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Climate Change Impacts on Himalayan Biodiversity: Evidence-Based Perception and Current Approaches to Evaluate Threats Under Climate Change

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Journal of the Indian Institute of Science Aims and scope

A Correction to this article was published on 01 April 2021

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Abstract

Predicting the response of biota to climate change is an active field of research. Advancements in the field of genomics has revolutionized climate change research. Genomic approaches used together with other ecological tools have the potential to identify the population and/or species at higher risk of extinction due to climate change. Himalayan biodiversity has faced drastic impacts of climate change in the past and is predicted to be vulnerable to future climate change. In this review, we provide a scientific evidence-based understanding about the impacts of climate change on Himalayan biodiversity. We summarize reported patterns of climate change in the Himalayas across time scales, their impacts on biodiversity and summarize hypotheses laid out by others to be tested in the future. We restrict our choice of study species to mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians and discuss the application of an integrated approach using genomics and ecological tools to better understand the consequences of climate change on Himalayan biodiversity.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the editor and reviewers for their constructive comments which have greatly improved the manuscript. This manuscript represents CSIR-IHBT communication no. 4799.

Funding

ND acknowledges DST, Govt. of India for DST INSPIRE Faculty Award grant number DST/INSPIRE/04/2018/001587.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biotechnology Division, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Post Box No. 06, Palampur, 176061, Himachal Pradesh, India

    Nishma Dahal & Sanjay Kumar

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH, 44240, USA

    Sangeet Lamichhaney

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  1. Nishma Dahal
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  2. Sangeet Lamichhaney
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  3. Sanjay Kumar
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Correspondence to Nishma Dahal.

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Dahal, N., Lamichhaney, S. & Kumar, S. Climate Change Impacts on Himalayan Biodiversity: Evidence-Based Perception and Current Approaches to Evaluate Threats Under Climate Change. J Indian Inst Sci 101, 195–210 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41745-021-00237-1

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