Mass foliar damage at subalpine-timberline ecotone in Western Himalaya due to extreme climatic events

Glimpses of unusual climatic conditions such as high summer temperature, heavy rainfall as well as snowfall and low winter temperature were noticed during 2010-2011 in subalpine-timberline (2700 - 3600 m) zones of Western Himalaya. Abundant winter injury to the current year (2010) foliage and shoot of Rhododendron arboretum and Quercus semecarpifolia became apparent in winters of 2010-2011. The foliar and bud mortality both increased with elevation beyond 2800 m and maximum along the edges of forest. Rhododendron campanulatum was another species which also got affected throughout the Western Himalaya. Such events were not reported earlier from the region and current observations indicate the high sensitivity of the plant species to the extreme inter-annual climatic variations.