Across the world, grasslands support unique biodiversity, provide ecosystem services and are a source of livelihood for nomadic and pastoral communities dependent on them. Grasslands also face multiple stressors including climate change, shifts in land use and land cover, and anthropogenic pressures.
However, there is a knowledge gap in the scientific understanding of Himalayan grasslands, hampering their effective management and impeding global synthesis under growing environmental change, notes a recently published paper on the long-term ecological monitoring of Kashmir Himalayan grasslands.
The lead author of the study, Manzoor A. Shah, a professor at the University of Kashmir, explains that the genesis of the work lies in the global emphasis on establishing long-term ecological observatories (LTEO). In 2015, a scientific committee was formed to establish these observatories for ecosystem monitoring in India and by 2019, with the approval of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), sites were set up across the country, including in Kashmir.
The study established a baseline for long-term ecological monitoring of Kashmir Himalayan grasslands by setting up permanent plots at three distinct sites and analysing ecological parameters such as species composition, biomass and carbon-nitrogen ratios.
“Three sites were established: one within a protected area and two outside the protected network. Each site was divided into three blocks, and each block into five plots. Fieldwork revealed a steep elevation gradient with significant ecological differences across sites,” Shah informs Mongabay India.
The three sites were Dachigam National Park (low elevation), Babareshi and Gulmarg (higher elevation). “The study also examined the distribution of functional groups: grasses, forbs and legumes,” Shah points out. Species composition and diversity varied notably across sites, with Dachigam at lower elevation exhibiting higher richness. “This could be due to its protected status and less anthropogenic disturbance,” he says. Dachigam also had predominant grass cover and biomass, while higher elevation sites had more forbs and legumes, reflecting adaptations to local climate and ecological gradients.
Aboveground biomass and carbon storage were significantly greater at Dachigam, indicating higher carbon sequestration potential in warmer, low-elevation grasslands. A strong negative correlation was found between aboveground and belowground biomass, with higher elevation sites investing more in root systems due to harsher conditions.
The study established a baseline that provides foundational data for future conservation, management strategies and climate change modelling in Himalayan grasslands. It highlights ecological differentiation between warm and cool temperate grasslands driven by elevation, climate and anthropogenic pressures.
Results emphasise the importance of protected areas for sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem services, and the role of long-term monitoring in understanding resilience and adaptation to climate change. “Sites that exhibit lower resilience and more vulnerability to climate change may require targeted policy interventions to enhance their ecological functions and carbon sequestration capacity,” the paper highlights.
Banner image: A view of the grassland in Dachigam National Park. Image by Umer Ikhlaq.
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