here covers six plant traits including growth form, stemleaf ratio, spinescence, hairiness, leaf consistency and plant height of 297 species. We considered altitude and soil factors to test the importance of environmental variables. We applied a multivariate analysis of three table ordination, i.e. environmental, species, and traits data to identify the PFTs. We further applied fourth-corner statistic to quantify trait-environment relationships. A constrained hierarchical clustering was used to detect five altitudinal zones and two zones of low and high nitrogen concentration. With regard to altitude wediscuss the distribution of species, traits and PFTs. Growth form, plant height and stem-leaf ratio were significantly related to altitude and nitrogen. We identified 19 PFTs from which 18 were significantly associated to one or more altitudinal zones. While the lower altitudinal zones contain a variety of PFTs higher altitudes contain less PFTs with the highest altitude containing only one single PFT, tiny rosette plants with soft mesomorphic leaves. We identified grazing and climatic harshness as well as rockiness as the most important drivers of the distribution of plant functional traits and types across the studied gradient.     

Species and plant community reorganization in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt under climate change conditions

This study analyzes six vegetation communities in relation to current climatic parameters and eight climate change scenarios along an elevation gradient extending from 2,710 m to 4,210m in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The projected movements of 25 plant species with the current restricted or wide altitudinal distributions were also modeled. To relate climatic parameters to the species and communities, a Precipitation/Temperature(P/T)index was used both for the current and the different climate-change scenarios. The temperatures are expected to increase by 1.1°C to 1.7°C by 2020 and by2°C to 3°C by 2050. A decrease of 4% to 13% in the annual precipitation is expected for the 2020 horizon,and a reduction between 3% and 20% is expected for2050. The reductions in water availability were projected for all altitude levels and plant communities.The most marked reduction was under the HADLEYA2 scenario, in which the lower limit of the altitudinal range increased from 2,710 to 3,310 m(2050 horizon)with reductions in the P/T index between 36% and39% compared to the current climate. Most plant species tended to shift their distribution from 200 to300 m upward in the 2020 temporal horizon scenarios. The Pinus hartwegii, Alnus jorullensis and Pinus montezumae communities would have a shorter altitudinal range as they move upward and merge with the remaining species at the higher altitudinal range. For the 2050 temporal horizon,30% of the species, primarily those from the higher altitudinal range, would disappear because their P/Tindex values would be above the limit of plant survival(4,210 m).     

基于“DEM-NDVI-土地覆盖分类”的天山博格达自然遗产地山地垂直带提取与变化分析

本文基于Landsat影像数据获取天山博格达自然遗产地土地覆盖分类,结合归一化植被指数（NDVI）和数字高程模型（DEM）构建“DEM-NDVI-土地覆盖分类”散点图分析研究区植被受海拔和坡向的水热空间变化影响的分布特征,通过概率统计分析提取博格达遗产地山地垂直带,并结合研究区的气温、降水数据和NDVI变化特征分析垂直带变化的原因。研究结果表明：① 本文利用“DEM-NDVI-土地覆盖分类”散点图,揭示了研究区1989年和2016年的NDVI值和分类类别随着海拔上升的变化特征,其中NDVI值随着海拔上升呈现“倒U形”变化,而不同分类类别在一定的海拔区间内呈现出聚集效应,且不同分类类别有明显的高程界限。② 1989年和2016年博格达遗产地山地垂直带分带上限分别为：1278 m和1185 m（温带荒漠草原带）、1784 m和1759 m（山地草原带）、2706 m和2730 m（山地针叶林带）、3272 m和3293 m（高山草甸带）、3636 m和3690 m（高山垫状植被带）。③ 博格达遗产地1989年和2016年山地垂直带受区域气温升高和降雨增加的影响有较为明显的改变,其中温带荒漠草原带最为敏感,其上限变化最大,向下收缩93 m;山地针叶林带的分布范围则向两侧扩张49 m;山地草甸带带宽基本保持不变,但整体上移了约20 m;冰雪带则受到全球气候变暖的影响向上退缩54 m。     

Predicting the impacts of climate change on the distribution of Moringa peregrina(Forssk.) Fiori-A conservation approach

