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Papers by Khem Raj Bhattarai
Open Journal of Social Sciences, 2014
Mountain Research and Development, 2013
Environmental Conservation, 2013
SUMMARYIn developing countries, the landscape surrounding agricultural land is important for main... more SUMMARYIn developing countries, the landscape surrounding agricultural land is important for maintaining biodiversity and providing ecosystem services. Forests provide a full suite of goods and services to subsistence farmers in the Himalayan agro-ecological system. The effects of biomass outtake on woody species richness and composition were analysed in forests under communal and government management. Interviews on forest use and perception of forest condition and ecosystem service delivery were conducted in farmer households bordering the forests. Significantly more woody species were found in the community managed forests. Species richness was negatively correlated with walking distance from the nearest village and increasing levels of anthropogenic disturbance. Community forests were generally less degraded than government managed forests, giving support to common pool resource management. Woody vegetation represented a crucial source of fuelwood, timber, fodder, and edible, ar...
Banko Janakari, 2013
Use of plants as medicine has been practiced all over the world since the dawn of human civilisat... more Use of plants as medicine has been practiced all over the world since the dawn of human civilisation. In the Himalayas, many medicinal plants yield essential ecosystem services/ benefi ts for the subsistence farmers, many of which grow in the forest ecosystem. However, documentation of traditional medicine and medicinal plants used by local communities is rather poor in Nepal. Panchase forest, Central Nepal, is home of many wild plants, used in traditional medicine, and a livelihood source for many ethnic groups. This study was conducted to document medicinal plant knowledge and plant use in the treatment of different ailments. To explore the ethnobotanical knowledge interviews were conducted with local healers, plant traders and knowledgeable villagers. The study provides information on 45 plant species, belonging to 32 families under 44 genera. The studied medicinal plants were found to be useful for treating 34 different ailments. The study which has 57% resemblance with previous...
Banko Janakari
Balancing the trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service delivery is a c... more Balancing the trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service delivery is a colossal challenge in the areas of the globe with high productivity and high demand, such as in south Asia. In order to meet this challenge, we need enhanced knowledge of the species constituting these semi-natural systems. This paper reports the country-level preliminary conservation assessments for 153 woody plant species from the Middle Hills in central Nepal based on the IUCN criteria. Distribution maps and threat categories are provided for all species. Ten species are categorized as Near Threatened, two as Endangered and one as Vulnerable. Conservation assessments could not be completed for 24 species because of insufficient distribution data.Banko Janakari, Vol. 27, No. 1, Page: 43-54
Frontiers of Biogeography
• Different plant functional lineages should be considered separately when attempting to understa... more • Different plant functional lineages should be considered separately when attempting to understand basic patterns of plant species diversity and distributions along environmental gradients.
Botanica Orientalis: Journal of Plant Science
It is now realized that the variation in species richness is influenced by spatial and temporal ... more It is now realized that the variation in species richness is influenced by spatial and temporal scales. Pattern and scale are a central focus in ecology and biogeography. The species richness relationship depends on the scale of study and their correlated factors. The broad objective of this review is to elucidate how different scales are correlated with different explanatory variables to generate patterns of species richness. Addressing the problem of scale has both fundamental and applied importance in understanding variation in species richness along gradients. The understanding of pattern, its causes, and consequences is central to our understanding of processes such as succession, community development, and the spread and persistence of species. According to the hierarchical theory of species diversity there are mainly three categories of scales: local, landscape and regional. The local species richness or α-diversity is the diversity of individual stands. The β-diversity or s...
Botanica Orientalis: Journal of Plant Science
Global warming and climate change have caused devastating impacts on biological diversity especia... more Global warming and climate change have caused devastating impacts on biological diversity especially in northern latitude and altitude. Evaluation of species richness patterns and range size distribution is crucial for the conservation and management of biological diversity. As Rhododendron species generally grow in the higher latitude and altitude their study on range size distribution may help to predict the future fate of species against presumed global warming in the Himalayas. This study relates the distribution range of Rhododendron species and the potential impacts of global warming and climate change on it. The distribution range varied from 100 to 2600 m along the Himalayan elevation gradient. Generally, species found at the higher elevation have longer range compared to the species found at lower elevation. Among the Rhododendron species found in Nepal Himalayas, R. epapillatum, R. trichocladum and R. virgatum have only 100 m distribution range, which are therefore most vu...
