Abhishek Kumar

Panjab University · Department of Botany

Exotic plants can potentially modify ecosystem functions like cycling of nutrients by adjusting their decomposition rates. However, these effects are largely unknown for urban ecosystems, though they act as reservoirs of exotic plants. The present study evaluated the decomposition rates of five native and five exotic (three invasive and two non-inv...

Coal extraction by opencast mining involves the dumping of overburden or mine spoil as large heaps. These large heaps of overburdened materials can act as a serious threat to ecological integrity and, therefore, overall societal well-being. Plantations are often employed to establish revegetation and management of mine spoil, thus mitigating the ef...

The Himalayan foothills or the Siwaliks have been considered as one of the most fragile ecosystems of India. The underlying cause of degradation includes natural settings (geological formation and climate change) and human-mediated pressures (sandstone mining, urbanisation and developmental activities). Since the Siwaliks is associated with the liv...

Overburden excavated during opencast mining has poorer soil properties due to non‐salvage and inversion of soil profiles. The soil properties of such overburden are often improved by the biological reclamation technique such as planting suitable plant species; however, the performance of species varies site‐to‐site. Therefore, this paper aims to ev...

Understanding the patterns and processes of species distributions has long remained a central focus of biogeographical and ecological research. While the evidence for elevational patterns in species richness is widespread, our understanding of underlying causes and mechanisms remained limited. Therefore, this study aimed to entangle the influence o...

The assessment of tree biomass and its carbon (C) stock at the local and regional level is considered a crucial criterion for understanding the impact of changing environments on the global carbon cycle. In this context, we selected three sites in the western Himalayas, covering parts of Himachal Pradesh and north-eastern Haryana. Each study site e...

Wild edible plants have gained attention due to growing concerns for global food security. Nutrient contents are frequently determined for wild edible plants identified from ethnobotanical surveys.In this article, we conducted an ethnobotanical survey at the study site and collected twenty-one wild plants for evaluating their relative nutrient indi...

Biodiversity has been an integral part of humankind since its evolution. It regulates the primary provisioning of ecosystem services, such as food, medicine, socio-economic values, and aesthetic importance and provides the raw material for natural resource development. However, developmental activities, such as urbanization, industrialization (prim...

Detailed methodology

Many wild edible plants have been traditionally used as foods and medicines among various ethnic groups. However, information about the nutrient components of these plants has yet to be scientifically tested. Therefore, this study evaluated the nutrient components of selected wild edible plants. It was found that nutrient content considerably varie...

Contamination can be defined as the presence of some undesirable elements that spoil a healthy environment and its functioning or present an unacceptable risk to humans. Humans are at risk from contaminated soils via dermal contact, inhalation of dust or vapors, and ingestion of food grown in contaminated areas (Nathanail and Earl, 2001). Soils may...

The present study was conducted to examine the status of herbaceous biomass development under rehabilitated coal mine spoil by establishing indigenous woody species in India's northern dry tropical region. Since mining activities for coal and minerals are prime industrial activities in this region; therefore, through these activities, a significant...

Tropical forests are the most productive and most vulnerable terrestrial ecosystems facing environmental changes. These ecosystems substantially control global nutrient cycling. Although our understanding of carbon and nitrogen cycling has considerably improved during the past decades, phosphorus cycling in tropical forests still remains poorly und...

Tropical forests are estimated to have the highest carbon density and occupy more geographical areas than any other type of forest. Importantly, they act as a natural sink for atmospheric CO2 and play a pivotal role to offset climate change and related environmental perturbations. Unfortunately, due to the mounting pressure of the increasing human...

Although fine roots are small-sized (2 mm to 5 mm in diameter) and a short-lived component of a plant, they play a remarkable role in the nutrient cycling in a forest ecosystem. These fine roots sustain plant survival through the acquisition of water and nutrients from the soil. Fine roots are highly dynamic, having a small life span and a frequent...

To maximize better yield of the crops by any means in the recent agricultural practices, cultivators are applying today different kind of organic and inorganic chemical compounds in the form of fertilizers and pesticides with high rates of application. These chemical compounds often get deposited into soils and increase their concentrations beyond...

Background Indigenous people of any particular region use various wild plants for their food, medicines, and other economic products. Many of these wild plants have been documented for their utilization as future foods and medicines based on these people's information. However, information about the nutrient components of many wild edible plants ha...

Background: Indigenous people of any particular region use various wild plants for their food, medicines, and other economic products. Many of these wild plants have been documented for their utilization as future foods and medicines based on these people's information. However, information about the nutrient components of many wild edible plants h...

Kamala tree (Mallotus philippensis) is traditionally used by different ethnic groups to treat a variety of diseases and health ailments. However, these traditional uses need to be scientifically investigated and validated in order to develop drugs from this tree. Therefore, the present article is aimed to review the scientifically validated knowled...

Plant functional traits integrate the ecological and evolutionary history of a species, and can potentially be used to predict its response as well as its influence on ecosystem functioning. Understanding its mechanistic role for community assembly can provide evidence to understand weed-crop interactions, and in particular, how weeds impact on cro...

Litter decomposition is a key process that releases nutrients back to the ecosystem and therefore maintains the structure and functioning of the tropical forest ecosystems. The variations in the rate of litter decomposition among different ecosystems may be controlled by several factors including climate, litter quality and soil biota. However, the...

Despite advances in biomedical technology, many communities and local people are still dependent on natural and herbal medications. A large number of different ethnic groups like the Tharu, Kani, Garo and other local inhabitants thrive in the Indian subcontinent and other parts of the world. These indigenous people traditionally use Mallotus philip...

Habitat loss due to human activities and climate change is synergistically posing serious threats to the global biodiversity leading to irreversible extinction of several species. In wake of recent extinction, several forests are declared as protected areas where no more human activities are allowed. However, the scope of these protected areas got...

Understanding of plant response to the changing environmental conditions is of central importance for biodiversity conservation. In this study, we evaluated the temporal changes in leaf morphological traits using herbarium specimens. We found temporal changes mainly in 3 parameters of leaf morphological traits (i.e. leaf area, leaf length, and leaf...

The development of reconstructed woody vegetation on coal mine dumps during the trajectory of reclamation was explicitly investigated by means of a rehabilitation technique. However, limited information is available about the composition of herbaceous species during the ecosystem re-development on mine dumps. The present study attempted to assess t...

Various spelling variants such as Siwalik, Shivalik, Shiwalik and Sivalik, have been introduced in the literature while referring to foothills of the Himalayas. These spelling variants are creating hindrances to acquiring a complete knowledge about the region. Therefore, the present study has applied bibliometric analysis to resolve the incons...