Moist Alpine Scrub In The Environment

 

From 3,000 meters above sea level to the snowline, there is a form of alpine woodland known as the Moist Alpine Scrub. Both the main Himalayan regions and the trans-Himalayan cold deserts include them. Additionally, similar woods have been located in West Bengal, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh. This environment is marked by rhododendron, birch, berberis, and honeysuckle. The wet alpine woods' abiotic elements (climate, temperature, soil, and precipitation) include subfreezing temperatures and snow-covered terrain. 

 

•    From subarctic to arctic regions, the climate varies.

 

•    There is a lot of snowfall in the Moist Alpine Scrub.

 

•    Usually, more than five months of the year have snow on the ground.

 

•    The typical summertime temperature is from 20 to 22 degrees Celsius.

 

•    Typically, wintertime temperatures are well below zero.

 

•    Birch forests and fir forests meet at heights above 3000 meters.

 

•    There are a lot of lower alpine grasslands with flora that doesn't climb higher than 1.5 meters.

 

•    In between the plants and meadows, trees are sparse and stunted.

 

•    The plants' growing season is limited because the ground is usually covered in snow.

 

•    The humus layer that covers the soil is thick and keeps it moist.

 

•    Cattle who are on their way south graze the meadows in the summer.

 

•    The environment is dominated by drooping junipers and black junipers.

 

•    Near the treeline and at lower elevations, rhododendrons also flourish.

 

•    Rhododendron flora in the ecoregion is varied, with species composition changing as one moves eastward with the range.

 

•    A wide variety of herbaceous plants, including Alchemilla, Androsace, Anemone, Diapensia, Draba, Gentiana, Impatiens, Leontopodium, Meconopsis, Pedicularis, Potentilla, Primula, Rhododendron, Saussurea, Saxifraga, Sedum, and Viola, are supported by the meadows, which rise above the shrublands.

 

•    Throughout the spring and summer, vibrantly coloured flowers cover the alpine damp scrub meadows.

 

•    On the highest slopes, low grasses and cushion plants flourish amidst the gravel and stones. 

 

•    Larger mammals that can be found in these forests include snow leopards (Uncia uncia), Himalayan blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur), takin (Budorcas taxicolor), Himalayan musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster), Himalayan goral (Naemorhedus baileyi), and Himalayan serow (Nemorhaedus bailey).

 

•    Weasels, pikas, and Himalayan marmots (Marmota himalayana) are a few of the smaller creatures. 

 

•    Because of its isolation and difficulty of access, a large portion of the habitat in the ecoregion is still unaltered.

 

•    However, the natural ecology is being harmed by increasing grazing pressure from domestic animal herds, including those of horses, sheep, goats, and yaks.

 

•    The overuse of rare medicinal plants, particularly in a fragile habitat that is already under grazing pressure, is a threat to conservation.

 

Even if there aren't any significant anthropogenic disturbances to the moist alpine scrub woods, they nonetheless need to be preserved in order to preserve the ecosystem's pure state. Therefore, increasing the effectiveness of managing and preserving these reserves, which are currently neglected due to their remoteness, monitoring and conserving key species, especially snow leopards and their prey species, which are increasingly being persecuted as human-wildlife conflict intensifies and estimating the predicted impact of climate change on the ecoregion and establishing conservation and adaptation measures are among the conservation actions of these forests