Journal of Mountain Science, 2015
Swertia chirayita is one of the highly potential species of medicinal value. It is used as tonic,... more Swertia chirayita is one of the highly potential species of medicinal value. It is used as tonic, stomachic, antipyretic and anidiarrohetic. Nepal exported 419 tonnes Swertia chirayita to India during 1995-96 (Bhattarai & Acharya 1997), indicating a huge potential of international market. At the same time owing to its over-eploitation from the natural habitat, it has become one of the threatened species of the Nepal Himalaya. There is an utmost need to domesticate this species in order to save from being extinction. Identifying factors responsible for seed germination is an important task and the present work attempts to assess the effect of phytohormones on seed germination of this important species.
The Swertia chirayita is one of the most important medicinal plant of Nepal and it has potentiali... more The Swertia chirayita is one of the most important medicinal plant of Nepal and it has potentiality to be domesticated. Thus ecological study on Swertia chirayita was conducted to elucidate the relationship between it and different climatic and environmental factors. Both species data as well as soil data were collected from natural habitat. The natural population of Swertia chirayita was found growing between 1500 to 3000 m asl. Usually this plant found growing with other plant species and found growing in the acidic soil condition. The result suggests that it is a potential species to domesticate.
A survey on fern and fern-allies in the area of Pokhara Valley was conducted. Altogether 41 speci... more A survey on fern and fern-allies in the area of Pokhara Valley was conducted. Altogether 41 species belonging to 10 families were found. A large number of species belonged to the family Pteridiaceae and this was followed by Polypodiaceae and Aspidiaceae respectively.
Chiaito (Swertia sp) occupies major position in the trade of wild medicinal plants. Thirty four d... more Chiaito (Swertia sp) occupies major position in the trade of wild medicinal plants. Thirty four districts of Nepal have been found to contribute in supply of Chiraito. It is traded in twenty seven major herbs trading center of Nepal from east to west Nepal. Comparatively, it is traded as one of the largest commodities in the trade of herb. Nine different species species of Swertia have been identified from the trade samples of Chiraito. Total 419300 kg of Chiraito has been estimated in the trade during 1995/1996. Among the total trade of Chiraito, more than 50 % is traded from east Nepal.
The study aims to compare response of ferns fern-allies to energy and moisture related factors an... more The study aims to compare response of ferns fern-allies to energy and moisture related factors and generate the hypothesis. The study covers the whole elevation gradient of central Himalayas. We used published data on species distribution and elevation range. We have interpolated the elevation range between upper and lower elevation limit. The number of species of both plant groups were regressed against the climatic factors. Both groups show the similar response to moisture variables but these were found quite distinct against the energy requirement. The ferns-allies were found at higher energy condition compared to ferns. The study could generate the hypothesis that two groups show the distinct response along the energy gradient.
Banko Janakari
We studied variation of species herbaceous species richness across the different land types gradi... more We studied variation of species herbaceous species richness across the different land types gradient in Eastern Nepal from 100-1500 m als. The data were collected from different 90 plots (plot size 50 m x 20 m), locate equally in three land types along the elevation gradient. We recorded the species and grpuped them all as herbs, shrubs and trees. The herbaceous species further divided as forbs and graminoids. We used the analysis variance to check whether three land types are significantly different on mean herbaceous species richness. To check the effect of canopy cover on herbaceous richness we ordinate the trees and herbs species data by CCA, whereas land types is used as environmental variable. After partial out the effect of elevation we took site score CCA axis first and used as predictor to explain the variation of species richness. The land types was significantly different on mean mean mean herbaceous species richness. The site score linearly significant for forbs, grass a...
Domestication has been receiving much more attention due to ever increasing demand of plants and ... more Domestication has been receiving much more attention due to ever increasing demand of plants and their product. The ability to survive wild plants in man made habitat depends upon the genetic modification during the process of domestication. Here, we have presented briefly how and what traits are needed to improve during the domestication. Works carried out on the domestication of medicinal and aromatic plants in Nepal since 1990 to date was reviewed, data were collected from annual reports, published literature and interaction with various persons with different background who have been involved with the management and domestication of medicinal and aromatics plants. It is found that, Nepal introduced medicinal plants are successfully domesticated. Among the high altitude medicinal and aromatic plants, is showing prospective signs of domestication.
