Amit Chawla

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Verified

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• Ph.D.
• Principal Scientist at Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology

About the Workshop Plants at high elevations face harsh environments, and their growth and survival is further challenged by climate change. However, these plants grow successfully through unique adaptation strategies/mechanisms imparted by physiological, molecular and metabolic processes, and microbial-associations. Thus, high elevation environmen...

The Himalayan high-altitude eco-regions exhibit higher plant species diversity, and several environmental factors play a crucial role in shaping species distribution and diversity. The aim of the present study is to investigate the floristic composition, distribution of endemic, threatened and native taxa across the elevation zones and the effect o...

The Himalayan region harbours a rich biodiversity, with Taxus wallichiana and Taxus contorta (Taxus species) are playing a significant role in its flora. A study was conducted to ascertain the potential range of these plant species in the Indian Himalayan Region by synthesizing species distribution models using MaxEnt for different climate change s...

This is first report on complete genome sequencing of stress-tolerant and plant growth-promoting Halotalea alkalilenta strain IHB B 13600 exhibiting potential for improving crop productivity under stressed agriculture conditions. The colony forming units in cultures exposed to various stress parameters were 6.07 log10 cfu/ml at 40 C, 5.33 log10 cfu...

Questions In the alpine region of the Himalaya, shrubs play a vital role in maintaining the diversity and functional composition of associated herbaceous communities through competition–facilitation interactions under varying environmental stress conditions. In this study, we specified the following questions: (1) what is the mode of interaction be...

There is aprojected intensification of extreme climatic events under future climate, however our general understanding of impacts of such events to plant communities in mountain ecosystems is limited. Among such extreme events, untimely/un- seasonal snowfall at the time of growing season when it is unusual, can damage plant reproductive and vegetat...

Species distributed across a wide elevation range have broad environmental tolerance and adopt specific adaptation strategies to cope with varying climatic conditions. The aim of this study is to understand the patterns of variation in leaf eco-physiological traits that are related to the adaptation of species with a wide distribution in different...

Background Aconitum species, belonging to Ranunculaceae, have high medicinal importance but due to their overexploitation come under IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) red list. The precise identification of the Aconitum species is equally important because they are used in herbal formulations. The present study aimed to develop...

Snow-melt is one of the important factors limiting growth and survival of alpine plants. Changes in snow-melt timing have profound effects on eco-physiological characteristics of alpine plant species through alterations in growing season length. Here, we conducted a field experiment and studied species response to experimentally induced early snow-...

Although alpine regions of the Himalaya are characterized by low-temperature and short-growing periods, yet these harbour a high richness of plant species including a greater proportion of partly-endemic flora. Climate warming has drastically influenced the composition of alpine vegetation globally leading to threats of biodiversity loss. Himalaya,...

Species distributions models (SDMs) are an indispensable and important tool for predicting suitable habitats and projecting the impacts of future climate change on habitat distribution of species, particularly the threatened species. Amongst such species, Dactylorhiza hatagirea (D.Don) Soo is a threatened, medicinal orchid endemic to Himalaya. In t...

Dactylorhiza hatagirea (D.Don) Soo (Vern. Salam Panja) is a highly valued terrestrial dietary orchid from Himalaya, whose tubers are traded for possessing medicinal uses to human health benefits. The current research was focused on chemical exploration, along with evaluation of the nutritional and antioxidant potential, of its tuber extracts, which...

The high-altitude alpine regions are characterized by highly variable and harsh environmental conditions. However, relatively little is known about the diverse mechanisms adopted by alpine plants to adapt to these stressful conditions. Here, we studied variation in transcriptome and physiological adjustments occurring across the year at high elevat...

Trait variability in response to seasonal variations can be hypothesised as an advantageous strategy for overwintering shrubs. This hypothesis was tested by elucidating patterns of trait variation in an evergreen alpine shrub, Rhododendron anthopogon D. Don. The study site was established at Rohtang (3990 m a.s.l.) in western Himalaya. Its leaves w...

