Impact of forest fire on soil seed bank composition in Himalayan Chir pine forest

了解植物群落火烧后的再生策略对于解释其如何应对喜马拉雅次生林中反复发生的人为森林火灾非常重要。本研究的主要目的是了解：1)火烧如何影响土壤种子库组成; 2)森林火灾后土壤种子库组成与立地植被的差异有多大。在森林火灾发生后,立即从火烧和相邻的未火烧地点收集土壤样本,并在净室中培养,以便出苗。在季风气候后期/初秋季节,我们再次探访这些地点,以了解森林火灾后恢复的植被的物种组成。研究结果表明,土壤中含有>70种的植物种子。火烧区和未火烧区种子库平均密度分别为8 417和14 217粒/m²,且均随土层深度的增加而减少。整体的火烧对种子密度无显著影响;但是,如果考虑土层因素,火烧只对最上层土壤的种子密度有显著影响。土壤种子库和立地植被的物种丰富度分别为73和100 (共有物种数为35),相似性约为40%。而在火烧区和未火烧区发现土壤种子库中>80%的物种相似。另外,火烧区(87)和未火烧区(78)立地植被的物种丰富度没有显著差异。本研究表明,火烧对土壤种子库组成和种子恢复潜力的影响不显著。下层草本植物和灌木植物群落有能力形成一个抗火烧的、有活力的土壤种子库,并有能力在火灾后的雨季恢复,这些发现也解释了它们是如何在维持其种群的同时减少了重复火灾带来损害的风险。     

What Explains Child Malnutrition of Indigenous People of Northeast India?

Household risk factors affecting child health, particularly malnutrition, are mainly basic amenities like drinking water, toilet facility, housing and fuel used for cooking. This paper considered the collective impact of basic amenities measured by an index specially constructed as the contextual factor of child malnutrition. The contextual factor operates at both the macro and micro levels namely the state level and the household level. The importance of local contextual factors is especially important when studying the nutritional status of children of indigenous people living in remote and inaccessible regions. This study has shown the contextual factors as potential factors of malnutrition among children in northeast India, which is home to the largest number of tribes in the country. In terms of macro level contextual factor it has been found that 8.9 per cent, 3.7 per cent and 3.6 per cent of children in high, medium and low risk households respectively, are severely wasted. Lower micro level household health risks, literate household heads, and scheduled tribe households have a negating effect on child malnutrition. Children who received colostrum feeding at the time of birth and those who were vaccinated against measles are also less subject to wasting compared to other children, and these differences are statistically significant.