Open Journal of Social Sciences, 2014
Mountain Research and Development, 2013
Environmental Conservation, 2013
SUMMARYIn developing countries, the landscape surrounding agricultural land is important for main... more SUMMARYIn developing countries, the landscape surrounding agricultural land is important for maintaining biodiversity and providing ecosystem services. Forests provide a full suite of goods and services to subsistence farmers in the Himalayan agro-ecological system. The effects of biomass outtake on woody species richness and composition were analysed in forests under communal and government management. Interviews on forest use and perception of forest condition and ecosystem service delivery were conducted in farmer households bordering the forests. Significantly more woody species were found in the community managed forests. Species richness was negatively correlated with walking distance from the nearest village and increasing levels of anthropogenic disturbance. Community forests were generally less degraded than government managed forests, giving support to common pool resource management. Woody vegetation represented a crucial source of fuelwood, timber, fodder, and edible, ar...
Banko Janakari, 2013
Use of plants as medicine has been practiced all over the world since the dawn of human civilisat... more Use of plants as medicine has been practiced all over the world since the dawn of human civilisation. In the Himalayas, many medicinal plants yield essential ecosystem services/ benefi ts for the subsistence farmers, many of which grow in the forest ecosystem. However, documentation of traditional medicine and medicinal plants used by local communities is rather poor in Nepal. Panchase forest, Central Nepal, is home of many wild plants, used in traditional medicine, and a livelihood source for many ethnic groups. This study was conducted to document medicinal plant knowledge and plant use in the treatment of different ailments. To explore the ethnobotanical knowledge interviews were conducted with local healers, plant traders and knowledgeable villagers. The study provides information on 45 plant species, belonging to 32 families under 44 genera. The studied medicinal plants were found to be useful for treating 34 different ailments. The study which has 57% resemblance with previous...
Banko Janakari
Balancing the trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service delivery is a c... more Balancing the trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service delivery is a colossal challenge in the areas of the globe with high productivity and high demand, such as in south Asia. In order to meet this challenge, we need enhanced knowledge of the species constituting these semi-natural systems. This paper reports the country-level preliminary conservation assessments for 153 woody plant species from the Middle Hills in central Nepal based on the IUCN criteria. Distribution maps and threat categories are provided for all species. Ten species are categorized as Near Threatened, two as Endangered and one as Vulnerable. Conservation assessments could not be completed for 24 species because of insufficient distribution data.Banko Janakari, Vol. 27, No. 1, Page: 43-54
Frontiers of Biogeography
• Different plant functional lineages should be considered separately when attempting to understa... more • Different plant functional lineages should be considered separately when attempting to understand basic patterns of plant species diversity and distributions along environmental gradients.
Botanica Orientalis: Journal of Plant Science
It is now realized that the variation in species richness is influenced by spatial and temporal ... more It is now realized that the variation in species richness is influenced by spatial and temporal scales. Pattern and scale are a central focus in ecology and biogeography. The species richness relationship depends on the scale of study and their correlated factors. The broad objective of this review is to elucidate how different scales are correlated with different explanatory variables to generate patterns of species richness. Addressing the problem of scale has both fundamental and applied importance in understanding variation in species richness along gradients. The understanding of pattern, its causes, and consequences is central to our understanding of processes such as succession, community development, and the spread and persistence of species. According to the hierarchical theory of species diversity there are mainly three categories of scales: local, landscape and regional. The local species richness or α-diversity is the diversity of individual stands. The β-diversity or s...
Botanica Orientalis: Journal of Plant Science
Global warming and climate change have caused devastating impacts on biological diversity especia... more Global warming and climate change have caused devastating impacts on biological diversity especially in northern latitude and altitude. Evaluation of species richness patterns and range size distribution is crucial for the conservation and management of biological diversity. As Rhododendron species generally grow in the higher latitude and altitude their study on range size distribution may help to predict the future fate of species against presumed global warming in the Himalayas. This study relates the distribution range of Rhododendron species and the potential impacts of global warming and climate change on it. The distribution range varied from 100 to 2600 m along the Himalayan elevation gradient. Generally, species found at the higher elevation have longer range compared to the species found at lower elevation. Among the Rhododendron species found in Nepal Himalayas, R. epapillatum, R. trichocladum and R. virgatum have only 100 m distribution range, which are therefore most vu...
