Systems of agriculture farming in the Uttranchal Himalaya,India

Agricultural practices are the main stay of the people of Uttranchal. Out of the total population,more than 75% people are engaged either with the main occupation of agriculture or its allied practices,dominated by traditional subsistence cereal farming.Among them, the main crops are rice, wheat, millet,barley, all types of pulses, all types of oilseeds and almost all types of fruits. The crops, vegetables and fruits of all varieties are grown in the different climatic zones such as tropical, temperate, and cold because, the region is characterized by the different altitudinal zones elevated from 200 m to more than 8000m. As a result, different climates are found from hot tropical to sub temperate and chilly cold. Pulses varieties are grown extensively. Among vegetables,potato, onion, carrot, all types of green leaf vegetables,brinzal, pumpkin, ladyfinger, pea, gram, radish,ginger, garlic, etc, are grown widely. All fruit varieties are grown in the different altitudinal zones. The mainfruits are orange, malta (a big size of orange),elephant citrus, lemon and all other types of citrus,apple, stone fruits including peach and pears, manykinds of nuts, and the fruits which are grown in the low lying areas. In spite of feasible climatic conditions,agricultural dominant society, and availability of all types of crops, the production and productivity of these crops are very low, even they are unable to meet the grain-need of the people in Uttaranchal. Agricultural crops are grown almost in all the altitudinal zones -- from the low-lying areas, which are called ‘Ga. ngarh‘, to the highly elevated region,where the legendary term is given as ‘Danda‘. The growing seasons vary according to the heights. The present paper aims to discuss the agricultural practices including cropping season, cropping pattern,land use, production of cropsagricultural system in thisand ecological aspect of Himalayan state and suggest some measures for developing farming system,which could lead the sustainability, in terms of meeting the food grain needs of the people on the one hand and restoring the ecological balance on the other.     

Assessment of Diversity, Distribution, Conservation Status and Preparation of Management Plan for Medicinal Plants in the Catchment Area of Parbati Hydroelectric Project Stage -Ⅲ in Northwestern Himalaya

The developmental activities, particularly the construction of hydroelectric projects are causing a great loss of biodiversity in the Indian Himalayan Region. The Himachal Pradesh, a part of IHR is well known for the development of hydroelectric projects. The Parbati H.E. Project is amongst the major projects of the State. The different stages of the project are all causing loss of biodiversity of the area. Stage Ⅲ of the Parbati H.E. Project is a run of the river scheme on the Sainj River downstream of Power House of Parbati H.E. Project Stage Ⅱ. The project shall utilize regulated discharge of Parbati H.E. Project Stage Ⅱ and inflow of River Sainj for power generation, and has been contemplated as a peaking station operating in tandem with Stage Ⅱ. The present study has been undertaken to see the impact of hydroelectric project on the biodiversity, particularly on medicinal plants. A total of 104 species of medicinal plants, belonging to different life forms, i.e., trees (23 spp.), shrubs (22 spp.), herbs (57 spp.) and ferns (2 spp.) were recorded. The species have been analyzed and studied for their distribution, classification, altitudinal zones, part (s) used, indigenous uses, nativity, endemism and rarity.Different parts of these species, such as whole plants, roots (including rhizomes and tubers), leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, stems, barks, spikes, nuts and insect galls are used by the inhabitants for curing various diseases and ailments. 30 species are native to the Himalayan region, 9 species native to the Himalayan region and adjacent countries also and 65 species are non-natives. 9 species are near endemics. Considering the whole Himalaya as a biogeographic unit (sensu lato), the near endemics are endemic to the Himalaya. Among these species, Zanthoxylum armatum is categorized as Endangered and Valeriana wallichii as Vulnerable. Hedychium spicatum, Rhus javanica, Berberis lycium, Thalictrum foliolossum, Salvia lanata, Rubia cordifolia and Bergenia ligulata may be considered as threatened species due to their over exploitation for trade. 90 species are propagated by seeds, 8 species by seeds and rhizomes/roots/tubers, 4 species by seeds and cuttings, and 2 species by sori. A management plan for the cultivation and conservation of the medicinal plants in the dam submergence area, and the commercially viable medicinal plants with high value in the catchment area is suggested.     