Climate change will affect the geographic distribution and richness of species at different spatial and temporal scales. We applied Maximum entropy(MaxEnt) modeling to predict the potential influence of climatic change on the current and future distribution of the important mountainous tree species Moringa peregrina(Forssk.) Fiori. The Maxent model performed better than random models for the species with the training and test AUC(Area Under the receiver-operating characteristic Curve) values of 0.96 and 0.90, respectively. Jackknife test and response curves showed that the distribution of the species negatively correlates with higher altitudes and precipitation in October and November. Moreover, it positively correlates with the total annual precipitation and precipitation in January. Under current and future climatic conditions, our model predicted habitat gains for M. peregrina towards the coastal northern and southern limits of its distribution. The potentially suitable habitats, under future climate projections, are currently characterized by elevations of 1000 m a.s.l. and total annual precipitation of 80-225 mm/year. Moderate and high potential habitat suitability will increase by 5.6%-6% and 2.1%-2.3%, under RCP2.6 and RCP4.5 scenario, respectively. The results indicated that the habitat suitability of M. peregrina would increase with increasing climate warming, particularly under RCP2.6 scenario. We recommend sustainable conservation and cultivation of Moringa peregrina in its current habitats along the Red Sea mountains.     

Contrasting changes in above- and below-ground biomass allocation across treeline ecotones in southeast Tibet

Under conditions of a warmer climate, the advance of the alpine treeline into alpine tundra has implications for carbon dynamics in mountain ecosystems. However, the above- and below-ground live biomass allocations among different vegetation types within the treeline ecotones are not well investigated. To determine the altitudinal patterns of above-/below-ground carbon allocation, we measured the root biomass and estimated the above-ground biomass (AGB) in a subalpine forest, treeline forest, alpine shrub, and alpine grassland along two elevational transects towards the alpine tundra in southeast Tibet. The AGB strongly declined with increasing elevation, which was associated with a decrease in the leaf area index and a consequent reduction in carbon gain. The fine root biomass (FRB) increased significantly more in the alpine shrub and grassland than in the treeline forest, whereas the coarse root biomass changed little with increasing altitudes, which led to a stable below-ground biomass (BGB) value across altitudes. Warm and infertile soil conditions might explain the large amount of FRB in alpine shrub and grassland. Consequently, the root to shoot biomass ratio increased sharply with altitude, which suggested a remarkable shift of biomass allocation to root systems near the alpine tundra. Our findings demonstrate contrasting changes in AGB and BGB allocations across treeline ecotones, which should be considered when estimating carbon dynamics with shifting treelines.     

Hypsometric properties of mountain landscape of Hunza River Basin of the Karakoram Himalaya

Within Karakoram Himalaya, Hunza River Basin(study area) is unique for a number of reasons: 1) potential impacts of highly concentrated highpitched mountains and glacial ice; 2) the glaciated portions have higher mean altitude as compared to other glaciated landscapes in the Karakoram; 3) this basin occupies varieties of both clean and debriscovered glaciers and/or ice. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the stability of topographic surface and potential implications of fluctuating glacial-ice causing variations in the movement of material from higher to lower elevations. This paper advocates landscape-level hypsometric investigations of glaciated landscape lies between 2280–7850 m elevation above sea level and non-glaciated landscape between 1461–7570 m. An attempt is made to understand intermediate elevations, which disguise the characteristics of glaciated hypsometries that are highly correlated with the Equilibrium Line Altitude(ELA). However, due to data scarcity for high altitude regions especially above 5000 m elevation, literature values for climatic conditions are used to create a relationship between hypsometry and variations in climate and ELA. The largest glaciated area(29.22%) between 5047 to 5555 m lies in the vertical regime of direct snow-accumulation zone and in the horizontal regime of net-accumulation zone(low velocity, net freezing, and no-sliding). In both landscapes, the hypsometric curves are ‘slow beginning' followed by ‘steep progress' and finally reaching a ‘plateau', reflecting the rapid altitudinal changes and the dominance of fluvial transport resulting in the denudation of land-dwelling and the transport of rock/debris from higher to lower altitudes. Reported slight differences in the average normalized bin altitudes against the cumulative normalized area between glaciated and non-glaciated landscapes are an indicator of slightly different land-forms and landform changes.     