Naturally occurring forage species in the high‐altitude pasturelands of Western Himalaya are traditionally being utilized for feeding of livestock. However, the nutritional quality evaluation and validation of their potential as feed for livestock needs to be undertaken. Here, we evaluated proximate compositions, minerals and amino acids (AAs) of f...

Recording environmentally induced variations in the metabolome in plants can be a promising approach for understanding the complex patterns of metabolic regulation and their eco-physiological consequences. Here, we studied metabolome-wide changes and eco-physiological adjustments occurring across the year at high elevation environments in the leaf...

Litter decomposition plays a vital role in carbon and nutrient budget of forest ecosystems, but our understanding of this process for high altitude ecosystems, especially the timberline zone, is not very clear. We studied leaf litter decomposition of Betula utilis, which is the main timberline species of Western Himalaya. We placed 144 litterbags (...

Multiple ecological factors acting at different spatial scales are responsible for abundance and distribution of plant species. Therefore, in order to conserve and manage various species, it is crucial to examine species relationships with these factors. This study is aimed to model current distribution and assess the various factors influencing di...

In this study, the effect of temporary storage (at 4°C) on measurement of leaf traits was tested. We collected leaf samples from 25 species, which represented different functional types in the high altitude vegetation of western Himalaya, to measure leaf area (LA), leaf rehydration, specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf dry matter content (LDMC). Repea...

This chapter discusses how conventional as well as emerging technologies can be combined for the effective conservation and improvement of the threatened plants of Himalaya, a hot spot of plant biodiversity. This is important in view of the depleting Himalayan resources in the backdrop of changing climate and anthropogenic activities. In this chapt...

This is the first report on de novo transcriptome of Dactylorhiza hatagirea, a critically-endangered, terrestrial orchid of alpine Himalayas. The plant is acclaimed for medicinal properties but little is known about its secondary-metabolites profile or cues regulating their biosynthesis. De novo transcriptome analysis was therefore, undertaken to g...

The analysis of species distribution and functional diversity (FD) in natural gradients of aridity and temperature at high altitudes could provide indication of future changes in plant communities as both are responsive to environment and strongly influence ecosystem functioning and stability. We established eleven altitudinal transects in high alt...

Global syntheses of leaf trait scaling relationships report an increase in light interception costs or ‘diminishing returns’ with increase in leaf area. However, variation in light interception costs across ecological gradients and plant strategies to cope up with these costs are not adequately understood. We analyzed leaf area (A) - leaf dry mass...

Higher elevations and, early as well as late phase of growing season are expected to be more stressful for plants in high altitudes. The present study was carried out on Rhododendron anthopogon D. Don, an evergreen shrub of Himalaya to understand variation in eco-physiological and biogeochemical traits due to combined effect of elevation gradient a...

Anthropogenic disturbances adversely affect populations of rare and endemic plants, resulting in reduction of their population size and performance. Among different plant groups, deceptive terrestrial orchids are vulnerable and possess greater extinction risks because of rarity in occurrence. To understand the response of food‐deceptive terrestrial...

Plants are a rich source of elements, and knowledge of their elemental composition determines their use for various purposes, especially for food and medicine. Therefore, it is necessary to create a database of the elemental composition of plants. The present review focuses on the concentration of various heavy metals as reported by various workers...

River Beas originates in the Himalayas and merges into river Sutlej at Harike, a Ramsar wetland. This river is a habitat of the endangered freshwater dolphin, Platanista gangetica minor R. Twenty-five water quality parameters, including eight heavy metals, were studied at four sampling sites over a stretch of 63 km between Beas and Harike towns for...

The present work was conducted to assess the regeneration pattern of dominant tree species in the forested landscapes of Himachal Pradesh, India. The study was conducted in four agro-climatic zones viz., zone I, zone II, zone III and zone IV, of the state at 58 locations during 2002–2007. Stratified random quadrat sampling was employed to estimate...

