himalayan forum | Tribhuvan University (original) (raw)
Papers by himalayan forum
Ecoprint: An International Journal of Ecology, Jun 3, 2009
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Journal of Japanese Botany, 2005
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Tolypanthus involucratus (Roxb.) Tieg. is a hemiparasitic shrub in the family Loranthaceae. It wa... more Tolypanthus involucratus (Roxb.) Tieg. is a hemiparasitic shrub in the family Loranthaceae. It was originally described in 1824, based on materials from the eastern border of Bengal, as a member of the genus Loranthus (Roxburgh 1824). It was later transferred to an independent genus, Tolypanthus, because of its prominent involucral bracts (Tieghem 1895). As a part of the “Flora of Nepal Projectˮ, the first author visited the Natural History Museum, London (BM) in 2011, and found a specimen of Tolypanthus involucratus among unidentified specimens of Loranthaceae (Fig. 1). The specimen was collected in Ilam District, east Nepal, in 1967, by J. D. A. Stainton. Tolypanthus involucratus is known from Sikkim (Hooker 1886), Bhutan (Grierson and Long 1983), NE India (Roxburgh 1824, 1832, Haridasan and Rao 1987, Brandis 1906, Kanjilal 1997), Bangladesh (Ahmed 2009), and Myanmar (Kurz 1877, Kress et al. 2003), but there are no reports of its presence in Nepal (see Tebbs 1982, Press et al. 200...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Ecoprint: An International Journal of Ecology, 2010
Lorarthaceae mistletoes rarely infect gymnosperm hosts. Scurrula pulverulenta (Wall). G. Don and ... more Lorarthaceae mistletoes rarely infect gymnosperm hosts. Scurrula pulverulenta (Wall). G. Don and Scurrula elata (Edgew). dancer have been recorded for the first time from the gymnosperm hosts Metasequoia glyptostroboides Hu & W.C. Cheng (Taxodiaceae) and Pinus roxburghii Sargent (Pinaceae) respectively from the Kathmendu valley, Nepal. Key words: Gymnosperm; Mistletoe; Nepal; New record; Scurrula doi: 10.3126/eco.v12i0.3204 Ecoprint: An International Journal of Ecology 12: 85-87, 2005
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Our Nature, 2011
A total of 11 mistletoe species, eight belonging to five genera in the family Loranthaceae and th... more A total of 11 mistletoe species, eight belonging to five genera in the family Loranthaceae and three species belonging to two genera in the family Viscaceae were documented from 43 host species belonging to 24 unrelated host families along Tribhuvan highway, central Nepal. Wide host range of Scurrula species (Loranthaceae) showed that they were more generalist and successfully parasitized as many hosts as encountered, while Viscaceae mistletoes showed narrow host range and high degree of host specificity since they infected a limited number of hosts. The irregular and patchy distribution of mistletoe along the highway was governed by three major factors: forest structure, site mesoclimate and availability of suitable host species. Marginal fragmented forests located along the warm sunny slopes of highway were found as most suitable habitat. Warmer southern sunny slopes, between Sinbhanjyang to Bahise Dobhan, favoured wider altitudinal distribution range of mistletoe compared to cold...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Ecoprint: An International Journal of Ecology, 2016
Population structure and regeneration status of tree species were studied in two sacred groves of... more Population structure and regeneration status of tree species were studied in two sacred groves of Kathmandu valley, Pashupati (PSG) and Bajrabarahi (BSG) by sampling in concentric circular plots of 20 m radius. The dominant tree species of PSG are Schima wallichii, Pyrus pashia, Myrsine capitellata, Persea odoratissima and Quercus glauca, where as those in BSG are Neolitsea cuipala, Castanopsis indica,, Choerospondias axillaris, Schima wallichii and, Myrsine capitellata. On the basis of biomass removal, tree cutting, livestock and wildlife grazing and other anthropogenic activities, disturbance levels were classified as undisturbed, least disturbed, moderately disturbed and highly disturbed. The highest number of seedlings, saplings and adults were found in the least disturbed areas of the studied groves showing good to fair regeneration of tree species. In this study Pyrus pashia, Myrsine capitellata, Castanopsis indica, Neolitsea cuipala are found in good and fair state of regener...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Tropical rainforests in far north Queensland cover less than 0.2% of Australia's land surfac... more Tropical rainforests in far north Queensland cover less than 0.2% of Australia's land surface, but they contain two thirds of the country's butterfly species, half of the bird species and a third of the mammal species. Australia's lowland tropical rainforests contain incredible species diversity, much of which resides in the forest canopy. A research canopy crane is being erected in the Daintree lowland tropical rainforest near Cape Tribulation to enable researchers to conduct research on, and facilitate a more detailed understanding of, the flora and fauna of lowland rainforest canopies. Australia's tropical rainforests are threatened due to resource extraction, human encroachment and natural di- sasters. Placing a research crane in this type of forest will provide the opportunity to gather critical information on this threatened ecosystem.This canopy crane will be made acces- sible to researchers around the world who are interested in studying the biodiversity ...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Tilburg University, 2012
