Biodiversity and livelihood in land-use gradients in an era of climate change - outline of a Nepal-Swiss research project

Abstract

The Swiss National Science Foundation has recently granted a project where we propose to study how different levels of land-use intensity (from primeval forests to arable fields) and climate do affect biodiversity on the southern slope of the Nepalese Himalayas. We will investigate replicated land-use gradients at various altitudes in three regions with a different regional climate, and in particular, different levels of seasonal precipitation. Our core study region will be the Manaslu Conservation Area characterized by an oceanic climate and this region will be compared to a hyper-oceanic region in Annapurna Conservation Area and a semi-oceanic region of the Sagarmatha (Everest) region. By using a quasi-experimental landscape approach organisms will be investigated in six valleys covering different precipitation regimes, altitudinal gradients over 1600 m representing different temperatures, and four land use types ranging from closed forests to open landscapes. These organisms will include plants, lichens, mushrooms, butterflies and birds. Population data of Red Listed mammals (flagship species) will be collected during the project by local authorities. The functional connectivity of forest fragments along land-use and climate gradients will be assessed for two intensively studied species, the epiphytic lichen Lobaria pindarensis and the tree species Taxus wallichiana.

DOI: 10.3126/botor.v7i0.4368

Botanica Orientalis – Journal of Plant Science (2010) 7: 7-17