{"title":"Forest Vegetation and Dynamics Studies in India","authors":"Madan Prasad Singh, Manohara Tattekere Nanjappa, S. Raman, Suresh Hebbalalu Satyanatayana, Ayyappan Narayanan, Ganesan Renagaian, Sreejith Kalpuzha Ashtamoorthy","doi":"10.5772/intechopen.97724","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97724","url":null,"abstract":"Forests across the globe have been exploited for resouces, and over the years the demand has increased, and forests are rather exploited instead of sustainable use. Focussed research on vegetation and forerst dynamics is necessary to preserve biodiversity and functioning of forests for sustanence of human life on Earth.This article emphasis that the India has a long history of traditional knowledge on forest and plants, and explorations from 17th century on forests and provided subsequent scientific approach on classification of forests. This also explains the developments of quantitative approach on the understanding of vegetation and forest diversity. Four case studies viz., Mudumalai, Sholayar, Uppangala, Kakachi permanent plots in the forests of Western Ghats has been explained in detail about their sampling methods with a note on the results of forest monitoring. In the case of deciduous forests, the population of plant species showed considerable fluctuations but basal area has been steadily increasing over time, and this is reflecting carbon sequestration. In Sholayar, a total of 25390 individuals of 106 woody species was recorded for < 1 cm diameter at breast height in the first census of the 10 ha plot in the tropical evergreen forest. In Uppangala, 1) a 27- year long investigation revealed that residual impact of logging in the evergreen forests and such forests would take more time to resemble unlogged forests in terms of composition and structure; 2) across a similar temporal scale, the unlogged plots trees < 30 cm gbh showed a more or less similar trend in mortality (an average of 0.8% year-1) and recruitment (1%). The Kakachi plot study revealed that 1) endemic species showed least change in stem density and basal area whereas widely distributed species showed greater change in both; 2) The overall recruitment of trees was 0.86 % per year and mortality 0.56% per year resulting in an annual turnover of 0.71% ; 3) majority of the gap species had high levels of recruitment and mortality resulting in a high turnover.Such studies can be used as early warning system to understand how the response of individual plants, species and forests with the climatic variability. In conclusion, the necessity of implementation of national level projects, the way forward of two such studies: 1) impact of climate change on Indian forests through Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) colloborations and 2) Indian long term ecological observatorion, including the sampling protocols of such studies. This will be the first of its kind in India to address climate change issues at national and international level and helps to trace footprints of climate change impacts through vegetation and also reveals to what extent our forests are resilient to changes in the climate.","PeriodicalId":169756,"journal":{"name":"Vegetation Index and Dynamics [Working Title]","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122900545","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Clara Inés Saldamando-Benjumea, Gloria Patricia Cañas-Gutiérrez, J. Muñoz, Rafael E Arango Isaza
{"title":"Landscape Genetics and Phytogeography of Criollo Avocadoes Persea americana from Northeast Colombia","authors":"Clara Inés Saldamando-Benjumea, Gloria Patricia Cañas-Gutiérrez, J. Muñoz, Rafael E Arango Isaza","doi":"10.5772/intechopen.101194","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101194","url":null,"abstract":"Avocado (Persea americana) Mill represents one of the most consumed fruits around the world. This species has been differentiated into three main races Guatemalan, Mexican and West Indian according to several molecular markers. However, the interaction between genotypic and phenotypic traits of this crop is still unknown. For this reason, a landscape genetics analysis was made in 90 criollo trees from Northeast Colombia (Antioquia) with 14 microsatellites, sequencing of 3 nuclear loci, endo-1-4-D-glucanase (Cell), Chalcone synthase (CHS) and serine-threonine-kinase (STK) and 28 morphological traits. High genetic diversity was found suggesting a hybrid origin of criollo trees. Morphological variation showed intermixed racial features. FST = 0.03, p =0.001 (measured with microsatellites) suggested low genetic differentiation. According to STRUCTURE, K = 2 for both microsatellites and concatenated nuclear sequences. Criollo trees were assigned together with the Guatemalan and Mexican races. Pearson correlation was significant between expected heterozygocities and elevation. Mantel test was low (r2 = 0.0097, p = 0.015) but significant demonstrating isolation by distance. Grafting is suitable between criollo trees and Hass variety is possible since both avocados are produced within the same altitudes.","PeriodicalId":169756,"journal":{"name":"Vegetation Index and Dynamics [Working Title]","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132172715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Evaluating Insects as Bioindicators of the Wetland Environment Quality (Arid Region of Algeria)","authors":"Brahimi Djamel, Rahmouni Abdelkader, Brahimi Abdelghani, Mesli Lotfi","doi":"10.5772/INTECHOPEN.97700","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/INTECHOPEN.97700","url":null,"abstract":"The wetland of Naâma situated in the arid region of Alegria offers an important fauna and flora diversity due to its geographical location it constitutes the main resting place in North Africa for migratory birds. Insects are used as bioindicators, due to their sensitivity to environmental conditions which, because of their ecological peculiarities, gives information on the characteristics of terrestrial and aquatic environments. The aim of this study is to know and specify the entomofauna bio-indicator of the quality of the aquatic environment of the wetland Naâma (SW Algeria). The study carried out in the wetland from September 2017 to September 2020. Benthic insects were sampled according to the IBGN protocol (Standard Global Biological Index). Study and statistical analysis of insects communities was based by the use of the structural and statistical index, Correspondence factor analysis (CFA), and The ascending hierarchical classification (C.H.A). The results show that the collected insect 51 species, belong to 9 orders, The Coleoptera order is the most represented with 11 species, followed by the Odonata with six species, Lepidoptera ranks third with five species