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The mistletoes constitute a polyphyletic group of flowering parasitic plants and are commonly kno... more The mistletoes constitute a polyphyletic group of flowering parasitic plants and are commonly known as “Ainjeru ” or “Lisso ” in Nepali. Of the over 1300 mistletoe species occurring worldwide, Nepal is home to 19. Mistletoes are entirely dependent on their hosts for water and nutrients and affect their hosts mainly by competing for limited resources. Mistletoes play a vital role in natural plant communities by interacting with hosts, herbivores and dispersers. A large number of invertebrates and vertebrates use mistletoes as a shelter, as nesting and roosting place and as an important source of food. Oddly, botanists have accorded little attention to Nepal’s mistletoes, and our knowledge of this remarkable group of plants is quite deficient. Mistletoe (order: Santalales) refers to a group of perennial flowering plants attached to branches of other trees and shrubs as aerial parasites (Barlow 1987, Kuijt 1990). The name ‘mistletoe’ derives from the Anglo-Saxon misteltan (or mistiltan...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Systematic Botany, 2021
— The genus Loranthus (Loranthaceae) consists of ca. nine Old World species distributed from east... more — The genus Loranthus (Loranthaceae) consists of ca. nine Old World species distributed from eastern Asia to Europe. Loranthus, the type of the family, has had a complex taxonomic history that continues today, partly because most mistletoes in the family have resided in this genus. For this reason, there are over 1800 Loranthus species names, the vast majority of which are synonyms for mistletoes in other genera. The present work sampled representatives of nine species considered bona fide members of the genus. Using complete plastome sequences, nuclear ribosomal DNA, and mitochondrial 26S rDNA, phylogenetic gene trees were generated to assess interspecific relationships. The Loranthus plastomes ranged in size from 121 to 125 kb and exhibited the quadripartite structure seen in most Santalales. These plastomes have lost or pseudogenized 24 genes, including all of the NADH dehydrogenase complex, thus reducing the genomes to ca. 90 functional genes. Cladistic analyses of morphological characters were conducted and these trees compared to the molecular trees, thus informing which taxonomic characters best define clades and characterize species within the genus. Two major clades in Loranthus were identified. The Europaeus clade includes the deciduous species L. europaeus, L. grewingkii, L. lambertianus, and L. tanakae mostly distributed above 30° N latitude. The Odoratus clade, mostly distributed below 30° N latitude, included L. guizhouensis, L. kaoi, L. odoratus, and L. pseudo-odoratus. The latter four species are genetically closely related, show percurrent (vs. pseudo-dichotomous) branching, and have evergreen leaves. Unisexual flowers have apparently evolved independently in each of the two clades. Future work should focus upon the species delimitation in the Odoratus clade and whether hybridization is occurring among any members.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Journal of Botany, 2019
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Journal of Botany, 2016
Ability of plant to fix atmospheric carbon dioxide and store it in biomass is contributing to glo... more Ability of plant to fix atmospheric carbon dioxide and store it in biomass is contributing to global carbon cycle. Sacred groves, one of the regimes for forest management, play role in regulating climate by acting as sinks for carbon. Aiming to assess sequestrated carbon in tree the study was conducted in two sacred groves of Kathmandu valley, Nepal. Concentric circular plots of 20 m radius were used for data collection. Allometric equation having height, diameter, and specific gravity of tree was used to determine biomass. The calculated biomass of tree was converted to the carbon stock by using carbon fraction. Tree species of both sacred groves sequestered 15.08 metric tons of carbon. The carbon stock was high in Quercus-Myrsine forest and low in Schima-Pyrus forest.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Banko Janakari, 2017
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Botany, 2017
Foliar habit in parasite–host associations of mistletoes and trees is a neglected aspect in the d... more Foliar habit in parasite–host associations of mistletoes and trees is a neglected aspect in the discussion of foliar habit of woody plants. Almost all of the world’s mistletoe species are evergreen, regardless of the foliar habit of their hosts. Deciduous mistletoes are rare and confined to the northern fringes of Loranthaceae in Eurasia, and to Misodendraceae and the monotypic genus Desmaria (Loranthaceae) in southern South America. There are no deciduous mistletoes in the tropics and subtropics. Based on existing information and hypotheses on foliar habit, we asked why the majority of mistletoe species is evergreen, even on deciduous hosts, and why seasonality is apparently no driver for the evolution of deciduousness in parasite–host systems. We postulate that nutrient conservation is the main driver for evergreenness in mistletoes. Based on our own observations of wood anatomy in the host–haustorium–mistletoe continuum we hypothesize that the phenomenon of deciduousness in north...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Ecoprint: An International Journal of Ecology, Jun 3, 2009
