Quantifying Four Decades of Changes in Land Use and Land Cover in India’s Kailash Sacred Landscape: Suggested Option for Priority Based Patch Level Future Forest Conservation

Effective quantification of land cover changes remains a challenge in Himalayan hills and mountains, and has a colossal value addition for natural resource management. Here we present a new robust method for classifying land cover vegetation at physiognomic scale along steep elevational gradients from ~?200 to ~?7000 masl in the Kailash Sacred Landscape, Western Himalaya, India along with four decades of land use and land cover changes (1976–2011) using remote sensing techniques coupled with intensive ground surveys. Results show that forest cover loss was minimum ca 7.14% of existing forest in 1976; but, however forest fragmentation is high especially in montane broad-leaved and subtropical needle leaved forests. This change largely impacted the quality of valuable tree species such as Quercus spp. Post 1976, continuous migration forced conversion of high altitude agricultural lands into grasslands and scrublands. Human settlement expansion was high especially in low altitudinal range valleys between 1000 and 2000 masl and has increased 6.76 fold since 1976, leading to high forest fragmentation in spite of reduced agriculture area in the landscape. Our physiognomic level classified land cover map will be a key for forest managers to prioritize conservation zones for protecting this unique forest land.     

Assessment of reproductive potential of different populations of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Angelica glauca</Emphasis> Edgew., a critically endangered Himalayan Medicinal Herb

Angelica glauca is one of the important medicinal plants and it is widely used by indigenous communities for different purposes. The present study analyzes variability in reproductive characters of A. glauca. The reproductive parts were found having significant positive correlation with altitude （e.g.,number of umbellets /umber r= 0.857,p〈0.05; umbel diameter r=0.735,p〈0.05）.     

Are There Rings Around the Sun?

The Theory of Alfven drag (Drell et al. in J Geophys Res 70: 3131–3145 1965; Anselmo and Farinella in Icarus, 58, 182–185 1983) is applied here to show that the existence of a possible solar ring structure at a radial distance of 0.02 AU (~4R _⊙ , R _⊙  = radius of the sun) predicted by earlier authors (Brecher et al. in Nature 282, 50–52 1979; Rawal in Bull. Astr. Soc. India 6, 92–95 1978, Moon Planets 24, 407–414 1981, Moon Planets 31, 175–182 1984, J Astrophys Astr 10, 257–259 1989) may not survive Alfven drag produced during even moderate solar magnetic storms which take place from time to time through the age of the sun, but a possible solar ring structure at a radial distance of 0.13 AU (~27R _⊙ ) (Brecher et al. in Nature 282, 50–52 1979; Rawal in Bull. Astr. Soc. India 6, 92–95 1978, Moon Planets 24, 407–414 1981, Moon Planets 31, 175–182 1984, J Astrophys Astr 10, 257–259 1989) may survive intense Alfven drag produced during even strong magnetic storms of magnetic field value up to 1,000 G.     

On a nonlinear and Lorentz-invariant verson of Newtonian gravitation

The Newtonian theory of gravitation is modified to include the gravitational energy as a source of gravitational potential, thus making the theory self-coupled and nonlinear. The modified theory can be derived from a Lorentz-invariant action principle. The Kepler problem is discussed in this theory and it is shown that the perihelion of the orbit steadily precesses. The rate of precession is, however, insufficient to account for the observed precession of the perihelion of Mercury. The differences from the Newtonian theory for the bending of light and the gravitational redshift of spectral lines are shown to be marginal.     

Formation of the solar system

Prentice (1978a, b), in his modern Laplacian theory of the origin of the solar system, has established a scenario in which he finds the ratio of the orbital radii of successively disposed gaseous rings to be a constant 1.69. In an attempt to understand this law in an alternative way, Rawal (1984a) assumes that during the collapse of the solar nebula the halts at various radii are brought about by the supersonic turbulent convection and arrives at the relation of the formR _p=Ra^p, whereR is the radius of the present Sun anda=1.422, is referred to, here, as the Roche constant. Kepler's third law assumes the form:T _p=T₀(a ^3/2) ^p ,T ₀ being the rotational period of the Sun at the time it attained its present radius.R _p satisfy Laplace's resonance relation without any exception. The present paper investigates inter-relations among the concepts of supersonic turbulent convection, rotational instability, and Roche limit.Paper presented at the IAU Third Asian-Pacific Regional Meeting, held in Kyoto, Japan, between 30 September–6 October, 1984.     

