Figure 3 - uploaded by Ruquia Gulzar
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Flower and fruit characters of Symphyotrichum subulatum. A. Ray floret with bifid stigma. B. Curling of petal in ray floret. C. disc floret. D. Feathery, bifid, and spoon-shaped stigma in disc floret. E. Inflorescence head with cypsela fruits. F. Cypsela with pappus. G. Dorsal view of cypsela with ridges and furrows. H. Attachment of cypsela with receptacle. I. Lateral view of cypsela.
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Symphyotrichum subulatum (Michx.) G.L.Nesom (Asteraceae) is reported as a new alien plant record for Kashmir Himalaya. The taxonomic identification of species is confirmed on the basis of shape of involucre, floral and seed characters. Detailed description, distribution map, and comments on distribution and ecology are also provided along with phot...
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... intybus L., Bromus catharticus Vahl, Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop., and Taraxacum officinale Anon. Invasion status. Based on our field studies, S. subultatum may be potentially invasive (sensu Pysek et al. 2004) in Kashmir Himalaya. This species is capable of producing a large number of viable seeds ranging from 500 to 50,000 per individual (Fig. 3) and has spread from Sopore in the north to Shopian in the south of Kashmir Himalaya, which cover more than 100 km (Fig. ...
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... intybus L., Bromus catharticus Vahl, Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop., and Taraxacum officinale Anon. Invasion status. Based on our field studies, S. subultatum may be potentially invasive (sensu Pysek et al. 2004) in Kashmir Himalaya. This species is capable of producing a large number of viable seeds ranging from 500 to 50,000 per individual (Fig. 3) and has spread from Sopore in the north to Shopian in the south of Kashmir Himalaya, which cover more than 100 km (Fig. ...
Context 3
... intybus L., Bromus catharticus Vahl, Cirsium arvense (L.) Scop., and Taraxacum officinale Anon. Invasion status. Based on our field studies, S. subultatum may be potentially invasive (sensu Pysek et al. 2004) in Kashmir Himalaya. This species is capable of producing a large number of viable seeds ranging from 500 to 50,000 per individual (Fig. 3) and has spread from Sopore in the north to Shopian in the south of Kashmir Himalaya, which cover more than 100 km (Fig. ...
Citations
... The climate of the region is mainly continental temperate, with chilly and snowy winters and hot and dry summers . The temperature of the region varies from a daily maximum of 31 • C and a minimum of 15 • C in the summer to a daily maximum of 4 • C and a minimum of − 4 • C in the winter, with an average annual precipitation of 1055 mm, largely in the form of winter snow (Gulzar et al., 2021). Evergreen coniferous forests and alpine meadows constitute the majority of the natural vegetation of the region (Dar and Khuroo, 2020). ...
... Recently, owing to the exceptionally high rate of land-use change, urbanisation, and warming climate, the region is experiencing a higher risk of alien plant invasions (Khuroo et al., 2010;Gulzar et al., 2022). Although previous studies have investigated the increasing occurrence of invasive alien flora in the Kashmir Himalaya: taxonomic documentation (Gulzar et al., 2021;Khuroo et al., 2007); ecological impacts (Ahmad et al., 2019;Shah and Reshi, 2014), this forms the first study to predict the drivers of invasive alien plant species in the region. ...
Invasive alien species (IAS) are currently considered as one of the major causes of global environmental change. To manage the IAS, it is crucial to identify the different environmental and associated anthropogenic drivers that contribute to invasion of alien species in non-native regions. Although multiple drivers of invasion have been identified at a global scale, the relative roles of these are known to vary considerably at regional scales. Here, we investigate the role of key environmental and anthropogenic drivers in determining the diversity and distribution of selected invasive alien plant species in Kashmir Himalaya. We generated an extensive distribution dataset of these species through field sampling across the region and supplemented it with novel herbarium records. We also extracted data on the relevant environmental (climatic, soil and topographic) and anthropogenic drivers for the study region. The random forest model was employed to quantify the relative contribution of these drivers to determine the two common diversity metrics (species richness and abundance) of selected invasive alien plants. We found that soil water content followed by distance to city, the maximum air temperature, soil pH, soil temperature and human population density exerted the greatest influence on species richness of the invasive plants. Species abundance was significantly influenced by the maximum air temperature followed by soil temperature, distance to city, slope, soil pH and human population density. Overall, our findings help in disentangling the individual and interactive roles of multiple drivers of plant invasions, with wide-ranging implications for management in this Himalayan region and similar landscapes elsewhere.
... Kashmir region is located between 33 • 20 ′ and 34 • 54 ′ N latitude and 73 • 55 ′ and 75 • 35 ′ E longitude (Fig. 1), with an elevation range of 1300 to 4500 m above mean sea level, and is a biogeographic area of the North-Western Himalaya in India [20][21][22]. Thirteen apple cultivars (Fig. 2) were studied namely "Adam's Pearmain", "Allington Pippin", "Baleman's Cider", "Fuji Zehn Aztec", "Mollie's Delicious", "Red Gold", "Red Velox", "Shalimar Apple-2", "Shireen", "Silver Spur", "Starkrimson", "Top Red" and "Vance Delicious" grafted on MM-106 rootstock located at the University "SKUAST-Kashmir" at the experimental field of Pomology, Srinagar, J&K, India. The trial location is situated at a latitude and longitude of 34.1467 • and 74.8791 • , respectively, and is 1588 m above mean sea level. ...