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Journal of Japanese Botany, 2005
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Tolypanthus involucratus (Roxb.) Tieg. is a hemiparasitic shrub in the family Loranthaceae. It wa... more Tolypanthus involucratus (Roxb.) Tieg. is a hemiparasitic shrub in the family Loranthaceae. It was originally described in 1824, based on materials from the eastern border of Bengal, as a member of the genus Loranthus (Roxburgh 1824). It was later transferred to an independent genus, Tolypanthus, because of its prominent involucral bracts (Tieghem 1895). As a part of the “Flora of Nepal Projectˮ, the first author visited the Natural History Museum, London (BM) in 2011, and found a specimen of Tolypanthus involucratus among unidentified specimens of Loranthaceae (Fig. 1). The specimen was collected in Ilam District, east Nepal, in 1967, by J. D. A. Stainton. Tolypanthus involucratus is known from Sikkim (Hooker 1886), Bhutan (Grierson and Long 1983), NE India (Roxburgh 1824, 1832, Haridasan and Rao 1987, Brandis 1906, Kanjilal 1997), Bangladesh (Ahmed 2009), and Myanmar (Kurz 1877, Kress et al. 2003), but there are no reports of its presence in Nepal (see Tebbs 1982, Press et al. 200...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Ecoprint: An International Journal of Ecology, 2010
Lorarthaceae mistletoes rarely infect gymnosperm hosts. Scurrula pulverulenta (Wall). G. Don and ... more Lorarthaceae mistletoes rarely infect gymnosperm hosts. Scurrula pulverulenta (Wall). G. Don and Scurrula elata (Edgew). dancer have been recorded for the first time from the gymnosperm hosts Metasequoia glyptostroboides Hu & W.C. Cheng (Taxodiaceae) and Pinus roxburghii Sargent (Pinaceae) respectively from the Kathmendu valley, Nepal. Key words: Gymnosperm; Mistletoe; Nepal; New record; Scurrula doi: 10.3126/eco.v12i0.3204 Ecoprint: An International Journal of Ecology 12: 85-87, 2005
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Our Nature, 2011
A total of 11 mistletoe species, eight belonging to five genera in the family Loranthaceae and th... more A total of 11 mistletoe species, eight belonging to five genera in the family Loranthaceae and three species belonging to two genera in the family Viscaceae were documented from 43 host species belonging to 24 unrelated host families along Tribhuvan highway, central Nepal. Wide host range of Scurrula species (Loranthaceae) showed that they were more generalist and successfully parasitized as many hosts as encountered, while Viscaceae mistletoes showed narrow host range and high degree of host specificity since they infected a limited number of hosts. The irregular and patchy distribution of mistletoe along the highway was governed by three major factors: forest structure, site mesoclimate and availability of suitable host species. Marginal fragmented forests located along the warm sunny slopes of highway were found as most suitable habitat. Warmer southern sunny slopes, between Sinbhanjyang to Bahise Dobhan, favoured wider altitudinal distribution range of mistletoe compared to cold...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Ecoprint: An International Journal of Ecology, 2016
Population structure and regeneration status of tree species were studied in two sacred groves of... more Population structure and regeneration status of tree species were studied in two sacred groves of Kathmandu valley, Pashupati (PSG) and Bajrabarahi (BSG) by sampling in concentric circular plots of 20 m radius. The dominant tree species of PSG are Schima wallichii, Pyrus pashia, Myrsine capitellata, Persea odoratissima and Quercus glauca, where as those in BSG are Neolitsea cuipala, Castanopsis indica,, Choerospondias axillaris, Schima wallichii and, Myrsine capitellata. On the basis of biomass removal, tree cutting, livestock and wildlife grazing and other anthropogenic activities, disturbance levels were classified as undisturbed, least disturbed, moderately disturbed and highly disturbed. The highest number of seedlings, saplings and adults were found in the least disturbed areas of the studied groves showing good to fair regeneration of tree species. In this study Pyrus pashia, Myrsine capitellata, Castanopsis indica, Neolitsea cuipala are found in good and fair state of regener...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Tropical rainforests in far north Queensland cover less than 0.2% of Australia's land surfac... more Tropical rainforests in far north Queensland cover less than 0.2% of Australia's land surface, but they contain two thirds of the country's butterfly species, half of the bird species and a third of the mammal species. Australia's lowland tropical rainforests contain incredible species diversity, much of which resides in the forest canopy. A research canopy crane is being erected in the Daintree lowland tropical rainforest near Cape Tribulation to enable researchers to conduct research on, and facilitate a more detailed understanding of, the flora and fauna of lowland rainforest canopies. Australia's tropical rainforests are threatened due to resource extraction, human encroachment and natural di- sasters. Placing a research crane in this type of forest will provide the opportunity to gather critical information on this threatened ecosystem.This canopy crane will be made acces- sible to researchers around the world who are interested in studying the biodiversity ...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Tilburg University, 2012