A STUDY ON RATIONAL LOCATION OF THE COTTON PRODUCTION IN CHINA

Cotton is the leading cash crop in China. The cotton sown area accounts for about 30per cent of the total sown area of all the various cash crops. It is the main material used in the textile industry in China. More than 95per cent of textile materials were cotton during the 1950s; and it still occupies 80per cent at present. There are some problems concerning rational location of cotton production in China. In order to solve the problems existing in civil cotton production and supply, in view of strategy, a number of cotton production bases must be selected and built step by step in a planned way. The location of cotton production should be adjusted progressively in accordance with the existing problems. The existing cotton production regions should be consolidated and improved. The cotton production region of the middle and lower reaches of the Huanghe River should be renewed quichly to make it become the largest stable and high-yield cotton preduction region. In the regions with suitable natural condi     

Alpine Ecosystems of Northwest Yunnan, China： an Initial Assessment for Conservation

Implementing conservation actions on-the-ground is not a straightforward process,especially when faced with high scientific uncertainty due to limited available information. This is especially acute in regions of the world that harbor many unique species that have not been well studied,such as the alpine zone of the Hengduan Mountains of Northwest Yunnan (NWY),a global biodiversity hotspot and site of The Nature Conservancy’s Yunnan Great Rivers Project. We conducted a quantitative,but rapid regional-level assessment of the alpine flora across NWY to provide a broad-based understanding of local and regional patterns of the alpine flora,the first large-scale analysis of alpine biodiversity patterns in this region. Multivariate analyses were used to classify the major plant community types and link community patterns to habitat variables. Our analysis indicated that most species had small distributions and/or small population sizes. Strong patterns emerged with higher diversity in the more northern mountains,but beta diversity was high,averaging only 10% among sites. The ordinations indicated that elevation and geographic location were the dominant environ-mental gradients underlying the differences in the species composition among communities. The high beta diversity across the alpine of these mountains implies that conservation strategies ultimately will require the protection of large numbers of species over a large geographical area. However,prioritiza-tion should be given to areas where potential payoffs are greatest. Sites with high species richness also have a greater number of endemic species,and,by focusing efforts on these sites,conservation investments would be maximized by protecting the greatest number of unique species.     

Paradigm and ecological implication of changing agricultural land-use: A case study from Govind Wildlife Sanctuary, Central Himalaya, India

The paper scrutinizes that the changes in any sub-system(i.e.agriculture,livestock and forest) have direct impact on biophysical and social processes in village ecosystem of the central Himalayan region.In view of this,we studied the changes in spatial patterns of agricultural land use and dependency of agroecosystem on forest and animal husbandry over a period of two decades.Based on data analysis it was found that the cultivation of some traditional crops has either been abandoned in the area or declined by 25%-85% due to introduction of cash crops viz.,potato,kidney bean and apple farming with acreage increased up to 51%-72% in the last three decades.Livestock population of different categories has declined drastically by 17%-75%,and has resulted shortage of farmyard manure,deterioration of soil quality and fertility which leads to un-sustainability of agriculture system.The changes in agrobiodiversity have led to the dramatic increase in soil loss and runoff from the croplands together with the increase pressure on forests.The economic evaluation of each crop showed higher monetary benefit from cash crops as compared to traditional crops.Among all the evaluated crops,the monetary output/input ratio was found highest(3.04) for kidney bean and lowest(1.26) for paddy.Changes in land use and management have improved household income but at the cost of forest degradation,less productive animal husbandry and loss of agrodiversity in the region.Therefore,there is an urgent need to bring desirable changes in agricultural policy,research,land use and efficient management of the resources for maintaining sustainability in agro and Himalayan forest ecosystem.     

