Publications by authors named "Jagdish C Kuniyal"

It is vital to keep an eye on changes in climatic extremes because they set the stage for current and potential future climate, which usually have a reasonable adverse impact on ecosystems and society. The present study examines the variability and trends in precipitation and temperature across seasons in the Kinnaur district, offering valuable insights into the complex dynamics of the Himalayan climate. Using Climatic Research Unit gridded Time Series (CRU TS) datasets from 1951 to 2021, the study analyzes the data to produce 28 climate indices based on India Meteorological Department (IMD) convention indices and Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study attempts to examine the morphological, elemental and physical characteristics of PM over the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) using FTIR and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX) analysis. The study aimed at source identification of PM by exploring the inorganic ions, organic functional groups, morphology and elemental characteristics. The pollution load of PM was estimated as 63 ± 22 μg m; 53 ± 16 μg m; 67 ± 26 μg m and 55 ± 11 μg m over Mohal-Kullu, Almora, Nainital and Darjeeling, respectively.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Global warming is likely to become one of the significant drivers of forest losses in the Hindu-Kush Himalaya (HKH) during the 21 century. Better understanding of how forest ecosystem will respond to global warming requires a precise knowledge of site and species specific responses to climate change. We applied dendrochronological technique to quantify and predict future growth trend of Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara), a tree of high commercial importance, and explored its spatial growth variability under two different climatic regimes from 17 deodar sites in the HKH.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Periphytic algal assemblages in the River Sindh of Kashmir Himalaya were studied in relation to environmental factors and anthropogenic alterations like flow regulation for Run-of-River hydropower plants to understand their ecology in a regulated river ecosystem. Sites were sampled from unregulated, regulated, and downstream reaches along the river on a seasonal basis from the year 2017 to 2019. A total of 48 species were identified, spread over 31 genera.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

As the run-of-river (RoR) hydropower projects remain understudied, we conducted this study to understand how these projects affect the hydro-chemical dynamics and water quality index (WQI) of the Sindh River in the Kashmir Himalayas. We used multivariate statistical techniques and WQI to identify the spatiotemporal dynamics of 18 physico-chemical parameters from 11 sampling stations distributed along the length of river Sindh from December 2017 to December 2019. The dataset was classified into three groups using hierarchical cluster analysis based on similarities between hydro-chemical characteristics, and the results were confirmed by discriminant analysis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Eco-restoration initiative work in the high altitude Dayara pastureland (3501 m) from the Indian Himalayan Region has been considered to be one of the successful field demonstration against both natural and anthropogenic degradation. The present study therefore attempts to assess the implications of entire eco-restoration model as practiced by Department of Forest, Government of Uttarakhand in 2019. Its assessment was done by calculating restoration success index by way of considering three categories, viz.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 is a current global challenge and urgent discovery of potential drugs to combat this pandemic is a need of the hour. 3-chymotrypsin-like cysteine protease (3CLpro) enzyme is the vital molecular target against the SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, in the present study, 1528 anti-HIV1compounds were screened by sequence alignment between 3CLpro of SARS-CoV-2 and avian infectious bronchitis virus (avian coronavirus) followed by machine learning predictive model, drug-likeness screening and molecular docking, which resulted in 41 screened compounds.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Efficient production of sugar monomers from lignocellulose is often hampered by serious bottle-necks in biomass hydrolysis. The present study reveals that ultra-sonication assisted pretreatment following autoclaving, termed as combined pretreatment, can lead to more efficient delignification of lignocellulosic biomass and an open, deformed polysaccharide matrix, found favorable for subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis, is formed. The pattern of inhibition for the enzymatic hydrolysis reaction on combined-pretreated saw dust is identified.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

For source identification, a field campaign involving simultaneous sampling of particulate matter (PM) was conducted at eight sampling sites in the Indian mainland during winter 2014. The sampling sites include Delhi (upper IGP), Lucknow (middle IGP), and Kolkata (lower IGP) in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP); Mohal-Kullu and Darjeeling in the Indo-Himalayan Range (IHR). In addition, Ajmer, located upwind of the IGP in NW-India and Giridih and Bhubaneswar, in the downwind to the IGP has also been chosen.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Surface ozone is mainly produced by photochemical reactions involving various anthropogenic pollutants, whose emissions are increasing rapidly in India due to fast-growing anthropogenic activities. This study estimates the losses of wheat and rice crop yields using surface ozone observations from a group of 17 sites, for the first time, covering different parts of India. We used the mean ozone for 7 h during the day (M7) and accumulated ozone over a threshold of 40 ppbv (AOT40) metrics for the calculation of crop losses for the northern, eastern, western and southern regions of India.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Agriculture is one of the prime activities of the hill people residing in the northwestern Indian Himalaya. However, poor soil fertility in these areas is a big hurdle to sustainable farming. The effects of washout of topsoil and its nutrients, year after year, due to the abundance of snowfall, avalanches, landslides and erosion further add to the woes of the farmers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Salix fragilis is the most common willow species grown extensively under the indigenous agroforestry system in the cold desert of Lahaul valley located in the northwestern Himalayas, India. Presently, this tree is under severe pest attack, and other infections have made its survival in the area questionable. This deciduous multipurpose tree species provides vegetation cover to the barren landscape of Lahaul and is a significant contributor of fuel and fodder to the region.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The increasing self-generated solid waste from the visitors in the hill towns, trails and expedition tops is one of the most adverse forms of human impacts in mountain environments. The direct managing authorities, such as municipalities in the hill spots, have no proper places to dispose of municipal waste nor the other infrastructure required nor adequate funds. The trekking and expedition areas are entirely dependent on the moral responsibilities of the local people, as well as visitors, because these locations are in remote areas, outside municipal boundaries.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Solid waste generation in sensitive tourist areas of the Indian Himalayan region is approaching that of some metro cities of the country. The present study showed approximately 288 g waste generation visitor(-1) day(-1) compared with the nation-wide average of 350 g capita(-1) day(-1). About 29 metric tonnes (MT) solid waste is generated along a distance of about 19-km trek (a stretch of land or distance between two or more places covered by a walk) during a 4-month tourist season every year.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF