Plant species diversity of pastures in the Naryn Oblast (Kyrgyzstan)

Traditional pastoral practices in Kyrgyzstan have been transformed into more intensive forms of pastoral land use during the Soviet colonial period, and once again modified after independence in 1991. Kyrgyz winter pastures close to settlements are subject to degradation processes, while remote summer pastures are less affected. It is largely unknown to what extent current grazing regimes, repeatedly modified during the post-Soviet transformation process, have influenced plant species diversity of mountain pastures. This paper aims to analyze inventory (α) and differentiation (β) diversity of pastures in the Naryn Oblast, where winter pastures are subject to increased grazing pressure. We used a non-asymptotic approach in order to infer Hill numbers, i.e. the effective number of species at different levels of q (where q = 0: species richness, q = 1: Shannon diversity, q = 2: Simpson diversity) to make fair comparisons among assemblages of winter and summer pastures. We established sample-size-based rarefaction (interpolation) and prediction (extrapolation) curves, and assessed beta diversity by implementing an ANOSIM and by calculating Jaccard and Sørensen indices. We also inspected the occurrence of rare endemic plants, which might play a key role in local ecosystem processes and are important for biodiversity conservation. Increased grazing pressure on winter pastures mainly results from abandoned seasonal livestock migration and unbalanced grazing intensity between seasonal pastures. Our results show that inventory diversity is higher on summer pastures and that species composition between summer and winter pastures differs significantly. Winter pastures are less species-rich but have a higher percentage of rare endemic species

Mountain pastures of Qilian Shan: plant communities, grazing impact and degradation status (Gansu province, NW China)

Environmental degradation of pasture areas in the Qilian Mountains (Gansu province, NW China) has increased in recent years. Soil erosion and loss of biodiversity caused by overgrazing is widespread. Changes in plant cover, however, have not been analysed so far. The aim of this paper is to identify plant communities and to detect grazing-induced changes in vegetation patterns. Quantitative and qualitative releve data were collected for community classification and to analyse gradual changes in vegetation patterns along altitudinal and grazing gradients. Detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) was used to analyse variation in relationships between vegetation, environmental factors and differential grazing pressure. The results of the DCA showed apparent variation in plant communities along the grazing gradient. Two factors – altitude and exposure – had the strongest impact on plant community distribution. Comparing monitoring data for the most recent nine years, a trend of pasture deterioration, plant community successions and shift in dominant species becomes obvious. In order to increase grassland quality, sustainable pasture management strategies should be implemented

Future agricultural conditions in the Nepal Himalaya - A fuzzy logic approach using high resolution climate scenarios

Until the end of the 21st century, ongoing climate change is expected to trigger major changes in site conditions and vertical species distributions in high mountain regions such as the Himalaya. Altitudinal ranges of species used as staple crops in Himalayan agriculture and currently suitable cultivation areas will be affected as well. Changing climatic variables such as temperature and precipitation will modify agricultural land-use options, and assessments of future crop growth conditions are in high demand. This GIS-based approach utilizes high resolution climate data of the present and two future scenarios and relates them to bioclimatic requirements of the five most important crops grown in Nepal: rice, maize, wheat, finger millet and potato. It takes into account soil pH as a basic constraint for the individual crop. The three factors  temperature, precipitation,and soil pH are then combined using a fuzzy logic algorithm. The assessment visualizes the expected shifts in suitable cultivation zones for the individual crops. The results show that wheat is likely to experience the most severe loss of crop suitability until the end of the 21st century, while the cultivation of rice is likely to benefit

Climate change-induced shift of tree growth sensitivity at a central Himalayan treeline ecotone

Himalayan treelines are exposed to above average climate change impact, resulting in complex tree growth-climate relationships for Himalayan Silver Fir (Abies spectabilis (D. Don) Spach) at central Himalayan treelines. The majority of recent studies detected current tree growth sensitivity to dry conditions during pre-monsoon seasons. The aim of this study was to analyze growth-climate relationships for more than a century for a treeline ecotone in east-central Nepal and to test for Blue Intensity (BI; used as a surrogate of maximum late wood density) as climate proxy. We determined the relationships of Abies spectabilis radial tree growth and BI to climate by correlating both to temperature, precipitation and drought index data. The results showed a significantly unstable dendroclimatic signal over time. Climate warming-induced moisture deficits during pre-monsoon seasons became a major factor limiting radial tree growth during recent decades. Earlier in time, the dendroclimatic signal was weaker, predominantly reflecting a positive relationship of tree growth and summer temperature. Compared to radial tree growth, BI showed a different but strong climate signal. Temporally unstable correlations may be attributed to increasing effects of above-average rates of climate warming. An extended network of Himalayan tree-ring sites is needed to further analyze cause-effect relationships and to solve this attribution problem