This paper reports the occurrence of Dryopteris zayuensis Ching & S.K.Wu and Pteris biaurita L. subsp. fornicata Fraser-Jenk. in Himachal Pradesh. The first one is a rare species while the latter forms a new record for Himachal Pradesh.

Pangi valley in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh is one of the remote tribal areas in Indian western Himalaya. The plant resources in its landscapes are flourishing under least anthropogenic conditions. For social upliftment of the tribals in this area, a number of developmental activities are being implemented by the government. A study was con...

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...

The Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) LISS III satellite imagery was used to classify three landscapes in the upper Satluj river watershed in Kinnaur region of western Himalaya viz. Nichar, Kalpa and Pooh. These landscapes representing different eco-climatic zones were subjected to landscape ecological analysis and various landscape composition, patch an...

In the present study, we provide a checklist of the vascular plants of Kinnaur district situated in the Himachal Pradesh state of India in the western Himalaya. This checklist includes 893 taxa (viz., species, subspecies and varieties) belonging to 881 species of angiosperms and gymnosperms distributed among 102 families and 433 genera, and 30 spec...

The IPCC in its Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) described the Himalayan Region as data-deficient in terms of climate monitoring. This is a serious impedi-ment to global research initiatives and thus necessi-tates long-term ecological monitoring (LTEM) across the Himalaya. Being governed by low temperature conditions, the high-altitude regions in Him...

The inter-correlations between Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) P6 LISS III multispectral image, plant species diversity and soil physico-chemical characteristics were evaluated in the Kinnaur region of western Himalaya, India. The study aimed to modeling of spectral variability in the multispectral data; and the plant species diversity and so...

Pradesh state of India in the western Himalaya. This checklist includes 893 taxa (viz., species, subspecies and varieties) belonging to 881 species of angiosperms and gymnosperms distributed among 102 families and 433 genera, and 30 species of pteridophytes. Information about the growth habit, threat and endemicity status is also provided. Our resu...

62 species belonging to 17 families of pteridophytes are present in Great Himalayan National Park located in Kullu district of Himalchal Pradesh. 35 Species were new to the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, these includes Coniogramma indica, Cheilanthus rufa, Dryopteris kumurovii, Asplenium lacinatum, Polypodiodes microrhizoma, Athyrium distans,...

The development activities in mountainous region though provide comfort to the human being and enhance the socioeconomic status of the people but create pressure on the bio-resources. In this paper, the current status of land use/landcover and the vegetation communities of the Solang valley watershed in Himachal Pradesh of Indian western Himalaya h...

The himFlorIS is an information system for flora in Himachal Pradesh (HP). At present, it provides information on 1141 plant species distributed across 49 landscape elements (LSE) in the state. It is based on the floristic survey of HP during 2003-2009. It provides information regarding LSE, LSE types, physiographic factors, abundance of the specie...

This study aims at the classification and water quality assessment of Harike wetland (Ramsar site) in India using satellite images from the Indian Remote Sensing satellite, Resourcesat (IRS P6). The Harike wetland is a converging zone of two rivers, Beas and Sutlej. The satellite images of IRS Linear Imaging Self Scanner (LISS) IV multispectral sen...

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...

The ecological and ethnobotanical surveys in different localities of Himachal Pradesh revealed that Herniaria incana Lam., is a good soil binder, and confined to the Pangi subdivision of Chamba District in Himachal Pradesh. Phyto-sociological analysis of this herb in the natural habitat suggests that it forms a single strand rather than associated...

From time immemorial Himalaya has been a major source of valuable medicinal and aromatic plants. Even today, a number of valuable species found here, are overlooked as far as their commercial exploitation is concerned. Among such species found in Western Himalaya region, 11 species viz. Achillea millefolium Linn., Arctium lappa Linn., Artemisia mar...