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Baanganga wetland, a 45 km long channel originates near Bishenpur and flows in Idrishpur-Chakheri forestblock of Haridwar district in Uttarakhand, India represents riverine ecosystem. The study area harbors many islands,varying in shape and size, which remains underwater during the rainy season and provide a good habitat to various planttaxa, birds (resident as well as migratory) and animals mainly Swamp deer (Cervus duvauceli duvauceli), a criticallyendangered species and Hog deer (Axis procinus). To asses the status and distribution of flora, trips were conducted inthe intensive study area. The plants were classified based on their habit and their presence was visually observed. Atotal of 178 plant species were recorded, of which 40 species (hydrophytes) were found in aquatic habitat, 122 specieson moist shores and 117 species in upland habitat. Phragmites karka, Polygonum barbatum, Ipomoea carnea, and Typhaelephantina were the most common species in all the habitats. The majority of plants (40) are from Indian orientalregion. The moist shore and upland habitats had maximum similarity (64 %) followed by aquatic and moist shore (26%) habitats. The status of flora and management of Baanganga wetland ecosystem has been discussed in the paper.

Information on the status and distribution of species within a geographical area is vital for developing effective conservation plans. We conducted camera-trapping (n = 473) to determine diversity, species composition, relative abundance index, sampling effort, and conservation status of mammals in forested habitats of Manas National Park, Assam, India. Camera stations accumulated data over 11,388 trap nights over three sampling years: 2017-2019. Camera-traps recorded 34 mammalian species belonging to seven orders, 15 families, and 29 genera, with 22,738 independent records. Among them, 17 species are globally threatened or 50% of the recorded species. The species accumulation curve reached an asymptote, indicating an adequate sampling design for obtaining a robust inventory of the mammalian community. Despite a history of ethnopolitical conflict, almost all mammals expected to occur in the park were detected. Our study will enable future evaluations of the recovery process in terms of changes in mammal abundance over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Riverine systems are influenced by historical and current land use practices linked to alterations in the riparian zone across multiple scales. This study aims to explore the trend of spatiotemporal land cover changes and configuration along a major headstream of the river Ganges in India. Geo-spatial tools were used to quantify the changes in the landscape across a time span of 22 years. Landscape configuration was quantified by applying class level metrics using the software FRAGSTATS. A loss of 18.3% and 5.5% in the dense forest class was perceived in the upland and the riverine areas respectively aided by conversion of large contiguous forests into smaller isolated patches. Markov analysis showed that the forests in the landscape still possess inherent resilience capacity as indicated by a probability of 47% conversion of open forest class to dense forest class in future based on current land-use practices. Land cover changes and forest fragmentation can have inevitable impacts on ecological functioning and species persistence. Monitoring these changes is fundamental in planning future strategies for riverine landscape management. The present study underpins the utility of remote sensing and GIS in building useful baseline data for inaccessible mountainous landscapes at both local and regional scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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