Apple cultivation is one of the most significant means of subsistence in the Kashmir region of the northwestern Himalayas. It is considered as the backbone of the region's economy. Apple cultivation in the region is dominated by a late maturing cultivar “Red Delicious” which usually on maturity causes glut in the market. In order to bring new cultivars in the cultivation, and to expand the maturity season, it is necessary to evaluate the new cultivars on fruit physico-chemical attributes which ultimately decide the market rates before recommending to farmers for cultivars adoption. Therefore, the current study was carried out to evaluate thirteen apple cultivars on physico-chemical attributes over two years, 2017 and 2018 under agro-climatic conditions of Kashmir region The results revealed that cultivars differed significantly in terms of physico-chemical properties. Cultivars with the highest and lowest values for initial fruit set, fruit drop, final fruit retention, and fruit firmness in 2017 did not follow the same trend in 2018. During 2017 and 2018, cultivar Mollie's Delicious possessed the highest fruit length (72.39 mm and 81.45 mm), fruit diameter (81.18 mm and 84.14 mm), and fruit weight (205.85 g and 247.16 g), whereas cultivar Baleman's Cider had the lowest values (50.76 mm and 52.83 mm, 60.10 mm and 62.08 mm, and 71.46 g and 86.94 g), respectively. The harvesting dates were quite spread out during both years of study. Cultivar Mollie's Delicious was harvested the earliest in both years, on August 5th, 2017 and August 8th, 2018. Cultivar Fuji Zehn Aztec was the last cultivar harvested in 2017 on October 2 and in 2018 on October 5. The maximum number of seeds per fruit was noticed in the cultivar Mollie's Delicious (8.34 and 8.71) during both 2017 and 2018, respectively. Cultivar Starkrimson had the fewest seeds per fruit in 2017 (7.11) and 2018 (7.42). Cultivar Baleman's Cider had the highest acidity in 2017 (0.63%) and 2018 (0.52%). In both 2017 (0.25%) and 2018 (0.23%), the Adam's Pearmain cultivar was the least acidic. Cultivar Allington Pippin (16.13 °Brix) and Red Gold (16.73 °Brix) had the highest TSS in 2017 and 2018, respectively, whereas Vance Delicious (12.30 °Brix) and Top Red (10.78 °Brix) had the lowest TSS in 2017 and 2018, respectively. The cultivars Mollie's Delicious and Red Gold had the highest total sugars (11.33 and 11.40%) in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Cultivar Baleman's Cider had the lowest total sugars (9.82%) in 2017 while Top Red (9.78%) in 2018. The cultivar Vance Delicious had the highest ratio of leaves to fruits in 2017 (55.44) and for Shalimar Apple-2 in 2018 (49.65). In 2017, cultivars Fuji Zehn Aztec (29.26) and Silver Spur (24.51), had the fewest leaves per fruit. The highest leaf chlorophyll content was recorded in cultivar Shireen (3.50 and 3.57 mg g−1 fresh weight) during the years 2017 and 2018, respectively. Cultivar Baleman's Cider had the lowest leaf chlorophyll content (2.15 mg g−1 fresh weight) during 2017, while cultivar Allington Pippin (2.09 mg g−1 fresh weight) had the lowest leaf chlorophyll content in 2018. The cultivars Fuji Zehn Aztec, with a yield efficiency of 0.78 kg/cm2 and Silver Spur with a yield efficiency of 1.14 kg/cm2 were the most yield efficient during the years 2017 and 2018, respectively. Cultivar Shalimar Apple-2 was least performing with yield efficiencies of 0.05 and 0.07 kg/cm2 during 2017 and 2018, respectively.The findings suggest that cultivar Mollie's Delicious commercially matures first and has the highest fruit length, diameter, and weight; hence, it can be a good option for cultivation so as to fetch the maximum price in the market when other cultivars are still maturing. Shalimar Apple-2 is precluded for cultivation due to least yield efficiency, whereas cultivars Fuji Zehn Aztec and Silver Spur are recommended to farmers for their higher yield efficiency.
... Despite the high biodiversity in the Kashmir Himalaya, plant-pollinator networks have so far remained unexplored, though a few single species studies have been published recently Wachkoo et al., 2019). Historically, the region has witnessed the introduction of alien plant and pollinator species (Gulzar et al., 2021;. For instance, the European honeybee (i.e. ...
... Apis mellifera) was introduced for apicultural purposes (Sharma, 1960). About 570 species of plants have also been introduced into the region for either agricultural or ornamental reasons (Khuroo et al., 2007), and some of these have become invasive Gulzar et al., 2021). Recent studies predict that native species ranges will contract and invasive species will expand their habitat in the Kashmir Himalaya in the future Rather et al., 2021;2022a). ...
