Publications
In alpine plants, winter dormancy may be seen in the development of specialised overwintering buds, while the rate of growth, respiration, or photosynthetic activity of plants beneath the snow are relatively slow. Carbohydrate reserves that accumulate in the plant (particularly in the crown and roots) in the late summer and autumn are preserved over winter and these provide an important source of...
Hibernation in its broadest sense is a strategy employed by both endothermic and ectothermic animals in cold environments which enables them to reduce energy demands in a sheltered refuge (hibernaculum) over winter. Hibernation in endotherms involves a sequence of torpor periods interspersed with short normothermic periods. Body temperature (Tb) during torpor becomes readjusted to new, lower...
The 1990s have been marked by an increasingly acrimonious debate over modern trends in agriculture: the controversy over the so-called Terminator technology, the scandal of the turmeric and Basmati patents claimed by American companies, the imposition of a global trading and patent regime under the World Trade Organisation, and others. Shorn of its acrimony, this debate is welcome, for it is...
The Afghan Hindukush region has, over the years, played host to renegades Islamic and otherwise. So recent reports of Al Qaeda training camps being re-activated in eastern Afghanistan and unruly warlords refusing to surrender power and arms to Karzai's government may come as no surprise. What is perhaps more surprising is the possibility that Afghanistan's predicament reflects a growing global...
The Indian Himalayas are rich reservoir of plant diversity and medicinal plant diversity is an important component of that. As one amongst the top repositories of medicinal herbs the state of Himachal Pradesh in Himalaya is one of the major sources of raw material to the global market. Unsustainable extraction of medicinal herbs has led to the endangerment of its several high value taxa. Ex-situ...
The article briefly deals with the Himalayan Mountain System and the associated natural hazards due to huge snow and glacier fields at the highest elevation. Due to inherent sensitivity of these apex systems to global climatic change, emphasis is laid to initiate interdisciplinary research in hydrology affecting ecology and environment. Recommendations of a Regional Working Group on Mountain...
The article introduces the importance of fresh and clean water for human survival and maintenance of ecosystem on land. It outlines the concept of integrated water resource management and its essential ingredients for sustainable development. The atmospheric, geospheric and biospheric interactions in Himalayas are briefly dealt with. Himalayan snow and ice reservoirs, its lake systems and river...
The expected increases in ultraviolet-B radiation due to anthropogenic ozone depletion appear likely to have particular impact on the Australian Alps, as it is situated at high elevations, middle to high latitudes, and in the Southern Hemisphere. A number of studies have affirmed that ozone-related changes in UV-B will probably be most pronounced at such locations. While complete clarification of...
Snow is a natural form of atmospheric precipitation. Particular factors for the formation of snow include: atmospheric conditions (temperatures, moisture levels, instability), surface conditions, local effects, geographic location and altitude of the mountains. Snow forms as a result of the coalescence of certain types of ice crystals combined with suitable surface conditions that do not lead to...
During cold intervals of the Pleistocene, snow accumulation was responsible for extensive and repeated glaciation in western and central Tasmania and for a small glaciation on the highest part of the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales. These glaciations had major effects on the landforms. In the succeeding Holocene, snow effects have been confined to modest nivation around long-lasting snow...