Research Projects

The Himalayan silver Birch, an ecosystem sensitive to climate change, is being studied in two locations, Manali Wildlife sanctuary and sural valley in Himachal Pradesh. The study will use climatic, taxonomic, phenological, productivity, and genetic variation to infer responses of the birch and other taxa at different tropic levels to climate change. Data will be collected over the next three decades to monitor the treeline ecosystem. Circular polycarbonate greenhouses will be established to assess the impact of increased soil temperature on birch phenology. Historical trends and adaptation patterns will be reconstructed using tree core rings and plant transpiration measurements. Genotyping-by-sequencing will be conducted to assess population structure and gene flow patterns. The data will help predict climate-induced asynchrony between different trophic levels.