‘Jhum kheti’, commonly known as slashand-burn or shifting cultivation, is the most predominant farming system practised by the hilly communities of North East (NE) India, where the jhumias transform forests into rural landscapes.
This farming system still persists and plays an important role in providing subsistence livelihoods to at least 300–500
million people worldwide, which is intricately linked to socio-cultural, ecological and economic aspects of the ethnic
hill communities. (Correspondence)
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An experiment has been undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of traditional practices to use common salt for weed management in jhum paddy in mid hills conditions in Eastern Himalayas with the objective to study the effect of salt application on morphological characters, yield attributes, yield and economics of paddy under shifting cultivation areas. Salt @ 120 kg ha-1 with two spay resulted significantly (P

We examined the spatial distribution pattern of reptiles in an eastern Himalayan elevation gradient. The factors governing the distribution have been assessed with emphasis on the mid-domain effect. We surveyed reptiles along the elevation gradient (300–4800 m) of the Teesta valley in Sikkim, Eastern Himalaya, India using time constrained visual encounter survey.

Among the five species of shortwing that exist in India, four are found in the Himalayas. Rustybellied Shortwing Brachypteryx hyperythra, a globally threatened species with IUCN status Vulnerable, is endemic to Eastern Himalayas.

Due to their restricted distribution range and dwindling population endemic and threatened species need considerable attention from ecologists. Sikkim is a part of the Eastern Himalayas Endemic Bird Area that represents high concentrations of globally threatened species. This study collected information on endemic and threatened birds of Sikkim using point count method.

Here we describe the bird community of Shingba Rhododendron sanctuary, a high altitude protected area (> 3200 m) and an Important Bird Area (IBA) in Sikkim in the Eastern Himalaya, India. Altogether 332 points were sampled using a point count method.

Aspects of life history and morphometry of Günther’s oriental slender snake Trachischium guentheri (Boulenger, 1890) was studied along the Lachen and Lachung valleys of North Sikkim, Eastern Himalaya, India during 2003 – 2005. A total of 360 snakes were observed in 1026 man-hours of time constrained visual encounter surveys. Females were significantly larger (t = 3.19, df = 144, P

We examined the patterns of tree species richness, density and basal area in the Eastern Himalayan elevation gradient, and evaluated the roles of geometric constraints and environmental factors for the observed pattern. We followed the quadrat sampling method for this study at 23 different locations along a 300e4700 m elevation gradient in Sikkim.