Firdous Ahmad Dar

University of Kashmir · Department of Botany

Despite recent efforts to make large-scale biodiversity datasets available, several data shortfalls still exist that preclude our progress in achieving global conservation and sustainability goals. In this study, we present a comprehensive native tree dataset (1689 species) from the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR)—home to two global biodiversity hots...

Globally, treelines form a transition zone between tree‐dominated forest downslope and treeless alpine vegetation upslope. Treelines represent the highest boundary of “tree” life form in high‐elevation mountains and at high latitudes. Recently, treelines have been shifting upslope in response to climate warming, so it has become important to unders...

Globally, rapid climate and land-use changes in alpine environments are posing severe risks to their bountiful biodiversity and ecosystem services. Currently, nature-based solutions are fast-emerging as the preferred approach to address the challenges of environmental sustainability. In alpine environments, cushion plants owing to their unique arch...

The recent adoption of Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework requires empirical synthesis of biodiversity data spanning across broad biogeographic scales to inform conservation policy and management. Although the availability and access to biodiversity databases have recently improved, yet majority of these databases lack sufficient geogra...

In an era of global environmental change, the treeline shift triggered by recent climate warming has been reported worldwide. However, it is still unknown how site-specific microclimatic conditions regulate the soil-vegetation relationship at treelines, which constrains our capacity to down-scale broad global trends in the treeline shift at regiona...

Majority of global biodiversity databases lack sufficient coverage from the developing world and thus severely limiting their worldwide applicability. Bridging these knowledge gaps in global databases merits urgent research priority in biodiversity science. Here, we present Trees of India (ToI), Version-I, a comprehensive database assembled from an...

Several species of the regional pool rarely become part of local communities. Such a con- siderable fraction of the species pool which remains absent but have potential to establish is referred to as dark diversity, and has till now remained understudied. In this study, we aimed to estimate the dark diversity, site-specific species pool, community...

Treeline ecotones, the transition zone between the upper closed forest limit (timberline) and treeless alpine vegetation, are the most conspicuous features of mountain ecosystems around the world. Understanding the patterns of plant species richness in the treeline ecotones is crucial in accurately assessing and monitoring the treeline shifts and v...

Globally, the treelines at higher elevations in mountains are reported to be advancing up-slope in response to recent climate warming. However, little is known about the treeline advancement in the Himalaya due to paucity of baseline vegetation data with which to compare, thus making their assessment and monitoring challenging. To fill this knowled...