Abstract. Population dynamics, mortality factors, growth and dry weight changes in Quercus floribunda seedlings were studied to determine the implication of sun and shade microsites and the role of mast years on regeneration and maintenance of oak forests in Kumaun Himalaya. The number of seedlings was significantly greater at the sun microsites, but seedling survival was not, as ground herbage clearance at sun microsites accounted for 53.5% mortality. Insect herbivores (e.g. acorn worm) were also one of the major mortality factors. At both microsites, most mortality was encountered between June and August. The initial seedling height at sun microsites was significantly lower compared to shade microsites. Seedlings at sun microsites were superior in terms of number of leaves and peak dry weight. Dry mass allocation in seedling components and root:shoot ratio was similar at both microsites. The study shows the importance of sun microsites and of masting in the potential for regeneration and expansion of Q. floribunda forests.

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Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.; 2n = 52; Piperaceae), the king of spices, is a perennial, trailing woody flowering vine and has global importance with widespread dietary, medicinal, and preservative uses. It is an economically important germplasm cultivated for its fruit and the major cash crop in >30 tropical countries. Crop production is mainly affected by drought stress. The present study deals with the candidate gene identification from drought-affected black pepper leaf transcriptome generated by Illumina Hiseq2000. It also aims to mine putative molecular markers (namely SSRs, SNPs, and InDels) and generate primers for them. The identification of transcription factors and pathways involved in drought tolerance is also reported here. De novo transcriptome assembly was performed with trinity assembler. In total, 4914 differential expressed genes, 2110 transcriptional factors, 786 domains and 1137 families, 20,124 putative SSR markers, and 259,236 variants were identified. At2g30105 (unidentified gene containing leucine-rich repeats and ubiquitin-like domain), serine threonine protein kinase, Mitogen-activated protein kinase, Nucleotide Binding Site-Leucine Rich Repeat, Myeloblastosis-related proteins, basic helix-loop-helix are all found upregulated and are reported to be associated with plant tolerance against drought condition. All these information are catalogued in the Black Pepper Drought Transcriptome Database (BPDRTDb), freely accessible for academic use at http:// webtom.cabgrid.res.in/bpdrtdb/. This database is a good foundation for the genetic improvement of pepper plants, breeding programmes, and mapping population of this crop. Putative markers can also be a reliable genomic resource to develop droughttolerant variety for better black pepper productivity.

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