Preliminary study on Late Triassic to Early Jurassic strata and floral variation in Hechuan region of Chongqing,southern Sichuan Basin

The end-Triassic mass extinction event is extensively known, however, the terrestrial response of this event is still poorly understood. Here we briefly report our preliminary results on the variation of floral diversity through the Triassic/Jurassic boundary deposits in the Tanha section of Hechuan region, Chongqing, southern China. It is recognized that the floral hiodiversity of the Hechuan region shows a distinct change through the Triassic and Jurassic transition; and the floral diversity loss reaches up to 92. 5% at species level. Meanwhile, in northeastern region of the Sichuan Basin, the floral diversity declines by about 50% across the T/J boundary at species level with a remarkable turnover of genera and species. The potential reasons and mechanisms that cause the floral diversity differentiation of the T/J boundary in the Sichuan Basin are briefly discussed in this note.     

Butterfly-plant interactions and body size patterns along an elevational gradient in the Manang region of central Nepal

Butterflies are widely studied due to their key ecosystem functions.For this reason,they are used in ecosystem assessment,formulating conservation plans and in raising the environmental awareness.Quantification of different factors affecting diversity of butterflies is important for their effective conservation.In this study,we investigated abiotic and biotic factors affecting species richness and community composition of butterflies along an elevational gradient in Manang region,central Nepal.We also tested if butterfly species follow the Bergmann’s rule.A total of 57 butterfly species belonging to 39 genera and 8 families were recorded in the study area.Out of a total of 127 plant species identified in the study region,only 67 plant species were visited by butterflies as nectar sources.Species richness of butterflies increased with increasing elevation.Species richness was significantly higher in places with shrubs compared to other places and also in autumn than in summer.Species richness of butterflies also depended on composition of plant species occurring at the localities.Butterfly species composition varied among sampling localities.It was also determined by habitat type,elevation,sampling time,plant species and interactions of elevation×time.The relationship between butterfly size and elevation was in the opposite direction than expected according to the Bergmann’s rule.In conclusion,protection of butterfly diversity can only be achieved by protecting different habitats across the diverse physiography of the region and different plant species,in particular herbs and shrubs.Our results do not support the Bergmann’s rule for butterflies along an elevational gradient in our region.     

Catalogue of Polychaete species(Annelida) described from China Seas during 2008–2017

China Seas are one of the most diverse regions in the Pacific. Though much ef fort has been made to explore its biodiversity, the polychaetes diversity is still poorly known. A large number of species records are based on ecological investigation rather than taxonomical studies. We update the Polychaete species taxonomicaly described from China coastal waters during 2008–2017 and list them as a catalogue.The catalogue contains 47 species of 32 genera and 17 families, the type depository, type locality and geographic distribution. Some taxonomic problems are present in remarks.     

Resource Utilization Pattern and Development in Hills——A Case for the Pindar Basin of Garhwal Himalaya, India

Agrarian system is well adapted in Himalayan eco-system. Hence, the people have adopted the traditional subsistence cereal farming and it becomes the main stay of Himalayan people. About 80 percent of the workable force is attached with agriculture and its allied practices, according to the census of 1991. Although, horticultural farming runs parallel with agriculture, its proportion in terms of land is quite less, resulted in a negligible place in the economy of the region. Human resources, mainly men are attached with national security after recruitment in Army. While, women play a vital and integrated role in maintaining the workable potential in the field of agriculture and are known as backbone of economy. An animal resource implies foremost and wider part in agricultural system and economy as well Water resources are unutilized yet, while almost all the major rivers of our country are originated from and flowing through this region. Increasing population causes forest resources depletion. The economy of the region is rested either on ‘traditional cereal farming‘ or ‘money order based‘ development, which could not take place due to its remoteness from the main streams of the country. The impactof modern technology with innovation in agricultural system remains impracticable due to unwillingness of people in one hand and on the other hand, adversege ographical conditions like topography, climate etc. which could not permit the uses of modern innovation in the field of agriculture. As for infra-structurally, this region is lacked behind, due to its inaccessibility. While, this region is bestowed with numerous rivers, many places for tourists and pilgrims, and huge forest resources. They might be used evenly in thedevelopment processes. The practice of tourism will help for the further development, particularly, in the wake of the newly born state, Uttaranchal. The present paper aims to evaluate the present potentiality of resources and their balanced utilization in the Pindar Basin. A precise study has been done on resource utilization, ecology and environment with keeping view in mind that more or less exploitation of resources could not influence the environment and the economy of the region.     