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The mistletoes constitute a polyphyletic group of flowering parasitic plants and are commonly kno... more The mistletoes constitute a polyphyletic group of flowering parasitic plants and are commonly known as “Ainjeru ” or “Lisso ” in Nepali. Of the over 1300 mistletoe species occurring worldwide, Nepal is home to 19. Mistletoes are entirely dependent on their hosts for water and nutrients and affect their hosts mainly by competing for limited resources. Mistletoes play a vital role in natural plant communities by interacting with hosts, herbivores and dispersers. A large number of invertebrates and vertebrates use mistletoes as a shelter, as nesting and roosting place and as an important source of food. Oddly, botanists have accorded little attention to Nepal’s mistletoes, and our knowledge of this remarkable group of plants is quite deficient. Mistletoe (order: Santalales) refers to a group of perennial flowering plants attached to branches of other trees and shrubs as aerial parasites (Barlow 1987, Kuijt 1990). The name ‘mistletoe’ derives from the Anglo-Saxon misteltan (or mistiltan...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Systematic Botany, 2021
— The genus Loranthus (Loranthaceae) consists of ca. nine Old World species distributed from east... more — The genus Loranthus (Loranthaceae) consists of ca. nine Old World species distributed from eastern Asia to Europe. Loranthus, the type of the family, has had a complex taxonomic history that continues today, partly because most mistletoes in the family have resided in this genus. For this reason, there are over 1800 Loranthus species names, the vast majority of which are synonyms for mistletoes in other genera. The present work sampled representatives of nine species considered bona fide members of the genus. Using complete plastome sequences, nuclear ribosomal DNA, and mitochondrial 26S rDNA, phylogenetic gene trees were generated to assess interspecific relationships. The Loranthus plastomes ranged in size from 121 to 125 kb and exhibited the quadripartite structure seen in most Santalales. These plastomes have lost or pseudogenized 24 genes, including all of the NADH dehydrogenase complex, thus reducing the genomes to ca. 90 functional genes. Cladistic analyses of morphological characters were conducted and these trees compared to the molecular trees, thus informing which taxonomic characters best define clades and characterize species within the genus. Two major clades in Loranthus were identified. The Europaeus clade includes the deciduous species L. europaeus, L. grewingkii, L. lambertianus, and L. tanakae mostly distributed above 30° N latitude. The Odoratus clade, mostly distributed below 30° N latitude, included L. guizhouensis, L. kaoi, L. odoratus, and L. pseudo-odoratus. The latter four species are genetically closely related, show percurrent (vs. pseudo-dichotomous) branching, and have evergreen leaves. Unisexual flowers have apparently evolved independently in each of the two clades. Future work should focus upon the species delimitation in the Odoratus clade and whether hybridization is occurring among any members.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Journal of Botany, 2019
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Journal of Botany, 2016
Ability of plant to fix atmospheric carbon dioxide and store it in biomass is contributing to glo... more Ability of plant to fix atmospheric carbon dioxide and store it in biomass is contributing to global carbon cycle. Sacred groves, one of the regimes for forest management, play role in regulating climate by acting as sinks for carbon. Aiming to assess sequestrated carbon in tree the study was conducted in two sacred groves of Kathmandu valley, Nepal. Concentric circular plots of 20 m radius were used for data collection. Allometric equation having height, diameter, and specific gravity of tree was used to determine biomass. The calculated biomass of tree was converted to the carbon stock by using carbon fraction. Tree species of both sacred groves sequestered 15.08 metric tons of carbon. The carbon stock was high in Quercus-Myrsine forest and low in Schima-Pyrus forest.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Banko Janakari, 2017
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Botany, 2017
Foliar habit in parasite–host associations of mistletoes and trees is a neglected aspect in the d... more Foliar habit in parasite–host associations of mistletoes and trees is a neglected aspect in the discussion of foliar habit of woody plants. Almost all of the world’s mistletoe species are evergreen, regardless of the foliar habit of their hosts. Deciduous mistletoes are rare and confined to the northern fringes of Loranthaceae in Eurasia, and to Misodendraceae and the monotypic genus Desmaria (Loranthaceae) in southern South America. There are no deciduous mistletoes in the tropics and subtropics. Based on existing information and hypotheses on foliar habit, we asked why the majority of mistletoe species is evergreen, even on deciduous hosts, and why seasonality is apparently no driver for the evolution of deciduousness in parasite–host systems. We postulate that nutrient conservation is the main driver for evergreenness in mistletoes. Based on our own observations of wood anatomy in the host–haustorium–mistletoe continuum we hypothesize that the phenomenon of deciduousness in north...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact