Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Annual nutrients budget for the grazed and ungrazed sites of an alpine expanse in North-West Himalaya, India

  • Published:
The Environmentalist Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This work was undertaken to analyze nutrient contents of vegetation in an alpine meadow—Tungnath, North-West Himalaya, India. The study pertains to the uptake, transfer and release of four main macronutrients (organic carbon, total nitrogen, total potassium and total phosphorus) in grazed (exposed to extensive grazing by cattles) and ungrazed (grazing completely prohibited) communities. Mineral concentration was recorded higher for the ungrazed sites compared to the grazed sites, and maximum standing state of nutrients was found in roots. Belowground compartment (roots) contributed maximum share of mineral elements to soil. Litter nutrients release was low because of low microbial activity and continuous removal of phytomass. Observations reveal that there was very little amount of nutrient release from phytomass and vegetation in alpine are very poor source of mineral recycling. Low transfer rate of minerals from one compartment to other is adequate for greater amount of these minerals that are translocated back into the storage organs. A small proportion get removed through rain splash or through the removal of hay during grazing as relatively high release rates in ungrazed sites when compared to grazed sites was observed. This translocation can be considered as an important adaptation in alpine plants for survival during adverse environmental conditions, against all types of biotic pressures and also for regeneration in the forthcoming growing season.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

OC:

Organic carbon

TN:

Total nitrogen

TK:

Total potassium

TP:

Total phosphorus

References

  • Allen SE (1974) Chemical analysis of ecological material. Blackwell, Oxford, 565 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Anthwal A (2006) Carbon pool and flux in the morainic and alpine ecosystem of central Himalaya. Ph.D. Thesis submitted to HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India

  • Chapin FS (1977) Nutrient/carbon costs associated with tundra adaptation to a cold nutrient-poor environment. In: Proceedings of the circumpolar conference on Northern ecology. Natural Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, pp 1183–1194

  • Chapin SF (1978) Phosphate uptake and nutrient utilization by barrow tundra vegetation. In: Tieszen LL (ed) Vegetation and production ecology of an Alaskan arctic tundra. Ecological studies, vol 29. Springer, Berlin, pp 483–507

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapin FS (1980) The mineral nutrition of wild plants. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 11:233–260

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chapin FS, Miller PC, Billings WD, Coyne PI (1980) Carbon and nutrient budgets and their control in coastal tundra. In: Brown J, Miller PC, Tieszen LL, Bunnell FL (eds) An arctic ecosystem. The coastal tundra at Barrow, Alaska. Dowden Hutchinson and Ross, Stroudsburg, pp 458–482

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapin FS, Schulze ED, Mooney HA (1990) The ecology and economics of storage in plants. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 21:423–447

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman SB (1976) Methods in plant ecology. Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Daubenmire RF (1974) Plants environment. A textbook of plant ecology, II edn. Wiley Eastern reprint, New Delhi

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobhal R (1991) Grazing impact on the cycling of nutrients in two sub alpine grassland communities of Garhwal Himalaya varying in topography. III. Potassium. Recent Res Ecol Environ Pollut 6:159–166

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobhal R, Gupta SK (1991) A note on the chemical analysis of certain high altitude grasses of Garhwal Himalaya. In: Rajwar GS (ed) Recent researchers in ecology, environment and pollution, vol 6. Today and Tomorrow’s Printers and Publishers, New Delhi, pp 153–157

    Google Scholar 

  • Dowding P, Chapin FSIII, Wielgolaski FE, Kilfeather P (1981) Nutrients in tundra ecosystems. In: Bliss LC, Heal OW, Moor JJ (eds) Tundra ecosystems: a comparative analysis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 647–683

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehrenfeld JG (2001) Plant soil interactions. In: Levins S (ed) Encyclopedia of biodiversity. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 689–709

    Google Scholar 

  • Grime JP (1998) Benefits of plant diversity to ecosystems: immediate, filter and founder effects. J Ecol 86:902–910

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobbie SE, Gough L (2004) Litter decomposition in moist acidic and non acidic tundra with different glacial histories. Oecologia 140:113–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede RGM (1995) The effects of grazing and burning on soil and plant nutrient concentration in Colombian Paramo grasslands. Plant Soil 173:111–132

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Holzmann HP, Haselwandter K (1988) Contribution of nitrogen fixation to nitrogen nutrition in an alpine sedge community (Caricetum curvulae). Oecologia 76:298–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karlson PS, Nordell KO (1996) Effect of soil temperature on the nitrogen economy and growth of mountain birch seedlings near its presumed low temperature distribution limit. Ecoscience 3:183–189

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly EF, Chadwick OA, Hilinski TE (1998) The effect of plants on mineral weathering. Biogeochemistry 42:21–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korner C (1999) Alpine plant life: functional plant ecology of high mountain ecosystem. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Körner C (2003) Alpine plant life: functional plant ecology of high mountain ecosystems, 2nd edn. Springer, Berlin, p 155

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovett GM, Weathers KC, Arthur MA, Schultz JC (2004) Nitrogen cycling in a northern hardwood forest: do species matter. Biogeochemistry 67:289–308

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mahapatra BS (1999) A practical manual for soil fertility management. Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, pp 26–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Mooney HA, Billings WD (1960) The annual carbohydrate cycle of alpine plants as related to growth. Am J Bot 47:594–598

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nautiyal BP (1996) Studies on structure and function in an alpine meadow of Garhwal, Central Himalaya. Ph.D. Thesis submitted to HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal

  • Nautiyal BP, Pandey N, Bhatt AB (1997a) Biomass, production potential dynamics and turnover rate in an alpine meadow of North-West Himalaya. J Hill Res 10(2):95–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Nautiyal BP, Pandey N, Bhatt AB (1997b) Annual nutrient budget for an alpine grazingland in Panwalikantha, North-west Himalaya. J Indian Bot Soc 72:103–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Nautiyal MC, Nautiyal BP, Prakash Vinay (2004) Effect of grazing and climatic changes on alpine vegetation of Tungnath, Garhwal Himalaya, India. Environmentalist 24:125–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Odum EP (1960) Ecology. Holt, Reinhart and Winston, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Odum EP (1963) Ecology. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York (reprint)

    Google Scholar 

  • Okalebo JR, Gathua KW, Woomer PL (1993) Laboratory methods of soil and plant analysis: a working manual. TSBF Programme, Kenya, pp 22–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Pastor J, Aber JD, McClaugherty CA (1984) Aboveground production and N and P cycling along a nitrogen mineralization gradient on Blackhawk Island, Wisconsin. Ecology 65:256–268

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ram J, Singh SP, Singh JS (1989) Plant biomass, species diversity and net primary productivity in a Central Himalayan high altitude grassland. J Ecol 77:456–468

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rawat N (2009) Assessment of productivity, rate of decomposition and nutrient cycling in an alpine grazingland in North-West Himalaya. Ph.D. Thesis submitted to HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India

  • Schinner F (1982) Soil microbial activities and litter decomposition related to altitude. Plant Soil 65:87–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Semwal JK, Gaur RD (1981) Alpine flora of Tungnath in Garhwal Himalaya. J Bombay Nat Hist Soci 78(3):498–512

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh JS, Yadava PS (1974) Seasonal variation in composition, plant biomass and net primary productivity of a tropical grassland at Kurukshetra. India Ecol Monogr 44:351–375

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh JS, Lauenroth WK, Steinhorst RK (1975) Review and assessment of various techniques of estimating net aerial primary production in grasslands from harvest data. Bot Rev 41:182–232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith RAH (1973) The environmental parameters of IBP experimental sites at Moor house. Aspects of ecology of the Northern Pennines. Moor House Occasional Papers 4:1–63

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sundriyal RC (1986) Study of different ecological parameters of a pasture in the Garhwal Himalaya. Ph.D. Thesis submitted to Garhwal University, Srinagar

  • Sundriyal RC (1992) Structure, productivity and energy flow in an alpine grassland in Garhwal Himalaya. J Veg Sci 3:15–20 (IAVS, Opulus Press, Uppsala)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sundriyal RC (1994) Vegetation dynamics and animal behavior in an alpine pasture of the Garhwal Himalaya. In: Pangtey YPS, Rawal RS (eds) High altitudes of the Himalaya. Gyanodaya Prakashan, Nainital, pp 175–192

    Google Scholar 

  • Sundriyal RC (1995) Grassland forage production and management in the Himalayas: a review. J Hill Res 8(23):135–150

    Google Scholar 

  • Sundriyal RC, Joshi AP (1990) Effect of grazing on standing crop, productivity and efficiency of energy capture in an alpine grassland ecosystem at Tungnath (Garhwal Himalaya). Indian Trop Ecol 31:84–97

    Google Scholar 

  • Sundriyal RC, Joshi AP (1991) Annual nutrient budget for an alpine grassland in the Garhwal Himalaya. J Veg Sci 2:21–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tilman D (1984) Plant dominance along an experimental nutrient gradient. Ecology 65:1445–1453

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Titlyanova AA, Bazilevich NI (1979) Nutrient cycling. Semi natural temperate meadows and pastures. In: Coupland RT (ed) Grassland ecosystems of the world: analysis of grasslands and their uses. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 181–188

    Google Scholar 

  • Wyka T (1999) Carbohydrate storage and use in an alpine population of the perennial herb, Oxytropis sericea. Oecologia 120:198–208 [12]

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Authors are grateful to Professor A.R. Nautiyal, (Director, HAPPRC) for providing laboratory facilities, constructive criticisms and timely encouragement. Thanks are also due to Professor A.B. Bhatt (Department of Botany, HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar, Uttarakhand, India) for his constant support and guidance. We also wish to acknowledge the assistance rendered by Mr. S·S. Rawat and Mr. Karan Singh Rauthan. Financial support from Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India, New Delhi is gratefully acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. High Altitude Plant Physiology Research Centre (HAPPRC), Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna (HNB) Garhwal University, Post Box No. 14, Srinagar, Garhwal, Uttarakhand, 246174, India

    Neelam Rawat & M. C. Nautiyal

  2. Department of Horticulture, Aromatic and Medicinal Plants (HAMP), School of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management (ES & NRM), Mizoram University, Aizawl, 796001, India

    B. P. Nautiyal

Authors
  1. Neelam Rawat
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. B. P. Nautiyal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. M. C. Nautiyal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. C. Nautiyal.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rawat, N., Nautiyal, B.P. & Nautiyal, M.C. Annual nutrients budget for the grazed and ungrazed sites of an alpine expanse in North-West Himalaya, India. Environmentalist 30, 54–66 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-009-9243-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-009-9243-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation