Foraging through forests: Gaddi
Published: May 30, 2011
Photo: Sajid Idrisi
Abstract: Among the various transhumant tribes that inhabit the Himalaya, the Gaddi herders share a causal relationship with the deodar and chir forests. Guarded by ferocious dogs the sheep and goat owned or loaned by the herder, forage through ancestral tracks to reach the alpine meadows every summer. With the enactment of the Forest Rights Act in 2008, the lives of the Gaddi are slowly but surely changing for the better as historic injustice is being undone.
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A layer of foliage in a forest stand. This most often refers to the uppermost layer of foliage, but it can be used to describe lower layers in a multistoried stand. Leaves, branches and vegetation that are above ground and/or water that provide shade and cover for fish and wildlife.
Plants characterised by a specific growth and dormancy cycle, with certain parts falling at the end of the growing period, as leaves, fruits, etc., or after anthesis, as the petals of many flowers - as contrasted with evergreen which remains verdant throughout the year.
The loose, relatively undecomposed organic debris on the surface of the forest floor made up typically of leaves, bark, small branches, and other fallen material.
Angiosperms are flowering plants that produce seeds enclosed in fruit. They are the dominant type of plant today with over 250,000 species. Their flowers are used in reproduction. Angiosperms evolved 125 million years ago and became the dominant plants about 100 million years ago. Angiosperms are divided into the monocots (like corn) and dicots (like beans).
An autotroph (or producer) is an organism that makes its own food from light or chemical energy without eating. Most green plants, many protists (one-celled organisms like slime moulds) and most bacteria are autotrophs. Autotrophs are the base of the food chain.
The carrying capacity of an area is the maximum number of animals of a given species that can live there. This number is limited by amount of food in that region, by the amount of sheltering area required by the species, and other factors. The carrying capacity of a region is difficult to calculate.
Dispersers are animals that spread plant seeds. Some dispersers include birds, insects, bats, and furry animals like squirrels and monkeys.