Plant and fungi diversity of Devi Pindiyan Valley in Trikuta Hills of northwestern Himalaya, India

The Devi Pindiyan Valley, an abode of Goddess Vaishno Devi, in Trikuta Hills (western Himalaya) is a unique hill-top land ecosystem with a diverse regional mixed subtropical and temperate flora. Because of its suitable geographic location, specific and unique habitat conditions, this mountainous belt of Shivalik Himalaya has a large number of endemic and threatened plant species. This study presents information on the plant diversity of Devi Pindiyan Valley of Trikuta Hills. Several line-transect (100m N-S and 100 E-W) surveys were conducted in which nested quadrats of 10m × 10m were laid for trees, within which interspersed two 5m × 5m sub-quadrats for shrubs and five 1m × 1m sub-quadrants for herbs at different places for determination of floristic composition. In the diverse habitats of this valley, we recorded 213 vascular plant species belonging to 164 genera under 71 families. This study area also harbors rich diversity of fungi, where the most visible 7 species of macrofungi belongs to 7 genera and 4 families were documented. Out of the documented species, 35 species have been categorized as threatened based on the latest IUCN Red list criteria, while 178 species are included in the catalogue of world life. Engelhardtia spicata Lechen ex Blume var. integra (Kurz) Manning ex Steenis has been categorized as Least Concerned (LC) by IUCN Red List site. The species diversity indicates the high conservation value of this area and documenting such an ecologically rich ecosystem becomes a prerequisite for developing and formulating conservation-cum-management strategies. Therefore, we recommend there is need for ecological research in terms of biodiversity conservation on Devi Pindiyan Valley and similar ecosystems.


INTRODUCTION
Himalayan eco-terrains are globally recognized as a hub and repository of unique biological diversity in Asia, and their distribution differs from tropical to alpine climate (Nayar & Shastry 1987;Singh 2019). The species composition of the Himalayan hills and mountains varies from place to place and these variations depend mainly on different climatic factors coupled with differences in latitude, longitude, and altitude (Singh 2015).The Indian Himalaya are home to more than 8,000 species of vascular plants, of which 4,000 species are endemic and 1,748 are known for their medicinal properties (Samant et al. 1998;Singh 2019a). The western Himalayan geographic region extends from Jammu & Kashmir to the Kumaon belt of Uttarakhand State. The Shivalik region of Jammu division is known for unique and endemic species whose occurrence is due to favorable climatic conditions required for the growth and dissemination of plant species (Singh 2019b). Review of literature reveals that Jammu & Kashmir is home to about 4,439 species of plants (Singh et al. 1999), and out of these, 948 species are published to have medicinal and aromatic value (Gairola et al. 2014). It is evident from the published work that a lot of research has been carried out in this region by different plant scientists to study biodiversity, ethnobotany, ecology, and data up-gradation on environmental parameters (Sharma & Kachroo 1983;Kapur & Sarin 1990;Swami & Gupta 1998;Kirn 2000;Kumar & Hamal 2009;Kumar et al. 2009Kumar et al. , 2015Kumar & Sharma 2011;Bhellum & Magotra 2012;Bhatia et al. 2013Bhatia et al. , 2014Dar et al. 2014;Dutt et al. 2015;Kour et al. 2017;Pandita & Dutt 2017;Singh et al. 2016Singh et al. , 2019.
Trikuta Hills in the Himalaya are known for the holy pilgrimage of the shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi and more than 1.5 lakh people visit this place of worship every year from different parts of the globe. This shrine mountain ecosystem has several steep slopes, deep gorges and valleys, rich in different types of vegetation. Ecologically, these hills can be characterized as subtropical to temperate mixed vegetation, rich in Pinus, Quercus, Engelhardtia, and Cedrus as dominant tree species. The elevation of this mountain ranges from 750 to 2,706m. Many sacred rivers and small streams originate from these hills, and the higher reaches of these hills are occasionally covered with snow during winter months. There are several unexplored regions due to sacred beliefs and tough terrain in the hills. In this study, we present the floral and fungal diversity of Devi Pindiyan Valley with an aim to conserve species in this valley.