Effects of disturbance intensities on vegetation patterns in oak forests of Kumaun, west Himalaya

In order to realize the significance of oak forests for ecology and economy of the Himalayan region,the present study attempts to objectively characterize disturbance intensities and their impacts on compositional features of identified Oak forests, i.e.Banj-oak(Quercus leucotrichophora A.Camus), Tilonj-oak(Q.floribunda Lindley)and Kharsu-oak(Q. semecarpifolia J.E.Smith)in west Himalaya. Amongst studied forests,Q.leucotrichophora and Q. semecarpifolia forests exhibited high sensitivity towards disturbance intensities.In both forests, increasing level of disturbance significantly lowered tree density,dominance and natural recruitment (seedling and sapling density).Q.floribunda forests, however,appeared relatively more resilient to anthropogenic disturbances.Amongst studied oak forests,Q.semecarpifolia forests with overall poor natural regeneration are in a most critically endangered demographic state.However,a slightly improved regeneration(i.e.,seedling density)in moderately disturbed plots is indicative that such plots may be utilized most suitably for in situ revival of these forests.Effect of disturbance intensities on tree population is an important subject for forest ecology and management and the present study highlights a need for adopting different management strategies across disturbance intensities in diverse oak forests of west Himalaya.     

Water Quality Assessment Using Physicochemical and Bacteriological Parameters of Fateh Sagar Lake,Udaipur, India

In the present study assessment of physicochemical and bacteriological parameters of Lake Fateh Sagar of Udaipur (Rajasthan), India was done. Water samples were collected during different seasons for analysis of physicochemical parameters such as pH, temperature, total alkalinity, total hardness, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand. In addition, the bacteriological analysis like total bacterial and coliform count was detected. Incidences of Escherichia coli and their antibiotic resistance pattern were analyzed, which is the major microbiological indicator of faecal contamination. The values of some physicochemical and many of the bacteriological parameters were found above the permissible limits for drinking water recommended by World Health Organization. E. coli isolates were identified by morphological, biochemical and molecular characteristics using E. coli specific 16S rRNA gene based primers namely 16E1, 16E2 and 16E3 and universal primers namely 27F and 1492R by PCR. It was found that most of E. coli strains were strongly resistant to kanamycin, ampicillin, cefixime, polymyxin B, penicillin, vancomycin, rifampicin and streptomycin. The study of water quality is of significant value because the drinking water supply of the city is dependent on this lake and present study indicated that the lake water is polluted with reference to these analyzed parameters.     

Planetary distance law and resonance

The relation between the planetary distance law and the resonant structures in the solar system and in the satellite systems is shown, in that, the resonance relation has been expressed in terms of Roche’s (Bode’s) constant defined in the text. This brings forth a coherent, elegant and unified picture of the formation and structure of the solar system and the satellite systems. The Roche’s (Bode’s) constant is seen to play a central role in this unified picture, in that, it also appears to govern the resonance phenomenon in the systems     

A probable new Meteor Impact Crater

Kedarath Fountain-Pond, Gujarat, India is a probable new Meteor Impact Crater Fountain-Pond which is irregular, very old and eroded. In this note we report some preliminary observations about it and invite attention of international community of scientists towards its existence and studies and to establish finally whether or not, it is a Meteor Impact Crater. We have also taken some steps in this direction.     

Resonant structures in the solar system

The resonance theory is discussed with respect to the Solar System with a view to show that every triad of successive planets in the Solar System follows Laplace's resonance relation. With rings now known to exist around three of the four major planets, scientists have begun to speculate about the possible existence of ring structure and one or two small planets going around the Sun itself. It is also believed that the ring systems may exist around the planets Neptune and Mars. In this paper an attempt is made to provide a basis to these beliefs using Laplace's resonance relation. The triads of successive innermost objects (rings and/or satellites) in the satellite — systems of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus are also shown to follow Laplace's resonance relation.