Investigation of bioclimatic, solar and edaphic factors in relevance to masting in Himalayan oak Quercus semecarpifolia

Investigation of bioclimatic, solar and edaphic factors in relevance to masting in Himalayan oak Quercus semecarpifolia | Authorea try { document.documentElement.classList.add('js'); } catch (e) { } var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'G-8VDV14Y67G']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); Skip to main content Preprints Collections Wiley Open Research IET Open Research Ecological Society of Japan All Collections About About Authorea FAQs Contact Us Quick Search anywhere Search for preprint articles, keywords, etc. Search Search ADVANCED SEARCH SCROLL This is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed. Data may be preliminary. 5 September 2025 V1 Latest version Share on Investigation of bioclimatic, solar and edaphic factors in relevance to masting in Himalayan oak Quercus semecarpifolia Authors : Maneesh Bhandari , Chander Shekhar , Rajendra Meena 0000-0001-8545-7349 , Susheel Bhandari , Shailesh Pandey , Harish S. Ginwal , and HIMANSHU SAINI 0009-0000-7852-6262 [email protected] Authors Info & Affiliations https://doi.org/10.22541/au.175708472.26176270/v1 191 views 127 downloads Contents Abstract Supplementary Material Information & Authors Metrics & Citations View Options References Figures Tables Media Share Abstract Our study provide insight into - Is there is any role of ecological/external factors responsible to control masting in Quercus semecarpifolia? Twenty-nine geographical sites having uniform (26 sites) and random (3 sites) species distribution were explored during 2016–2020 in the northwestern Himalayas. In 2018, a rare masting event was recorded with multi-seeded acorn formation in Q. semecarpifolia. Secondary data on the ecological/external factors for the last 39 years (1981–2019) across the five masting sites, viz. Rudraprayag (S1), Chamoli (S2 and S3), Nainital (S4) and Pithoragarh (S5) were utilized in ANOVA and DMRT. Bioclimatic variables, such as precipitation, temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed, etc., revealed significant variations among all the sites. Importantly, at Nainital (S4), the pattern of variation in solar radiation geometry, i.e., angle ‘θ’ and ‘δ’ showed a declining pattern in 2018. However, ‘δ’=+23.45° and -23.45° showed maximum and minimum values on June-21 and December-21, respectively. Further, vast arrays of soil types/profiles (ranging from Luvisols followed by Cambisols and Leptosols) were detected at each site. Considering the above facts, the hypothesis pertaining to the masting event is proposed. The knowledge base generated herein was well supported by other research work on oaks across the globe, depicting its evolutionary and phylogenetic role in speciation of family Fagaceae. TITLE PAGE Article title Investigation of bioclimatic, solar and edaphic factors in relevance to masting in Himalayan oak Quercus semecarpifolia Author list Maneesh S. Bhandari 1 *, Chander Shekhar 1 , Rajendra K. Meena 1 , Susheel Singh Bhandari 2 , Shailesh Pandey 3 , Harish S. Ginwal 1,4 , and Himanshu Saini 5 *Corresponding Authors Authors affiliations 1. Division of Genetics & Tree Improvement, ICFRE-Forest Research Institute, Dehradun - 248 195, Uttarakhand, India 2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Technology, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar – 263 145, District U.S. Nagar, Uttarakhand, India 3. Forest Pathology Discipline, Division of Forest Protection, ICFRE-Forest Research Institute, Dehradun - 248 006, Uttarakhand, India 4. ICFRE-Tropical Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh 5. School of Applied Natural Science, Adama Science and Technology University, Adama-1888, Ethiopia Email address of all the authors Himanshu Saini (HS) – Corresponding Author E. mail: [email protected] Orcid ID: 0009-0000-7852-6262 Maneesh S. Bhandari (MSB) E. mail: [email protected] (Co - corresponding Author) Telephone No. 91-135-222-4383 Orcid ID: 0000-0002-7069-7048 • Chander Shekhar (CS) E. mail: [email protected] • Rajendra K. Meena (RKM) E. mail: [email protected] • Susheel S. Bhandari (SSB) E. mail: [email protected] • Shailesh Pandey (SP) E. mail: [email protected] • Harish S. Ginwal (HSG) E. mail: [email protected] \articletype Article Type \receivedDate Month Year \revisedDate Month Year \acceptedDate Month Year \volume00 \startpage1 This study provides deeper insight into - Is there is any role of ecological/external factors responsible to control masting in Quercus semecarpifolia ? Twenty-nine geographical sites having uniform (26 sites) and random (3 sites) species distribution were explored during 2016–2020 in the northwestern Himalayas. In 2018, a rare masting event was recorded with multi-seeded acorn formation in Q. semecarpifolia . Secondary data on the external factors for the last 39 years (1981–2019) across the five masting sites viz., Rudraprayag (S 1 ), Chamoli (S 2 and S 3 ), Nainital (S 4 ) and Pithoragarh (S 5 ) were subjected to the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan Multiple Range Test (DMRT). Bioclimatic variables, such as Precipitation, Temperature at 2 Meters, Relative Humidity at Meters, Wind Speed at 10 Meters, etc., revealed significant variations among all the sites. Importantly, at Nainital (S 4 ), the pattern of variation in solar radiation geometry, i.e. angle ‘’ and ‘’ showed a declining pattern in 2018, whereas, ‘’ varied from a maximum value of +23.45 ° on June 21 to a minimum value of -23.45 ° on December 21. Further, vast arrays of soil types/profiles (ranging from Luvisols followed by Cambisols and Leptosols) were detected at each site. Considering the above facts, the hypothesis pertaining to the masting event is proposed. The knowledge base generated