Advances in Remote Sensing Technology and the Three Poles

16 Understanding the Present and Past Climate-Human-Vegetation Dynamics in the Indian HimalayaA Comprehensive Review

Mehta Bulbul^1,*, Yadav Ankit¹, Aljasil Chirakkal¹, Ambili Anoop^1,*, and Praveen K. Mishra²

¹ Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali, Sector 81, Manauli, Punjab 140306, India ² Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, 33 GMS Road, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248001, India^* Corresponding author

16.1 Introduction

Mountains cover ~24% of the world’s land area and impact livelihoods of approximately 40% people worldwide (Singh et al., 2010). However, this ecosystem is largely influenced by climate variability that in turn impacts food security and human settlements, as well as biodiversity (Sharma and Rai, 2012). Previous research concerning vegetation–climate relationship has been conducted at spatio-temporal scales worldwide (D’Arrigo et al., 2004; Quamar and Bera, 2014). Despite many evidences on global environmental change impact, various ecologically sensitive and significant areas of the globe are under-studied (Korner and Paulsen, 2004). Sub-tropical mountain systems in Asia, such as the Himalaya, represent such inadequately studied region. The Himalaya is known to regulate monsoon climate over the Indian subcontinent (Yang, 1996; Bhattacharyya et al., 2006). This region serves as a potential site for understanding the spatio–temporal vegetation climatic interactions due to high biodiversity, higher elevations, and steepness of mountains (Mittermeier ...