Local Knowledge on Plants and Domestic Remedies in the Mountain Villages of Peshkopia（Eastern Albania）

Ethnobotanical studies in the Balkans are crucial for fostering sustainable rural development in the region and also for investigating the dynamics of change of Traditional Ecological Knowledge（TEK）,which has broad-sweeping implications for future biodiversity conservation efforts.A survey of local botanical and medical knowledge and practices was conducted in four mountainous villages of the Peshkopia region in northeast Albania,near the Macedonian border.Snowball sampling techniques were employed to recruit 32 informants for participation in semi-structured interviews regarding the use of the local flora for food,medicinal,veterinary and ritual purposes.The uses of 84 botanical taxa were recorded as well as a number of other folk remedies for the treatment of both humans and livestock.Comparison of the collected data with another ethnobotanical field study recently conducted among Albanians living on the Macedonian side of Mount Korab shows a remarkable divergence in medicinal plant uses,thus confirming the crucial role played by the history of the last century in transforming TEK.Most noteworthy,as a legacy of the Communist period,a relevant number of wild medicinal taxa are still gathered only for trade rather than personal/familial use.This may lead to unsustainable exploitation of certain taxa（i.e.Orchis and Gentiana spp.） and presents some important conservation challenges.Appropriate development and environmental educational frameworks should aim to reconnect local people to the perception of limitation and renewability of botanical resources.     

Traditional agrodiversity management: A case study of central himalayan village ecosystem

Environmental, biological, socio-cultural and economic status variation existing in the Central Himalaya have led to the evolution of diverse and unique traditional agroecosystems, crop species and livestock, which facilitate the traditional mountain farming societies to sustain themselves. Indigenous agroecosystems are highly site specific and differ from place to place, as they have evolved along divergent lines. For maintenance of traditional agrodiversity management the farmers of the Central Himalaya have evolved various types of crop rotations in consonance with the varied environmental conditions and agronomic requirements. In irrigated flat lands two crops are harvested in a year with negligible fallow period but in rainfed conditions if a cropping sequence is presumed to be starting after winter fallow phase then four major cropping seasons can be identified namely first kharif season (first crop season), first rabi season (second crop season), second kharif season (third crop season) and second rabi season (fourth crop season). Highest crop diversity is present in kharif season in comparison to rabi season. Traditionally the fields are left fallow after harvest of the second kharif season crop. Important characteristics of agrodiversity management are the use of bullocks for draught power, human energy as labour, crop residues as animal feed and animal waste mixed with forest litter as organic input to restore soil fertility levels. Women provide most of the human labour except for ploughing and threshing grain. The present study deals with assessment of traditional agrodiversity management such as (i) crop diversity, (ii) realized yield under the traditional practices and (iii) assess the differences of realized yields under sole and mixed cropping systems. It indicated that crop rotation is an important feature of the Central Himalayan village ecosystem which helps to continue the diversity of species grown, as are the distribution of crops in the growing period and the management of soil fertility. The cropping diversity existing and the sequences practiced by the traditional farmers seems to have achieved high degree of specialization and thus even when the yield/biomass variations are about 60%, the farmers continue to practice these sequences as they need to maintain diversity and synergistic relationships of crops in addition to manage the food and labour requirements for crop husbandry. Crop yields are generally higher in irrigated systems than rainfed systems and in sole cropping as compared with mixed cropping. However, gross biological and economic yields are higher in mixed cropping than sole cropping systems.     