Study Area
Devi Pindiyan Valley of Trikuta Hill is situated 36km from Jammu Town and 13km from Katra City (Reasi District) in Panthal forest area. It lies between latitudes of 32.892 to 33.010N and longitudes of 74.986 to 74.995E and the elevation range of 860-1,360m (Figure 1). It covers approximately an area of 17.3 km 2 . The study area is part of district Reasi of Jammu & Kashmir. This mountainous belt falls in the Palaearctic Realm and the forest terrains are rugged and the hills are characterized by moderate to steep slopes. The vegetation components are characterized by typical subtropical and temperate forests. The forest components as a whole are regarded as a sacred grove and named Devi Pindiyan Shakti Pith. The upper ridges of Trikuta Hill experiences winter snowfall which is responsible for the moderate temperature in summer and cool weather in winter. December-January are the coldest months of the year when minimum temperatures reach minus 4°C. The mean temperature in January is about 8°C, and in May, the temperature rises between 35°C and 40°C. The annual rainfall ranges between 3,200mm and 3,472mm, distributed over 60-90 rain days. A number of seasonal streams that provide water to the local community for domestic purposes originate from the forest reserve. River Jhajjar is one of the important sacred perennial water system originating from Trikuta Hill which runs through the valley. There are only four villages where an indigenous Dogri speaking community of Duggar resides. Due to the remote location, typical physiography and climate, the local people derive much of their livelihood from agriculture, horticulture and floriculture. They mostly depend on forest resources for food, shelter and medicine. Since the region is known as a sacred place, some of them cultivate marigolds for sale in the market which adds to their earnings.

Field Survey, Data Collection and Identification
Four field exploration tours were undertaken for survey, collection and mapping of plant samples from six study sites in Devi Pindiyan Valley from March 2017 till September 2018 with the help of experts from the J&K Forest Department, CSIR-IIIM Jammu, and the University of Jammu (Image 1). Several line-transect (100m N-S and 100m E-W) surveys were conducted at different places for determination of floristic composition. Nested quadrats of 10 × 10m were laid for trees, within which were interspersed two 5 × 5m sub-quadrats for shrubs and five 1 × 1m sub-quadrats for herbs in different growing seasons. GPS coordinates were recorded by using Garmin Oregon 650 GPS navigation device (Table 1). Data on habit, phenological characters and associated species of plants were collected along with digital photographs. Macro-fungi present in the area were also systematically collected, photographed and preserved. Laboratory studies were conducted in the Department of Botany, University of Jammu and RRLH Janaki Ammal Herbarium at CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu (CSIR-IIIM). Conventional herbarium techniques proposed by Jain & Rao (1977) and Rao & Sharma (1990) were followed. The accurate identification and authentication of plants was based on the collected herbarium vouchers and photographs, which were used as unique evidence and reference material for regional distribution. Proper identification and naming of macro-fungi species was done through individual expertise and online databases such as Index  fungorum (www.indexfungorum.org) and Mycobank (www.mycobank.org). The species were enumerated and photographed through non-invasive methods. The vouchers of the collected plants were identified by comparing them physically with existing preserved specimens at the Herbarium of the University of Jammu (HBJU) and Janaki Ammal Herbarium (RRLH) Jammu. Later, all taxa were authenticated by using taxonomic keys and published floras (Sharma & Kachroo 1983;Kapur & Sarin 1990;Swami & Gupta 1998). The prepared herbarium sheets were deposited at the Herbarium of University of Jammu (HBJU).

Systematization and Presentation
All plant species of Devi Pindiyan were systematically arranged. Families were arranged as per Bentham and Hooker's System of Classification (Bentham & Hooker 1876). Habit of each plant species were categorized as trees, shrubs, herbs and lianas. The correct ICN names of each plant and macro-fungi species were carried out using web-based databases (www.theplantlist.org, www.indexfungorum.org and www.mycobank.org). The threat status of each species was determined using the online database of IUCN Red List (www.iucnredlist.org) and presented as Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Least Concern, Data Deficient and if similar information was not available, then they were designated as NA.