Vulnerability of Himalayan springs to climate change and anthropogenic impact: a review

The climate change and unsustainable anthropogenic modification can intensify the vulnerability of the Himalayas. Natural springs are the principal source of potable water security for the Himalayan population. The changes in the trend of precipitation, temperature and glacier melt are expected to impact the quantity and quality of spring water significantly. This review presents an insight to unravel the effects of climate change and land use land cover changes on the spring resources and outline the essential elements of spring hydrology in the Himalayas. The sensitive response of spring flow to the climate has been observed to follows an annual periodic pattern strongly dependent on snowmelt,rainfall, and evapotranspiration. Among all types,Karst aquifers were found to be highly vulnerable. The changes in the forest and urban landscapes are affecting the recharging sites in the headwater region.In the Central Himalayan region(Kosi River basin,Kumaun), the number of perennial springs is decreasing at a rate of three springs year-1, and nonperennial springs are increasing at the rate of one spring year-1. The high concentration of NO3-, Cl-1,SO42-, and coliform counts reported from the spring water evidence a high susceptibility of shallow aquifers to the non-point source of pollution. Future projections indicate high surface-runoff and occurrence of extreme events such as floods, glacial lake outbursts, and landslides can affect the flow and water quality of springs. As the impact of climate change and anthropogenic activities are expected to increase with time remarkably, there is an urgent need to promote regional scientific studies on springs targeting hydrogeochemical evolution, vulnerability assessment, recharge area dynamics, and development of springshed management program.     

A transition from wood fuel to LPG and its impact on energy conservation and health in the Central Himalayas, India

The aim of the study was to evaluate the impacts of the transition from wood fuel to Liquefied Petroleum Gas(LPG) from energy use and health perspectives along an altitudinal gradient(viz.,lower altitude;middle altitude;and higher altitude) of the Central Himalayas.Empirical field study and questionnaire based survey was conducted forobtaining the data.A total of 20 households from each altitude were selected for obtaining reliable information on the actual quantity of fuelwood consumed.Of the 20 households,five households each based on the family size i.e.,small families(<4 members),medium(5-8 members) and large(>9 members) from all the altitudinal regions were selected.This was followed by an administration of a questionnaire on the quantity of fuelwood consumed.After the completion of the questionnaire survey,the data was validated using a weighted survey for the randomly selected households for obtaining precise information on the actual quantity of fuelwood consumed.Energy analysis is done with respect to the time spent on fuelwood collection and energy value of burning of per kg of fuelwood.Study indicates that declining biomass requirement from forests contributes significantly towards energy conservation,also has positive impact on human health.Per capita annual energy expenditure on collection of fuelwood is 752 MJ which is higher than any other activity in villages of Central Himalaya.The LPG substitution has contributed to energy saving which is equivalent to 2976-3,742 MJ per capita per year in middle and lower altitudes respectively.In the higher altitude the energy saving is calculated to be about 257 MJ per capita per year.Replacing fuelwood with LPG has made positive impact on society in terms of improving the health while reducing diseases that are caused due to indoor air pollution.     

Spatial distribution pattern in mammal and bird richness and their relationship with ecosystem services in Sanjiangyuan National Park,China

Species diversity exhibit a close relationship with ecosystem services, and making clear the relationship can help us understand the service value and functional mechanism of ecosystems and take measures to promote human well-being. Here, we used species survey data and multi-source habitat factors to simulate the spatial distribution of species richness and four types of ecosystem services(water production, net primary productivity, carbon storage, and habitat quality) in Sanjiangyuan National Park located in Qinghai Province, China. We also analyzed the spatial distribution pattern and explored the spatial relationship between species richness and ecosystem services through Geo Detector analyses. We found that high species richness in Sanjiangyuan National Park was shown to be mainly distributed in areas with high vegetation growth on both sides of rivers. The effect of climate on the spatial distribution of species richness in the park is the highest among all the selected environmental variables. For the relationship between species diversity and ecosystem services, the relative correlation strength of single ecosystem service varied among the three main ecosystems(grassland, meadow, and wetland) and all relations are positive.     

