The absence of alternative stable states in vegetation cover of northeastern India
Globally, forests and savannah are shown to be alternative stable states for intermediate rainfall regimes. This has implications for how these ecosystems respond to changing rainfall conditions. However, we know little about the occurrence of alternative stable states in forest ecosystems in India....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Royal Society
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Royal Society Open Science |
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| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211778 |
| _version_ | 1797837613204242432 |
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| author | Bidyut Sarania Vishwesha Guttal Krishnapriya Tamma |
| author_facet | Bidyut Sarania Vishwesha Guttal Krishnapriya Tamma |
| author_sort | Bidyut Sarania |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Globally, forests and savannah are shown to be alternative stable states for intermediate rainfall regimes. This has implications for how these ecosystems respond to changing rainfall conditions. However, we know little about the occurrence of alternative stable states in forest ecosystems in India. In this study, we investigate the possibility of alternative stable states in the vegetation cover of northeastern India, which is a part of the Eastern Himalaya and the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspots. To do so, we construct the so-called state diagram, by plotting frequency distributions of vegetation cover as a function of mean annual precipitation (MAP). We use remotely sensed satellite data of the enhanced vegetation index (EVI) as a proxy for vegetation cover (at 1 km resolution). We find that EVI exhibits unimodal distribution across a wide range of MAP. Specifically, EVI increases monotonically in the range 1000–2000 mm of MAP, after which it plateaus. This range of MAP corresponds to the vegetation transitional zone (1200–3700 m), whereas MAP greater than 2000 mm covers the larger extent of the tropical forest (less than or equal to 1200 m) of northeast India. In other words, we find no evidence for alternative stable states in vegetation cover or forest states at coarser scales in northeast India. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T15:27:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-06952667c4c14948bf8b2706f16a80b1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2054-5703 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T15:27:33Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Royal Society Open Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-06952667c4c14948bf8b2706f16a80b12023-04-28T10:52:23ZengThe Royal SocietyRoyal Society Open Science2054-57032022-06-019610.1098/rsos.211778The absence of alternative stable states in vegetation cover of northeastern IndiaBidyut Sarania0Vishwesha Guttal1Krishnapriya Tamma2Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560012, IndiaCentre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560012, IndiaSchool of Arts and Sciences, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru 562125, IndiaGlobally, forests and savannah are shown to be alternative stable states for intermediate rainfall regimes. This has implications for how these ecosystems respond to changing rainfall conditions. However, we know little about the occurrence of alternative stable states in forest ecosystems in India. In this study, we investigate the possibility of alternative stable states in the vegetation cover of northeastern India, which is a part of the Eastern Himalaya and the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspots. To do so, we construct the so-called state diagram, by plotting frequency distributions of vegetation cover as a function of mean annual precipitation (MAP). We use remotely sensed satellite data of the enhanced vegetation index (EVI) as a proxy for vegetation cover (at 1 km resolution). We find that EVI exhibits unimodal distribution across a wide range of MAP. Specifically, EVI increases monotonically in the range 1000–2000 mm of MAP, after which it plateaus. This range of MAP corresponds to the vegetation transitional zone (1200–3700 m), whereas MAP greater than 2000 mm covers the larger extent of the tropical forest (less than or equal to 1200 m) of northeast India. In other words, we find no evidence for alternative stable states in vegetation cover or forest states at coarser scales in northeast India.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211778spatial ecologyremotely sensed datastate diagramnortheast India |
| spellingShingle | Bidyut Sarania Vishwesha Guttal Krishnapriya Tamma The absence of alternative stable states in vegetation cover of northeastern India Royal Society Open Science spatial ecology remotely sensed data state diagram northeast India |
| title | The absence of alternative stable states in vegetation cover of northeastern India |
| title_full | The absence of alternative stable states in vegetation cover of northeastern India |
| title_fullStr | The absence of alternative stable states in vegetation cover of northeastern India |
| title_full_unstemmed | The absence of alternative stable states in vegetation cover of northeastern India |
| title_short | The absence of alternative stable states in vegetation cover of northeastern India |
| title_sort | absence of alternative stable states in vegetation cover of northeastern india |
| topic | spatial ecology remotely sensed data state diagram northeast India |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211778 |
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