Forest Characterization
The intermediate climate between the subtropical and the temperate vegetation along with the topography of the Devi Pindiyan Valley is responsible for its unusual mixed type of vegetation. The forest belts possess different types of very unique plant associations such as mixed deciduous broad-leaved forests, lower pine association coupled with secondary scrub parameters. This valley is dominated by species such as Sapium sebiferum, Grewia optiva and Toona ciliata in mixed broad-leaved areas. Pinus roxburghii, Phoenix dactylifera, Trema politoria, and Debregeasia longifolia at the upper hills mixed with pine vegetation. The secondary scrubby layers are dominated by Woodfordia fruticosa, Justicia adhatoda, Euphorbia royleana and Ehretia acuminata.
Besides vascular plant diversity, this region also exhibits macrofungal diversity, of which some are used as food or medicine by the local inhabitants of the study area. While investigating, seven macro-fungi were documented from the study area that include Ganoderma lucidum (Curtis) P.Karst. (Ganodermataceae), Schizophyllum commune Fr. (Schizophyllaceae), Termitomyces heimii Natarajan (Lyophyllaceae), Macrolepiota procera Scop., Agaricus arvensis Schaeff., Calvatia gigantea (Batsch) Lloyd, and Bovista minor Morgan (all Agaricaceae members). The first two macro-fungi (Ganoderma lucidum and Schizophyllum commune) are used as medicine by the local people, whereas the remaining were recorded as being used as wild edible macro-fungi (Image 4).

Economically Valued Plants
Out of a total of 213 plant species collected from the area, 76.05% (162 spp.) are reported in literature as high valued medicinal plants (Samant et al. 1998;Bhatia et al. 2013Bhatia et al. , 2014Gairola et al. 2014;Dutt et al. 2015 We also recorded 10 plants from the area as a source of dye such as Impatiens balsamina, Impatiens bicolor, Geranium nepalensis, Acacia catechu, and Pistacia chinensis (Figure 2).

Threats and Conservation Perspectives
Human disturbance coupled with habitat fragmentation have been identified as a major cause of biodiversity loss in many hotspots. Destruction of forests has resulted in the degradation of the environment and habitat of native species of the state. The rich genetic diversity has been depleted and many plant species are facing the threat of extinction in their natural habitats. Expansion of developmental activities (road/ dam/city construction), logging, mining and similar associated activities are major threats to plant and animal species. The conservation status of all collected and authenticated species were worked out following IUCN Red List website (www.iucnredlist.org), and out of a total of 213 species, 34 species have been categorized under one or other threat concern. Total 32 species were listed as Least Concern (LC) species, 1 species each were categorized under Vulnerable (V) category and Data Deficient (DD) and remaining 178 species were not assessed as per IUCN classification (Figure 3)

DISCUSSION
The endemic species with limited geographical ranges are susceptible to extinction as they are extremely vulnerable to environmental changes, while widely distributed species can cope with the changing environment and anthropogenic disturbances (Rao et al. 2003). In this study, we reviewed for the first time, and presented the plant diversity of unexplored Devi Pindiyan Valley of Trikuta Hills in Shivalik Himalaya. In the diverse habitats of this valley, we recorded 213 vascular plants of 164 genera under 71 families, and seven macro-fungal genera belonging to four families, indicating that the flora of the surveyed region shows high diversity. In fact, while surveying and exploring the interior belts, we often found a large number of plant species from a certain small area, which were very different in habitat condition from their surroundings. In addition to these, we were able to mark wide variations in ecological conditions found within the explored area along with variations in altitudes. According to the Botanical Survey of India, Jammu & Kashmir in the western Himalaya is one such region which has been floristically under-explored (Dar et al. 2012), and the present finding helps to fill the data gap. Few research projects were previously conducted in the area, and one of them was of Kapur (1982),

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who studied the phytoecology and forest associations, but very little data on ecology was presented. Lesser known species outside their natural habitat are facing threats of existence seeing in vulnerable category and may slowly move towards the verge of extinction due to unabated anthropogenic activities such as deforestation and illicit extraction of valuable medicinal plants. Hence, such species need immediate conservation measures and research on ecological restoration. Owing to our extensive study efforts in the Devi Pindiyan, this documented research will provide a good notion of the plant diversity and reasons for conservation of this sacred place for the future.