Journal of Mountain Science, 2015
Swertia chirayita is one of the highly potential species of medicinal value. It is used as tonic,... more Swertia chirayita is one of the highly potential species of medicinal value. It is used as tonic, stomachic, antipyretic and anidiarrohetic. Nepal exported 419 tonnes Swertia chirayita to India during 1995-96 (Bhattarai & Acharya 1997), indicating a huge potential of international market. At the same time owing to its over-eploitation from the natural habitat, it has become one of the threatened species of the Nepal Himalaya. There is an utmost need to domesticate this species in order to save from being extinction. Identifying factors responsible for seed germination is an important task and the present work attempts to assess the effect of phytohormones on seed germination of this important species.
The Swertia chirayita is one of the most important medicinal plant of Nepal and it has potentiali... more The Swertia chirayita is one of the most important medicinal plant of Nepal and it has potentiality to be domesticated. Thus ecological study on Swertia chirayita was conducted to elucidate the relationship between it and different climatic and environmental factors. Both species data as well as soil data were collected from natural habitat. The natural population of Swertia chirayita was found growing between 1500 to 3000 m asl. Usually this plant found growing with other plant species and found growing in the acidic soil condition. The result suggests that it is a potential species to domesticate.
A survey on fern and fern-allies in the area of Pokhara Valley was conducted. Altogether 41 speci... more A survey on fern and fern-allies in the area of Pokhara Valley was conducted. Altogether 41 species belonging to 10 families were found. A large number of species belonged to the family Pteridiaceae and this was followed by Polypodiaceae and Aspidiaceae respectively.
Chiaito (Swertia sp) occupies major position in the trade of wild medicinal plants. Thirty four d... more Chiaito (Swertia sp) occupies major position in the trade of wild medicinal plants. Thirty four districts of Nepal have been found to contribute in supply of Chiraito. It is traded in twenty seven major herbs trading center of Nepal from east to west Nepal. Comparatively, it is traded as one of the largest commodities in the trade of herb. Nine different species species of Swertia have been identified from the trade samples of Chiraito. Total 419300 kg of Chiraito has been estimated in the trade during 1995/1996. Among the total trade of Chiraito, more than 50 % is traded from east Nepal.
The study aims to compare response of ferns fern-allies to energy and moisture related factors an... more The study aims to compare response of ferns fern-allies to energy and moisture related factors and generate the hypothesis. The study covers the whole elevation gradient of central Himalayas. We used published data on species distribution and elevation range. We have interpolated the elevation range between upper and lower elevation limit. The number of species of both plant groups were regressed against the climatic factors. Both groups show the similar response to moisture variables but these were found quite distinct against the energy requirement. The ferns-allies were found at higher energy condition compared to ferns. The study could generate the hypothesis that two groups show the distinct response along the energy gradient.
Banko Janakari
We studied variation of species herbaceous species richness across the different land types gradi... more We studied variation of species herbaceous species richness across the different land types gradient in Eastern Nepal from 100-1500 m als. The data were collected from different 90 plots (plot size 50 m x 20 m), locate equally in three land types along the elevation gradient. We recorded the species and grpuped them all as herbs, shrubs and trees. The herbaceous species further divided as forbs and graminoids. We used the analysis variance to check whether three land types are significantly different on mean herbaceous species richness. To check the effect of canopy cover on herbaceous richness we ordinate the trees and herbs species data by CCA, whereas land types is used as environmental variable. After partial out the effect of elevation we took site score CCA axis first and used as predictor to explain the variation of species richness. The land types was significantly different on mean mean mean herbaceous species richness. The site score linearly significant for forbs, grass a...
Domestication has been receiving much more attention due to ever increasing demand of plants and ... more Domestication has been receiving much more attention due to ever increasing demand of plants and their product. The ability to survive wild plants in man made habitat depends upon the genetic modification during the process of domestication. Here, we have presented briefly how and what traits are needed to improve during the domestication. Works carried out on the domestication of medicinal and aromatic plants in Nepal since 1990 to date was reviewed, data were collected from annual reports, published literature and interaction with various persons with different background who have been involved with the management and domestication of medicinal and aromatics plants. It is found that, Nepal introduced medicinal plants are successfully domesticated. Among the high altitude medicinal and aromatic plants, is showing prospective signs of domestication.