... The Kashmir Himalaya (Fig. 1) represents a biotic province in the biogeographic zone of the North-Western Himalaya in India, lying between 33 • 20 ′ to 34 • 54 ′ N latitude and 73 • 55 ′ to 75 • 35 ′ E longitude, with an altitudinal range of 1300-4500 m asl (Rodgers and Panwar, 1988;Malik, 2012;Gulzar et al., 2021). Kashmir is an elliptical and bowl-shaped valley that lies between the Great Himalaya in the north and the Pir Panjal Range in the south. ...
Plant-pollinator studies are increasingly using network analysis to investigate the structure and function of such communities. However, many areas of high diversity largely remained unexplored in this way. Our study describes a plant-pollinator meta-network from an overlooked biodiversity hotspot, the Kashmir Himalaya, where we specifically investigate plant-pollinator network nestedness and modularity, as well as the influence of alien species and the impacts of simulating species extinctions on network structure. Natural history observations were used to document the meta-network between 230 plant and 80 pollinator species forming 1958 (11% of the possible) interactions. Among the plants Malus domestica and among the pollinators Apis mellifera and A. cerana formed the largest number of interactions with significant influence over the whole network. Network cumulative degree distribution depicted a higher number of degree levels in pollinators than plants. A moderately high number of realized interactions were revealed, thereby indicating potential structural and functional stability in the network. Eight strongly defined modules were observed in the network which varied in their composition. For example, the Ephedra module exclusively comprised of native species whereas the Apis module comprised of all the four different types of interacting species (i.e. native and alien plants and pollinators) and also integrated the highest number of alien species. In the network overall, 40% of interactions were by alien species, reflecting how well these were integrated. Extinction simulations suggested that the network would collapse more quickly when the most connected pollinators are removed, rather than the most connected plant species. Our study is the first assessment of a plant-pollinator network from the Himalayan biodiversity hotspot; and will help to inform the ecological and economic implications of plant-pollinator interactions in an era of global biodiversity crisis.
... The climate is primarily continental temperate type, with snowy and cold winters and dry and moderately warm summers. The temperature of the region ranges from an average daily maximum of 31 °C and minimum of 15 °C during summer to an average daily maximum of 4 °C and minimum of −4 °C during winter, receives an average annual precipitation of 1055 mm, mostly in the form of snow (Rashid et al. 2019;Gulzar et al. 2021). ...
Naturalisation is the most crucial stage along the ecological process of introduction-naturalisation-invasion continuum. Therefore, reporting the transition of alien plant species at the naturalised stage along the continuum can be crucial for the early warning and rapid response in invasion management. Here we report Ranunculus repens as a new distribution record from Kashmir Himalaya. We provide a floristic account of this newly naturalised species and photographic illustrations of the distinguishing characters from an allied species, R. bulbosus, with which it is misidentified in the region. We also investigated the ecological aspects of this naturalised species by undertaking quadrat sampling in the R. repens-dominated community. Our results revealed that R. repens show positive association with those native species in the community which possess similar traits, but show interestingly negative association with other alien species found within the same community, thus hinting towards habitat filtering among the alien species pool in the region. Hopefully, the present study will validate report of R. repens from this Himalayan region, facilitate its field identification, guide control strategies at this early stage of naturalisation when chances of management success are maximum and prompt further studies on its potential invasion risk.
Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/11263504.2022.2036847.
Climate change and biological invasions represent significant drivers of biodiversity loss, and changes in climate and land use can also synergistically influence the naturalization of alien species into new areas. Therefore, reporting the transition of alien plant species along the casual-naturalization-invasion continuum can be crucial to the early detection of alien species and their timely management with lower costs. Here, we report the distribution of the recently naturalized plant species Matricaria discoidea DC. (Pineapple-weed) in Ladakh, a remote region located in the Trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh. We provide a taxonomic description of M. discoidea and photo-illustrations of its distinctive characters for easy field identification. Based on the sampling of communities dominated by M. discoidea , we found it positively associated with plant species that habitat preferences similar to M. discoidea but negatively associated with several native plant species that occurred in the same community. Our findings suggest that this newly naturalized alien species can potentially spread throughout this trans-Himalayan region and may have ecological consequences, including the negative impact on native species diversity in the region.
Range shifts are a key mechanism that species employ in response to climate change. Increasing global temperatures are driving species redistributions to cooler areas. Studies have documented climate change–induced shifts in species distributions. The range shift in three plant species, namely Bellis peren- nis L., Cannabis sativa L., and Portulaca oleracea L. to the Himalayan highlands of Ladakh, India, is reported for the first time. These species are not native to the region but have naturalized and are currently occurring as large natural populations at multiple sites. By providing detailed information on taxonomic descriptions, habitat characteristics, distribution maps, global distribution and ecology, the study aims to facilitate the identification of these species in the field which is required for early response and timely interventions to pre- vent them from becoming invasive in the natural habitats of the Himalayan region.