Recession and Morphological Changes of the Debris-Covered Milam Glacier in Gori Ganga Valley, Central Himalaya, India, Derived From Satellite Data

We analyzed the recession of the Milam glacier in the Gori Ganga valley, Uttarakhand Himalaya, using historical plane-table survey maps, topographical maps, Corona image (1968), Landsat 5 TM (1990), Landsat 7 ETM+ (2001), and Sentinel 2 (2017) satellite data. We estimate that the Milam glacier has receded by 1565.4 ± 20.6 m (31.9 ± 0.4 m a−1) over the period 1968–2017, while lower recession rate (21.1 ± 1.7 m a−1) was observed between 2001 and 2017. The Milam glacier lost 2.27 ± 0.06 km2 of its area from 1968 to 2017 due to recession. Two tributary glaciers detached from the main trunk between 1990 and 2017, which indicates glacier thinning and melting. The glacier recession also resulted in deformation of moraine ridges on either sides in lower ablation zone of Milam glacier, which is caused due to the removal of basal ice support caused by glacier melting

The Alaska Arctic Vegetation Archive (AVA-AK)

The Alaska Arctic Vegetation Archive (AVA-AK, GIVD-ID: NA-US-014) is a free, publically available database archive of vegetation-plot data from the Arctic tundra region of northern Alaska. The archive currently contains 24 datasets with 3,026 non-overlapping plots. Of these, 74% have geolocation data with 25-m or better precision. Species cover data and header data are stored in a Turboveg database. A standardized Pan Arctic Species List provides a consistent nomenclature for vascular plants, bryophytes, and lichens in the archive. A web-based online Alaska Arctic Geoecological Atlas (AGA-AK) allows viewing and downloading the species data in a variety of formats, and provides access to a wide variety of ancillary data. We conducted a preliminary cluster analysis of the first 16 datasets (1,613 plots) to examine how the spectrum of derived clusters is related to the suite of datasets, habitat types, and environmental gradients. Here, we present the contents of the archive, assess its strengths and weaknesses, and provide three supplementary files that include the data dictionary, a list of habitat types, an overview of the datasets, and details of the cluster analysis

Risikolebensraum Kathmandu (Nepal): Klima- und Umweltveränderungen im Urbanisierungsprozess einer Himalaya-Metropolregion

In den letzten Jahrzehnten hat das einst beschauliche, ländlich geprägte Kathmandu-Tal einen sich rasch vollziehenden, weitgehend unkontrollierten Urbanisierungsprozess erlebt, der in ursächlichem Zusammenhang mit dem hohen Bevölkerungswachstum und stark zunehmender Zuwanderung aus anderen Regionen Nepals steht. Ausgeprägte infrastrukturelle Defizite, vor allem völlig unzureichende bzw. nicht vorhandene Müllent- sorgung und Abwasseraufbereitung, haben zu gravierenden und gesundheitsgefährdenden Umweltproblemen geführt, die sich im Klimawandel verschärfen. Die Himalaya-Metropole Kathmandu muss deshalb als Risikolebensraum eingestuft werden. Risk habitat Kathmandu (Nepal): Climatic and environmental changes in the wake of the urbanization process of a Himalayan metropolitan region: In recent decades, the once secluded, predominantly rural Kathmandu valley has experienced a rapidly ongoing, largely uncontrolled urbanization process, to be attributed to high population growth and considerably increasing immigration from other regions of Nepal. Apparent infrastructural deficits, in particular completely insufficient waste disposal and wastewater treatment, have resulted in severe environmental degradation which is hazardous to human health and which is aggravated by climate change. The Himalayan metropolis Kathmandu has thus to be classified as risk habitat

Dürre und Hunger in Ostafrika

Dürre und Hunger in Ostafrika: Die Verfügbarkeit der überlebenswichtigen Ressourcen Wasser und Nahrung ist in den Ländern Ostafrikas durch lang anhaltende Dürren bedroht. Der fortschreitende Klimawandel hat zu einer Zunahme von Dürren und zu einer Verschärfung der ohnehin schwierigen Lebensbedingungen der einheimischen Bevölkerung geführt. In den letzten 17 Jahren kam es am Horn von Afrika nahezu jährlich zu Dürren mit darauffolgenden Hungerkrisen. Aufgrund politischer, wirtschaftlicher und sich ändernder klimatischer Bedingungen leiden heute über 50 Mio. Menschen in Ostafrika unter Hunger. Drought and hunger in East Africa: Recurrent drought events in East African countries have strong adverse effects on resource availability and food security. Continued climate change has increased the frequency of drought events and aggravated already difficult living conditions of local people. The Horn of Africa experienced droughts and subsequent food crises almost every year within the past 17 years. Political, economic and climate change conditions have resulted in more than 50 million people in East Africa suffering from hunger o