Himalayan biodiversity in the face of climate change

Abstract

The Himalayan mountains have emerged among the most sensitive ecosystems under the global climate change (CC) scenario. Impacts of CC are realized all across the physical, biological and socio-economic components of the ecosystems. Particularly, community distribution range of plant species and their phenologies are predicted to experience varying level of shifts across these gradients and, thus, act as potential indicators of CC. It has been anticipated that the richness of endemic species with restricted distribution and life support values (goods and services) of this global biodiversity hotspot is highly vulnerable under the changing climate. Unfortunately, poor availability of systematic long-term data sets from the region has severely limited our capability to objectively define the intensity of impacts on biodiversity and develop suitable conservation strategies to respond to the emerging challenges of climate change. This chapter provides an overview of research-based evidence of the impacts of CC on flora and fauna of the Himalayan region and provides some mitigation measures for biodiversity conservation.