Setting up a baseline for long-term ecological monitoring of Kashmir Himalayan grasslands

Grasslands play a crucial role in supporting biodiversity and providing essential ecosystem services for both wildlife and human wellbeing. Despite their ecological and economic importance, the glaring knowledge gaps in scientific understanding of the Himalayan grasslands hamper their effective scientific management and also impede global synthesis under growing environmental change. To address this gap, we established three long-term ecological monitoring grassland sites in the Kashmir Himalaya and developed a standardized monitoring protocol for these ecosystems. The data generated so far from these sites revealed significant variations in vegetation composition, structure, biomass dynamics and nutrient (carbon and nitrogen) levels. Analysis of plant functional groups (PFGs), such as grasses, forbs and legumes, indicates marked differences among and between the sites. Notably, Dachigam National Park, located at a lower elevation, exhibits higher aboveground biomass and carbon storage compared to the higher-elevation sites, indicating a greater capacity to buffer against environmental changes. Aboveground and belowground biomass showed a strong negative relationship, with higher elevation sites showing relatively more belowground biomass compared to the low elevation site. Among functional groups, grasses dominated the low elevation site, while forbs and legumes formed a major component of aboveground biomass in high elevation sites. Continued monitoring of these variables over time will be pivotal to understanding how these grasslands might respond to a changing climate. The implications of this baseline data for developing the targeted conservation and management strategies for the Himalayan grassland ecosystems, and also for better allowing global knowledge synthesis, are discussed.