DISTRIBUTION OF THE MAIN CROP GERMPLASM RESOURCES IN CHINA

Cropgermplasmresourcesaretheindispensablematerialbaseforcropbreedingandagriculturalproduction.Theresearchondistributionofcropgermplasmr~urcesisofgreatimportanceinstudyingonorigin,evolutionandclassificationofcrops,expeditingandcollectinggermplasm,ascertainingofcentersofdiversity,protectinggermplasmr~urcesandmakingagriculturalproductiondivision.Since1949,researchesofexploration,collection,preservation,cha-racterizationandevaluationofcropgermplasmresourceshavebeendoneinChina.Atpresent,thenational…     

A systems approach for analyzing vegetative and soil degradation in Arnigad micro-watershed of Indian Himalayan region

This study analyzes the vegetative and soil degradation, measured as biomass and soil loss, for Arnigad micro-watershed located in Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, in systems framework by using dynamic linear programming bio-economic model. The focus is at investigating the effects of alternate policy regimes, i.e., introduction of improved energy sources for cooking along with substitution of existing local livestock breeds with improved breed, reduction in human population growth and introduction of high yielding varieties of main crops including paddy, maize and wheat. The model horizon extended over a period of 25 years, i.e., from 2006 to 2030. It was found that the model scenario incorporating increased use of improved energy sources along with substitution of local cows by improved cows could be the most effective policy option in reducing vegetative and soil degradation. The vegetative biomass density declined to 19.76% compared to 35.24% in the BASE scenario and soil erosion loss was also lowered by 29.13%. Also, the reduction of population growth rate to half of the BASE scenario led to minor improvements in degradation. Introduction of high yielding varieties of main crops slightly increased vegetative degradation but reduced soil loss (8.35%) with respect to the BASE scenario. Such a phenomenon could be explained in terms of changed crop mix resulting in reduced amount of crop by-products requiring increased lopping of tree branches for animal fodder. The policy option of the increased use of improved energy sources along with substitution of improved breed of cows resulted in 9.58% higher income. Introduction of high yielding varieties of crops led to 1.92% increase in income, but the income decreased by 1.25 % when population growth was reduced to half. The usefulness of the model lies in analyzing the systems behavior in its entirety where the results can predict the possible direction of change as a result of manipulation in alternate economic regimes.     

Changes in Agricultural Biodiversity： Implications for Sustainable Livelihood in the Himalaya

Himalayan mountain system is distinguished globally for a rich biodiversity and for its role in regulating the climate of the South Asia.Traditional crop-livestock mixed farming in the Himalaya is highly dependent on forests for fodder and manure prepared from forest leaf litter and livestock excreta. Apart from sustaining farm production, forests provide a variety of other tangible and intangible benefits, which are critical for sustainable livelihood of not only 115 million mountain people, but also many more people living in the adjoining plains. Extension of agricultural landuse coupled with replacement of traditional staple food crops by cash crops and of multipurpose agroforestry trees by fruit trees are widespread changes. Cultivation of Fagopyrum esculentum,Fagopyrum tataricum, Panicum miliaceum, Setaria italica and Pisum arvense has been almost abandoned. Increasing stress on cash crops is driven by a socio-cultural change from subsistence to market economy facilitated by improvement in accessibility and supply of staple food grains at subsidized price by the government. Farmers have gained substantial economic benefits from cash crops. However, loss of agrobiodiversity implies more risks to local livelihood in the events of downfall in market price/demand of cash crops, termination of supply of staple food grains at subsidized price, pest outbreaks in a cash crop dominated homogeneous landscape and abnormal climate years. Indigenous innovations enabling improvement in farm economy by conserving and/enhancing agrobiodiversity do exist, but are highly localized. The changes in agrobiodiversity are such that soil loss and run-off from the croplands have dramatically increased together with increase in local pressure on forests. As farm productivity is maintained with forest-based inputs, continued depletion of forest resources will result in poor economic returns from agriculture to local people,apart from loss of global benefits from Himalayan forests. Interventions including improvement in traditional manure and management of on-farm trees,participatory development of agroforestry in degraded forest lands and policies favoring economic benefits to local people from non-timber forest products could reduce the risks of decline in agricultural biodiversity and associated threats to livelihoods and Himalayan ecosystems.     

