Shrikant Chandola

Vegetational Inventory of Cold Desert Habitat of Nilang Area: of Jadh Ganga Catchment (Uttarkashi) in Garhwal Himalaya Shrikant Chandola

The book documents the plants found in the Jadh Ganga valley that is one of the major tributaries of the Ganges River in its higher reaches in the North Western Himalaya. Its catchment comprising the remote and inhospitable Nilang area close to China border, has been scarcely explored with regard to botanical resources in spite of the rich biological diversity available here. In addition to studying rare plant communities adapted to extremes of high altitude Himalayan cold desret climate, the book also documents the lost ethno-botanical knowledge of the Jadh Tribesmen who once inhabited this desolate area. Observations on the habitat types and vegetation structure along with quantitative analysis of the vegetation, have been recorded for the first time accompanied with detailed systematic enumeration of 441 taxa belonging to 229 genera. As a result of the study plants of high conservation significance of the Jadh Ganga valley have been highlighted, 6 species added to the flora of Uttarakhand and 4 species to the flora of Garhwal Himalaya. As the area also forms part of the famous Gangotri National Park, a detailed matrix of strategies for the conservation of critical habitats.