followed by Diptera with 03 species. The various indicators used, namely the specific richness (51 species), the Shannon index (1.01 bits), and fairness (0.56) show that this environment is characterized by significant fauna biodiversity. The study of the hydro-biological quality of the water courses of this site, assessed by the IBGN method showed a good hydro-biological quality with moderate pollution (IBGN = 14). This pollution is precisely marked by the requirement of Ephemeroptera and the disappearance of Plecoptera. These results lay the foundation for any biomonitoring action of the ecological quality of the waters of this wetland.","PeriodicalId":169756,"journal":{"name":"Vegetation Index and Dynamics [Working Title]","volume":"35 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114396698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Detailed Investigation of Spectral Vegetation Indices for Fine Field-Scale Phenotyping","authors":"Maria Polivova, A. Brook","doi":"10.5772/INTECHOPEN.96882","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/INTECHOPEN.96882","url":null,"abstract":"Spectral vegetation indices (VIs) are a well-known and widely used method for crop state estimation. These technologies have great importance for plant state monitoring, especially for agriculture. The main aim is to assess the performance level of the selected VIs calculated from space-borne multispectral imagery and point-based field spectroscopy in application to crop state estimation. The results obtained indicate that space-borne VIs react on phenology. This feature makes it an appropriate data source for monitoring crop development, crop water needs and yield prediction. Field spectrometer VIs were sensitive for estimating pigment concentration and photosynthesis rate. Yet, a hypersensitivity of field spectral measures might lead to a very high variability of the calculated values. The results obtained in the second part of the presented study were reported on crop state estimated by 17 VIs known as sensitive to plant drought. An alternative approach for identification early stress by VIs proposed in this study is Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The results show that PCA has identified the degree of similarity of the different states and together with reference stress states from the control plot clearly estimated stress in the actual irrigated field, which was hard to detect by VIs values only.","PeriodicalId":169756,"journal":{"name":"Vegetation Index and Dynamics [Working Title]","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122544967","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A. Česnulevičius, Arturas Bautrenas, Linas Bevainis, Donatas Ovodas
{"title":"Classical and Modern Remote Mapping Methods for Vegetation Cover","authors":"A. Česnulevičius, Arturas Bautrenas, Linas Bevainis, Donatas Ovodas","doi":"10.5772/INTECHOPEN.97427","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/INTECHOPEN.97427","url":null,"abstract":"Plant classification is quite complex and multilevel. All living organisms are divided into domains, kingdoms, types, classes, ranks, families, tribes, and species. This classification complexity is also reflected in the classification of biogeographic maps, which is much simpler. Based on floristic dependence, vegetation is grouped by connecting it into spatial (territorial) complexes. This paper presents the interfaces of mapping methods with taxonomic vegetation types at different hierarchical levels. At the same time, examples of vegetation mapping techniques from national and thematic atlases of different countries are presented in this article. UAV aerial photographs are widely used for local mapping of vegetation areas. The authors of this article propose a new methodology that can be used to assess the ecological condition of young trees and the volume of mature forest wood. The methodology is based on the separation of tree crown areas in UAV aerial photographs and photo color analysis. For automated area calculation of young trees, a PixRGB software has been developed to determine the area of pixels of the same color in aerial photographs. The software is based on the comparison of young tree crown area calculations in AutoCAD software and area measurements of individual color spectrum pixels. In the initial stage, aerial photographs are transformed to the exact size of the photographed area. Transformations were performed with an error of less than 2–3 cm. The transformation of the spectrum of aerial photographs allowed to concentrate the color of the image of young trees in a relatively narrow color range. Studies performed in 2019–2020 to assess the ecological condition of trees and the amount of wood using UAV INSPIRE 1 and PixRGB color analysis software showed the effectiveness of the applied methodology.","PeriodicalId":169756,"journal":{"name":"Vegetation Index and Dynamics [Working Title]","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122697934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
E. Runova, V. Savchenkova, Ekaterina Demina-Moskovskaya, A. Baranenkova
{"title":"Assessment of the State of Forest Plant Communities of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in the Conditions of Urban Ecosystems","authors":"E. Runova, V. Savchenkova, Ekaterina Demina-Moskovskaya, A. Baranenkova","doi":"10.5772/INTECHOPEN.96625","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5772/INTECHOPEN.96625","url":null,"abstract":"Siberian cities are characterized by one feature: many of them have preserved natural woodlands during construction, which on the one hand give a completely unusual, unique appearance to cities, on the other hand, trees suffer from recreational load, high levels of pollution and other anthropogenic factors. To assess the condition of pine stands, 3 test areas (0.5 ha, 0.1 ha and 1.9 ha) were laid. All considered plantings of natural origin are areas of woodland that were preserved during the construction of the city and are subject to recreational and industrial pollution. The test sites belong to areas with a high anthropogenic load, as they are located along highways and in close proximity to residential and public buildings and are part of parks with a high recreational load. The average age of trees is 70–80 years. The sanitary condition of the massif and its landscape characteristics are also determined. The critical condition of the massif is established, requiring sanitary logging and other forestry measures that could reduce recreational and anthropogenic loads.","PeriodicalId":169756,"journal":{"name":"Vegetation Index and Dynamics [Working Title]","volume":"35 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126956649","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}