Predicting suitable habitat of an invasive weed Parthenium hysterophorus under future climate scenarios in Chitwan Annapurna Landscape,Nepal

Chitwan-Annapuma Landscape(CHAL)in central Nepal is known for its rich biodiversity and the landscape is expected to provide corridors for species range shift in response to climate change.Environmental assessments have identified biological invasions and other anthropogenic activities as major threats to the biodiversity in the CHAL.One of the rapidly spreading Invasive Alien Plant species(IAPs)in the CHAL is Parthenium hysterophorus L.,a neotropical invasive weed of global significance.This study aimed to investigate the current and future projected suitable habitat of P.hysterophorus in the CHAL using MaxEnt modelling in three"Representative Concentration Pathways"(RCPs 2.6,4.5 and 8.5)corresponding to different greenhouse gases emissiontrajectories for the year 2050 and 2070.A total of 288species occurrence points,six bioclimatic variablesmean diurnal range,isothermality,annual precipitation,precipitation of driest month,precipitation seasonality,precipitation of driest quarter and two topographic variables(aspect and slope)were selected for MaxEnt modelling.Potential range shift in terms of increase or decline in the suitable habitat areas under the projected scenarios were calculated.Slope and annual precipitation were the most important variables that explained the current distribution of P.hysterophorus.Twenty percent of the total area of CHAL was predicted to be suitable habitat for the growth of P.hysterophorus in the current climatic condition.Highest gain in the suitable habitat of this noxious weed was found under RCP 4.5 scenario in 2050 and 2070.whereas there will be a loss in thesuitable habitat under RCP 8.5 scenario in 2050 and2070.Out of four physiographic regions present in CHAL,three regions-Siwalik,Middle Mountain and High Mountain have suitable habitat for P.hysterophorus under current climatic condition.The mountainous region is likely to be affected more than the Siwalik region by further spread of P.fhysteropfhorus in the future under low(RCP 2.6)to medium(RCP 4.5)emission scenarios.The suitable habitat for this weed is likely to increase in the protected areas of mountain regions(Langtang National Park,Annapurna Conservation Area and Manaslu Conservation Area)in the future.The results have revealed a risk of spreading P.hysterophorus from present localities to non-invaded areas in the current and future climatic condition.Such risk needs to be considered by decision makers and resource managers while planning for effective management of this weed to reduce its ecological and economic impacts in the CHAL.     

Characterizing the Mass Elevation Effect across the Tibetan Plateau

It is over 110 years since the term Mass Elevation Effect(MEE) was proposed by A. D. Quervain in 1904. The quantitative study of MEE has been explored in the Tibetan Plateau in recent years; however, the spatial distribution of MEE and its impact on the ecological pattern of the plateau are seldom known. In this study, we used a new method to estimate MEE in different regions of the plateau, and, then analyzed the distribution pattern of MEE, and the relationships among MEE, climate, and the altitudinal distribution of timberlines and snowlines in the Plateau. The main results are as follows:(1) The spatial distribution of MEE in the Tibetan Plateau roughly takes on an eccentric ellipse in northwestsoutheast trend. The Chang Tang Plateau and the middle part of the Kunlun Mountains are the core area of MEE, where occurs the highest MEE of above 11℃; and MEE tends to decreases from this core area northwestward, northeastward and southward;(2) The distance away from the core zone of the plateau is also a very important factor for MEE magnitude, because MEE is obviously higher in the interior than in the exterior of the plateau even with similar mountain base elevation(MBE).(3) The impacts of MEE on the altitudinal distribution of timberlines and snowlines are similar, i.e., the higher the MEE, the higher timberlines and snowlines. The highest timberline(4600–4800 m) appears in the lakes and basins north of the Himalayas and in the upper and middle reach valleys of the Yarlung Zangbo River, where the estimated MEE is 10.2822℃–10.6904℃. The highest snowline(6000–6200 m) occurs in the southwest of the Chang Tang Plateau, where the estimated MEE is 11.2059°C–11.5488℃.