多星数据协同的地块尺度作物分类与面积估算方法研究

为了解决多云雨地区遥感数据时空覆盖缺失的问题,以满足对地块尺度作物种植信息日益迫切的应用需求,本文在遥感图谱认知理论框架下发展了一种基于多星数据协同的地块尺度作物识别与面积估算方法。首先,基于米级高分辨率影像提取农田地块对象;其次,通过对多源中分辨率时序影像的有效化处理和指数计算,获取“碎片化”的高时空覆盖有效数据,并以地块对象为单元构建时间序列;然后,在时序分析基础上,建立多维特征空间,结合作物生长物候特征,构建决策树模型进行作物分类识别与面积计算;最后,以湖南省宁远县为研究区开展了水稻种植信息的提取实验。结果表明：本文方法可在农田地块尺度下实现不同水稻类型的准确识别及其种植面积的精细提取,早、中、晚稻的用户精度分别可达94.33%、90.76%和95.95%,总体分类精度为92.51%,Kappa系数为0.90;早、中、晚稻面积提取精度分别为93.37%、91.23%和95.42%。试验结果证明了本文方法的有效性,为其他作物种植信息的精细提取提供了借鉴。     

特征优选与卷积神经网络在农作物精细分类中的应用研究

农作物的精细分类一直是农业遥感领域的热点,对农作物估产和种植结构监管有重要意义.深度学习的出现为农作物分类准确性的提升提供了新的思路.本文提出一种特征优选与卷积神经网络(Convolutional Neural Networks,CNN)相结合的多光谱遥感农作物分类方法,用以解决精细分类问题.实验以哨兵2号遥感影像为数...     

Plant studies in Himachal Pradesh,Western Himalaya: a systematic review

Owing to a predicted rise in temperature, increase in precipitation and the escalating anthropogenic stresses, the Himalayan ecosystems are the most threatened non-polar regions of the world. In the past, there have been racing extinctions and range shifts of several life forms in this region, particularly of the plant species. Therefore, consistent qualitative and quantitative records on botanical baseline data on a regular basis are indispensable. The current communication attempts to provide a detailed account on the current state of knowledge and research gaps in floristic studies of Himachal Pradesh, Western Himalaya. Based on an extensive review of more than 140 studies in the form of scientific peer reviewed literature on floristics, medicinal and aromatic plants(MAPs), rare, endangered, threatened and endemic species and ethno-botany, it is revealed that the number of floristic studies in Himachal Pradesh have surged in the past years but studies pertaining to the lower plants remain meagre. Unfortunately, the remote valleys including micro-watersheds lying in the coldarid regions are relatively less studied in terms of available growing stock and population status of MAPs. Depleting traditional ethno-botanical knowledge has been the major concern and, many threatened MAPs need to be accessed globally following IUCN standards. Thus, documentation of the conservation status of key MAPs, setting aside conservation areas around viable populations of threatened species, developing germplasm banks of the priority MAPs and monitoring the impacts of climate change has been suggested.     

Mitigating people-park conflicts on resource use through ecotourism: A case of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, Indian Himalaya

Ecotourism aims to deliver the philosophy of sustainable development through environmental conservation as well as socio-economic development. Areas with rich biodiversity and scenic beauty, like the Indian Himalayan region, have been one of the major destination centers for nature lovers from historical time. In view of conserving the rich biodiversity and natural heritage of the Himalayan region 92 protected areas have been set aside, of these Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR) is a well known world heritage site. Over a period of time establishing NDBR has invited conflicts between the local people and reserve authorities on the management approaches and utilization criteria of the natural resources, especially banning the traditional bio-resource collection rights of local community, expeditions, trekking, and other anthropogenic activities in the core zones. The present study aims to understand and analyze the various people - park conflicts, and also to suggest ways to mitigate such conflicts in view of biodiversity conservation and improvement of economic status of local people by promoting ecotourism. With this view the study further discusses the various aspects of ecotourism, its pros and cons, and the avenues of developing appropriate strategies for promotion of ecotourism in buffer zone areas of NDBR.