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<p>Himalaya, the youngest mountain ecosystem, is globally recognized as ‘<i>Biodiversity Hotspot</i>’ and exhibits a wide range of topographic and climatic conditions. Apart from the general climate, locality factors play an important role in shaping the vegetation and species heterogeneity across the Himalayan mountain ecosystem. We investigated the species richness patterns of different growth-forms, life-forms and floristic spectra along the elevation gradient, to understand the elevation-species richness relationship in one of the highest ecosystems of the world, the Kanchenjunga Biosphere Reserve (KBR), Sikkim, India. We classified the entire elevation range into six elevation classes (EC), viz. EC1 (up to 1000&#xa0;m AMSL), EC2 (1000–2000&#xa0;m), EC3 (2000–3000&#xa0;m), EC4 (3000–4000&#xa0;m), EC5 (4000–5000&#xa0;m) and EC6 (&gt; 5000&#xa0;m) to assess the species richness patterns. The salient findings of our present study are: (1) the nearby elevation classes showed more similarity (EC2-EC3, EC4-EC5) in plant species composition than those of the distant classes (EC1-EC6, EC2-EC6); (2) overall, species richness along elevation showed a hump-shaped pattern (EC3 &gt; EC4 &gt; EC2 &gt; EC5 &gt; EC1 &gt; EC6); (3) individual subgroups, viz. shrubs, herbs, phanerophytes, cryptophytes, therophytes and hemicryptophytes also followed hump-shaped pattern; (4) tree (r = − 0.54) and climber (r = − 0.70) richness curves skewed towards lower elevations while chamaephyte (r = 0.87) towards higher elevation; (5) based on the first two preponderance life-forms within each elevation class, the phytoclimate of the area can be classified as ‘phanero-cryptophytic’ (EC1–EC3), ‘crypto-hemicryptophytic’ (EC4–EC5) and ‘chamae-hemicryptophytic’ (EC6); (6) at higher elevations, the onset of flowering and fruiting in majority of the plant species recorded in rainy season (June–September). The present study has filled the knowledge gap on the elevation-species richness relationships in KBR. It will be helpful to understand vegetation dynamics and to frame effective management strategies.</p>

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Pattern of species richness and floristic spectrum along the elevation gradient in Kanchenjunga Biosphere Reserve, Sikkim, Eastern Himalaya, India

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年1月8日

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  • Deep Shekhar Das,
  • Jayanta Ghosh,
  • Mrinmoy Midday,
  • Dinesh Singh Rawat,
  • Debabrata Maity

摘要

Himalaya, the youngest mountain ecosystem, is globally recognized as ‘Biodiversity Hotspot’ and exhibits a wide range of topographic and climatic conditions. Apart from the general climate, locality factors play an important role in shaping the vegetation and species heterogeneity across the Himalayan mountain ecosystem. We investigated the species richness patterns of different growth-forms, life-forms and floristic spectra along the elevation gradient, to understand the elevation-species richness relationship in one of the highest ecosystems of the world, the Kanchenjunga Biosphere Reserve (KBR), Sikkim, India. We classified the entire elevation range into six elevation classes (EC), viz. EC1 (up to 1000 m AMSL), EC2 (1000–2000 m), EC3 (2000–3000 m), EC4 (3000–4000 m), EC5 (4000–5000 m) and EC6 (> 5000 m) to assess the species richness patterns. The salient findings of our present study are: (1) the nearby elevation classes showed more similarity (EC2-EC3, EC4-EC5) in plant species composition than those of the distant classes (EC1-EC6, EC2-EC6); (2) overall, species richness along elevation showed a hump-shaped pattern (EC3 > EC4 > EC2 > EC5 > EC1 > EC6); (3) individual subgroups, viz. shrubs, herbs, phanerophytes, cryptophytes, therophytes and hemicryptophytes also followed hump-shaped pattern; (4) tree (r = − 0.54) and climber (r = − 0.70) richness curves skewed towards lower elevations while chamaephyte (r = 0.87) towards higher elevation; (5) based on the first two preponderance life-forms within each elevation class, the phytoclimate of the area can be classified as ‘phanero-cryptophytic’ (EC1–EC3), ‘crypto-hemicryptophytic’ (EC4–EC5) and ‘chamae-hemicryptophytic’ (EC6); (6) at higher elevations, the onset of flowering and fruiting in majority of the plant species recorded in rainy season (June–September). The present study has filled the knowledge gap on the elevation-species richness relationships in KBR. It will be helpful to understand vegetation dynamics and to frame effective management strategies.