Impact of Livestock and Human Activities on the Floral Distribution of Gulmarg Wildlife Sanctuary, Kashmir

Gulmarg is an outstanding tourist destination and is home to rich biodiversity. But the areas biodiversity is under continuous threat. Uncontrolled grazing has become a major biotic interference leading to removal of protective plant cover, reduction in regrowth capacity, soil compaction. In addition, deforestation, fuel wood collection, trespassing, forest fires, unregulated tourist inflow, etc are among other factors. The cumulative effect of the biotic interferences was significantly seen in the reduction of vegetation cover. The study carried out from March, 2012 to Dec., 2012 provides an assessment of the impact of anthropogenic pressures on the vegetation of Gulmarg Wildlife Sanctuary. The various disturbances were assessed by selecting a total of 4 sites to compare the vegetation at Control and Degraded sites, under the various operative anthropogenic factors. It was concluded that these disturbances have a great influence on frequency, density, abundance, diversity, richness and evenness of plant species. It was also revealed that much of the disturbances support the growth of aggressive weeds and shrubs which compete with the availability of resources. Herb analysis showed an increase of frequency, density, abundance from Degraded to Control site. Similar results were revealed in case of trees but Shrub analysis showed opposite trend where there was a decrease of frequency, density, abundance from Degraded to Control site.