Notes on the distribution of an alien weed Hyptis brevipes (Lamiaceae) in India

Hyptis brevipes Poit. is a native weed species of South and Central America and has been introduced and naturalized in many parts of SE Asia. It was reported from India for the first time in 1940 from Andaman and Nicobar Islands and then in 2012 from Darjeeling Himalaya. In the present study the authors have noticed the occurrence of the species in the wild in the Dima Hasao district of Assam and the Dampa Tiger Reserve of Mizoram. The study reveals that the species has naturalized in India in some parts of the Northeast region in cultivated lands along roadsides. The detailed taxonomic account of the species along with its distribution, phenology, uses and photographs is provided to confirm its identity and to take stock on its control from its further spread to some other regions, because due to the invasive nature it may affect the growth of crop plants

Medicinal plants used by the <i style="">Kandhas</i> of Kandhamal district of Orissa

519-528The paper deals with the ethnomedicinal information on the Kandha tribe of Kandhamal district of Orissa situated on the Eastern Ghats of India. Use of allopathic drugs by the Kandhas inhabiting in the remote part of the district is almost unknown. Several field trips were made to the area and information on the uses of plants was collected along with plant specimens.&nbsp; First hand information on use of 98 plant species under 93 genus and 59 families against 127 ailments was collected from the Kandha community of the district. There is a need for further critical phytochemical analysis and bioactive effects of the information collected on plants used by the tribes. The uses that are recorded in the paper are almost new to the literature. Botanical name, local name(s), families and their medicinal uses have been enumerated. </b

<b style="">Ethno-medico-botanical survey of Kalahandi district of Orissa</b>

72-79The paper provides information on the use of plant crude drugs for various diseases prevalent in tribal communities of eight villages under Thuamul Rampur block of Kalahandi district, Orissa. It deals with 39 plant species under 36 genera belonging to 26 families. The local names, the method of preparation and mode of use of the medicine are mentioned. The tribal communities of the area totally depend on the herbal drug for their primary health care, which is attributed partly to their socio-economic and cultural conditions

Predicting the Forest Canopy Height from LiDAR and Multi-Sensor Data Using Machine Learning over India

Forest canopy height estimates, at a regional scale, help understand the forest carbon storage, ecosystem processes, the development of forest management and the restoration policies to mitigate global climate change, etc. The recent availability of the NASA’s Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) LiDAR data has opened up new avenues to assess the plant canopy height at a footprint level. Here, we present a novel approach using the random forest (RF) for the wall-to-wall canopy height estimation over India’s forests (i.e., evergreen forest, deciduous forest, mixed forest, plantation, and shrubland) by employing the high-resolution top-of-the-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance and vegetation indices, the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) backscatters, the topography and tree canopy density, as the proxy variables. The variable importance plot indicated that the SAR backscatters, tree canopy density and the topography are the most influential height predictors. 33.15% of India’s forest cover demonstrated the canopy height 20 m). This study advocates the importance and use of GEDI data for estimating the canopy height, preferably in data-deficit mountainous regions, where most of India’s natural forest vegetation exists

India’s contribution to mitigating the impacts of climate change through vegetation management

The changes in natural ecosystems provide opportunity to increase vegetation carbon sink capacity and thereby contribute to mitigation of climate change impacts. The Indian tropics and the large ecological variation within the country afford the advantage of diverse niches and offer opportunities to reveal the role of biotic factors at different levels of organization from populations to ecosystems. The last 4 decades of research and development in the Indian space science community has been primarily application driven in response to the government space programme for national development. The expenditure in R&amp;D over next 5 year suggest that scientific research is higher on the country's agenda. The Indo-UK Terrestrial Carbon Group (IUTCG) comprising both Indian and UK scientists, funded jointly by the Department of Science and Technology, India and the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills organised a workshop to explore ways in which Earth observation data can be effectively utilised in mitigating the impacts of climate change through vegetation management. Effective integration of field observations, collected through various monitoring networks, and satellite sensor data has been proposed to provide country-wide monitoring

New vegetation type map of India prepared using satellite remote sensing: Comparison with global vegetation maps and utilities

International audienceA seamless vegetation type map of India (scale 1: 50,000) prepared using medium-resolution IRS LISS-III images is presented. The map was created using an on-screen visual interpretation technique and has an accuracy of 90%, as assessed using 15,565 ground control points. India has hitherto been using potential vegetation/forest type map prepared by Champion and Seth in 1968. We characterized and mapped further the vegetation type distribution in the country in terms of occurrence and distribution, area occupancy, percentage of protected area (PA) covered by each vegetation type, range of elevation, mean annual temperature and precipitation over the past 100 years. A remote sensing-amenable hierarchical classification scheme that accommodates natural and semi-natural systems was conceptualized, and the natural vegetation was classified into forests, scrub/shrub lands and grasslands on the basis of extent of vegetation cover. We discuss the distribution and potential utility of the vegetation type map in a broad range of ecological, climatic and conservation applications from global, national and local perspectives. We used 15,565 ground control points to assess the accuracy of products available globally (i.e., GlobCover, Holdridge’s life zone map and potential natural vegetation (PNV) maps). Hence we recommend that the map prepared herein be used widely. This vegetation type map is the most comprehensive one developed for India so far. It was prepared using 23.5 m seasonal satellite remote sensing data, field samples and information relating to the biogeography, climate and soil. The digital map is now available through a web portal (http://bis.iirs.gov.in)