Distribution and Influence of Aspect, Slope and Altitude on Rhododendron arboreumSm. in Shimla District of Himachal Pradesh, India
*Corresponding Author: Rajesh Sharma*, Department of Genetics and Tree Improvement, ICFRE-Himalayan Forest Research Institute, Shimla- 171013, India, Email: dogra.vinod31@gmail.comReceived Date: Sep 15, 2023 / Published Date: Jan 29, 2025
Citation: Kumar V, Bhondge SW, Sharma R (2025) Distribution and Influence of Aspect, Slope and Altitude on Rhododendron arboreum Sm. in Shimla District of Himachal Pradesh, India. Earth Sci Clim Change 16: 874.
Copyright: 漏 2025 Kumar V, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Rhododendron arboreum (Ericaceae) is one of the aesthetical, economical and medicinally important plant species to the people of Himachal Pradesh. As the species' distribution has been dwindling year by year, anthropogenic pressure and climate change have put the species very existence in jeopardy. Attempts have been made to study the distribution status effect of topographic factors on the species distribution in order to provide the State Forest Department (SFD) and the think tank with baseline data for research and planning activities related to the species conservation in the wild. A number of factors affect the future of species, and among them, aspect, altitude, and slope are the three fundamental topographic factors that regulate the distribution of vegetation types and their plant composition. The research was conducted in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh, encompassing seven divisions: Shimla (Rural), Shimla (Urban), Rohru, Chopal, Theog, Kotgarh, and Rampur. The distribution of the species has been examined at 233 different locations using GPS coordinates and other location-specific information like aspect, altitude, slope, and location. A GIS map was created by including all 233 sites that were located using the ArcGIS software. Species were found in 61 locations (Rampur), 40 locations (Shimla-R), 31 locations (Theog), 30 locations (Chopal), 28 locations (Rohru), 21 locations (Kotgarh), 16 locations (Shimla-U), and 6 locations (Shimla Wildlife Forest Division). The study shows that while aspect has little effect on the distribution, altitude and slope act as limiting factors. For its distribution, the species prefers the Northern, 20°-30°, and 2000 m-2500 m categories of aspect, slope, and altitude respectively. The distributional range of the species includes an area of 4745.52 km2 (slope), 3532.16 km2 (altitude), and 4629.6 km2 (aspect), and the active area was estimated to be 3395.33 km2, 2721.54 km2, and 2992.12 km2 respectively. ArcMap 10.4 Geographic Information System (GIS) software was used to create maps showing various studied parameters to show the species' distribution pattern.
