Significance of provisioning ecosystem services from moist temperate forest ecosystems: lessons from upper Kedarnath valley, Garhwal, India

Abstract

Forests have been very important natural resource for rural subsistence lifestyle providing variety of and provisioning ecosystem services. Study was carried out in six villages of upper Kedarnath valley at an altitudinal gradient of 1400-2800. Paper examines the nature and extent of provisioning services from forests to hill locals living in nearby villages. Frequent field survey of 151 households from five villages in proximity to forest was conducted using semi-structured questionnaires followed by field surveys. Primary data were collected for basic household's attributes, fuelwood, fodder, leaf litter and NTFP collection pattern. Simple descriptive methods were used for data analysis. The result shows that fuelwood contributes more than 95 % of total domestic fuel requirement in the study area with more collection during summers but more consumption during winter months due to extensive drop in day and night temperatures. Fodder collection is a major practice adding a lot to women drudgery, and winter fodder deficit is a major issue that leads to dry fodder collection from remote locations. Similarly the average seasonal collection figures were also high for leaf litter ranging from 120 to 89 kg/household/day. Collection of wild edibles is moderate, while for medicinal plants is low in the study area. Resource availability, collection and consumption depend on the family size, distance from forest area and economic condition of the household. More than 95 % of the household's biomass demands and requirement in the study area are fulfilled completely from forests, while rest are procured from various sources such as agroforests and agriculture.

Capturing forest dependency in the central Himalayan region: Variations between Oak (Quercus spp.) and Pine (Pinus spp.) dominated forest landscapes

“…These results are in accordance with a number of forest-based studies that highlight the importance of oak (Quercus spp.) forests in maintaining the forest-based livelihoods of local communities in the Himalayan region (Joshi and Negi 2011;Måren et al 2014;Dhyani and Dhyani 2016).…”

“…Across the entire Himalayan mountain range, many people are highly dependent on forests and forest-based resources (Birch et al 2014;Khan et al 2014;Malik et al 2014;Jadin et al 2016). This dependence is primarily connected to fulfilling their needs for fuelwood, fodder, medicinal uses, fruits, and other foodrelated products (Måren et al 2014;Dhyani and Dhyani 2016). Given the importance of forests and their significance in the life-support system of local communities, several studies have evaluated the forest products and other forest-related goods and services provided across the Himalayan region (Table 1).…”

Studies on Reproductive Development and Breeding Habit of the Commercially Important Bamboo Bambusa tulda Roxb

“…Among Asian countries, China contains ~6.01 million hectares of bamboo vegetation [4], followed by India having with ~160,037 sq km (India State of Forest Report 2019, https://fsi.nic.in/forest-report-2019?pgID=forest-report-2019 accessed between the period of October 2017 to February 2018). Worldwide ethnic populations are heavily dependent on bamboo bioresources, due to their various uses, such as food and beverage, fodder, medicine, fishing gear, handicrafts and artefacts [5][6][7][8].…”

Understanding the ecology of tree-seedling growth in dry tropical environment: a management perspective

“…Ultimately, it may result in a significant variation in the functional structure of the tropical dry vegetation. However, the regeneration of plant communities in dry tropical environments, with a focus on species and functional group specific responses, would help in improving their provisioning services (Dhyani and Dhyani 2016).…”