in this study was also supported by other works on oaks across the globe, depicting its evolutionary and phylogenetic role in speciation of family Fagaceae. Keywords: Oaks, Quercus semecarpifolia , evolution, acorn, masting, multi-seeding. Declaration \articletype Article Type \receivedDate Month Year \revisedDate Month Year \acceptedDate Month Year \volume00 \startpage1 None declared. Funding The financial support by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India, New Delhi under grant No. 13-17/2012-CAMPA; dated 21 st January, 2016 is gratefully acknowledged. The authors are thankful to the Director, FRI and acknowledge the state forest department, Government of Uttarakhand for permission and support during the field surveys. Availability of data and material (data transparency) \articletype Article Type \receivedDate Month Year \revisedDate Month Year \acceptedDate Month Year \volume00 \startpage1 No data or code were generated for this manuscript. \articletype Article Type \receivedDate Month Year \revisedDate Month Year \acceptedDate Month Year \volume00 \startpage1 Code availability Not applicable \articletype Article Type \receivedDate Month Year \revisedDate Month Year \acceptedDate Month Year \volume00 \startpage1 Authors Contributions MSB conceived the research ideas, wrote the first draft of the manuscript, generate graphs and led the writing. CS and RKM helps in field survey and rationalizing the discussion in along with MSB. SSB contributed to the solar factor analysis, interpretation and discussion. HS, SP and HSG edited the final draft. All authors critically revised the manuscript. Supplementary Material File (main table.docx) Download 25.71 KB File (masting_quercus semecarpifolia.docx) Download 62.20 KB File (supplementary table.docx) Download 32.50 KB Information & Authors Information Version history V1 Version 1 05 September 2025 Copyright This work is licensed under a Non Exclusive No Reuse License. Keywords ecosystem ecosystem ecology molecular genetics multiple plants Authors Affiliations Maneesh Bhandari Forest Research Institute Dehradun View all articles by this author Chander Shekhar Forest Research Institute Dehradun View all articles by this author Rajendra Meena 0000-0001-8545-7349 Forest Research Institute Deemed to be University View all articles by this author Susheel Bhandari Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology View all articles by this author Shailesh Pandey Forest Research Institute Dehradun View all articles by this author Harish S. Ginwal Forest Research Institute Deemed to be University View all articles by this author HIMANSHU SAINI 0009-0000-7852-6262 [email protected] Adama Science and Technology University View all articles by this author Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 191 views 127 downloads .FvxKWukQNSOunydq8rnd { width: 100px; } Citations Download citation Maneesh Bhandari, Chander Shekhar, Rajendra Meena, et al. Investigation of bioclimatic, solar and edaphic factors in relevance to masting in Himalayan oak Quercus semecarpifolia. Authorea . 05 September 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.175708472.26176270/v1 If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download. For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu . Format Please select one from the list RIS (ProCite, Reference Manager) EndNote BibTex Medlars RefWorks Direct import Tips for downloading citations document.getElementById('citMgrHelpLink').addEventListener('click', function() { popupHelp(this.href); return false; }); $(".js__slcInclude").on("change", function(e){ if ($(this).val() == 'refworks') $('#direct').prop("checked", false); $('#direct').prop("disabled", ($(this).val() == 'refworks')); }); View Options View options PDF View PDF Figures Tables Media Share Share Share article link Copy Link Copied! Copying failed. Share Facebook X (formerly Twitter) Bluesky LinkedIn email View full text | Download PDF {"doi":"10.22541/au.175708472.26176270/v1","type":"Article"} Now Reading: Share Figures Tables Close figure viewer Back to article Figure title goes here Change zoom level Go to figure location within the article Download figure Toggle share panel Toggle share panel Share Toggle information panel Toggle information panel Go to previous graphic Go to next graphic Go to previous table Go to next table All figures All tables View all material View all material xrefBack.goTo xrefBack.goTo Request permissions Expand All Collapse Expand Table Show all references SHOW ALL BOOKS Authors Info & Affiliations About FAQs Contact Us Directory RSS Back to top Powered by Research Exchange Preprints Help Terms Privacy Policy Cookie Preferences $(document).ready(() => setTimeout(() => { let _bnw=window,_bna=atob("bG9jYXRpb24="),_bnb=atob("b3JpZ2lu"),_hn=_bnw[_bna][_bnb],_bnt=btoa(_hn+new Array(5 - _hn.length % 4).join(" ")); $.get("/resource/lodash?t="+_bnt); },4000)); (function(){function c(){var b=a.contentDocument||a.contentWindow.document;if(b){var d=b.createElement('script');d.innerHTML="window.__CF$cv$params={r:'9fe8afff8a241640',t:'MTc3OTI1MjI4MA=='};var a=document.createElement('script');a.src='/cdn-cgi/challenge-platform/scripts/jsd/main.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(a);";b.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(d)}}if(document.body){var a=document.createElement('iframe');a.height=1;a.width=1;a.style.position='absolute';a.style.top=0;a.style.left=0;a.style.border='none';a.style.visibility='hidden';document.body.appendChild(a);if('loading'!==document.readyState)c();else if(window.addEventListener)document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded',c);else{var e=document.onreadystatechange||function(){};document.onreadystatechange=function(b){e(b);'loading'!==document.readyState&&(document.onreadystatechange=e,c())}}}})();