Harish Chander Dutt

The broad-scale inventories of alien species reveal macroecological patterns, but these often fall short in guiding local-level management strategies. Local authorities, tasked with on-the-ground management, require precise knowledge of the occurrence of invasive species tailored to their jurisdictional boundaries. What proves critical at the local scale may not hold the same significance at national or regional levels. In this context, we present a comprehensive inventory of alien vascular plant species across the ecologically diverse Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh (JKL) regions of India. Our study identifies 312 alien plant species belonging to 210 genera and 61 families. These alien plant species are predominantly herbaceous dicots. Of these, ca. 62% are naturalized, and 28% exhibit invasive behavior in the region. Introductions have been primarily unintentional, with a notable fraction (26%) introduced for ornamental purposes. The families with the highest number of alien plant species are Asteraceae (46 species), Fabaceae (28 species), and Amaranthaceae (23 species). The genera with the most species are Amaranthus (10 species), Solanum (8 species), Iris (7 species), and Oenothera (5 species). The Jammu region has the highest number of alien plant species, with 221 documented species, including 99 unique to this region. This is followed by the Kashmir Himalaya, with 212 alien species, 70 of which are exclusive to the area. In Ladakh, 76 alien species are recorded, with only one exclusive to the region. Fifty-five alien species are common across all three regions. In each region, more than 50% of species are naturalized, while invasive species constitute about 30% of the total. Therophytes are the dominant life-form category across all regions. Only 18% of species are shared across the three regions. Our findings emphasize the imperative of integrating local-scale knowledge into invasion management frameworks, ensuring targeted and effective strategies aligned with local administrative capacities. By bridging the gap between broad ecological patterns and localized management needs, our study advocates for a nuanced approach to invasive species management that accounts for regional and local specificity.

Orchids are a group of plants famous for their showy and beautiful flowers. Besides their aesthetic value, these are also used traditionally for their ethnomedicinal properties. In Jammu and Kashmir, India, 21 orchid species from 17 different genera have been documented for their utilization as ethnomedicinal plants. Rhizomes and tubers of these orchids are the main plant parts to be used to cure many disorders like gastro-intestinal, skeleton-muscular, neurological and others.

Rare, Endemic and Threatened (RET) species with naturally small populations are always at high risk of extinction, especially during the climate change process. Climate change phenomena are also identified as a strong driver in the habitat shift of many medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs). The expected consequences of climate change are so dangerous that some key species can move to extinction. Therefore, the quest for suitable habitats of such species is taken as a challenge by various ecologists and conservationists. This study aims to predict the suitable habitats of Elwendia persica (Boiss.) Pimenov & Kljuykov, a threatened species for current and future climatic scenarios in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR). The assessments for current and future climatic scenarios are accessed on the optimistic Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 (RCP 4.5). The MaxENT algorithm has helped to predict the suitable habitat of the species in the study area. The model has predicted 1.12%, 2.37%, and 0.98% of the total study area as highly suitable habitats in current (2000) and future (2050 and 2070) climatic scenarios. South-eastern slopes are considered as the most suitable areas for the species in the Indian Himalayan Region. Our results show that suitable habitats of the species may increase upto 2050, and subsequently decrease.