Boot Camp Essays - Penology, Boot Camp, Punishments, Prison, Booting

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John Proctor Vs. John F. Kennedy

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Statistics Assignment Speech or Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

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Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

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Alpine Plant Biodiversity in the Central Himalayas

Alpine Plant Biodiversity in the Central Himalayas Alpine Plant Biodiversity in the Central Himalayan Region: Perspective of Global Climate Change Summary Increase in surface temperature at global scale has already affected a diverse set of physical and biological systems in many parts of the world and if it increases at this rapid rate then the condition would be worst one could have ever thought off. Garhwal Himalaya, major part of the great Himalayan mountainous system is also much sensitive and vulnerable to the local, regional and global changing climate. Due to strong altitudinal gradient, varied climatic conditions and diverse set of floral and faunal composition, the impact of climate change seems to be much higher. This paper highlights some important features of the changing pattern of vegetational composition, distribution and impact of climate change on the phenological aspect of major alpine plant species present in the Garhwal Himalayan region. It also shows cumulative changes, which operate at local level but are globally pervasive. These cumulative changes include change in the land cover/ land use and other anthropogen ic activities, which are related to the climate change. Overall biodiversity in the Himalayan region has been depleted as the consequences of complex and multitude pressure of climate change. The depleted biodiversity has indirectly affected the socio-economic development of the local communities on which their sustenance depends and is inherently critical to the consideration and management of natural resource. Introduction Plant diversity and Status The varied altitudinal, climatic and topographical conditions in the Himalaya results in different types of microhabitats. Geographic isolation, glaciations, evolution and migration of the species in the past all together have contributed to the high level of biodiversity in this mountain system. As per genetic, species and ecosystem level resources, Himalaya is one of the hotspots of biodiversity in the world, which represents about one-tenth of the worlds known species of high altitude plant and animal species. Some parts in the Himalayan region are center for origin of many crops and fruit species and are important source of gene for their wild relatives. The floral diversity of this region shows assemblage of many endemic and exotic species of plants from the adjoining regions. A large number of western Himalayan flora in the Garhwal Kumaon region seems to have been invaded from Tibet, western China and adjoining north-east Asia (Rau, 1975). In the present scenario biodiversity seems to have been depleted in these regions due to land degradation, habitat fragmentation, increasing population pressure, over exploitation of bio-resources and finally due to the changing pattern of the climate. Nearly 10% of flowering plants are listed under various categories of threatened species. Red Data Book of Indian plants listed about 620 threatened species, of which, 28 are presumed extinct, 124 endangered, 81 vulnerable, 160 rare and 34 insufficiently known (Nayar and Sastry, 1987, 1988), however, Red list of threatened plants indicates 19 species as extinct. Among others, 1236 species are listed as threatened, of which, 41 taxa are possibly extinct, 152 endangered, 102 vulnerable, 251 rare and 690 of indeterminate status (IUCN, 1997). From the Himalayan region the important plant species included in threatened categories are mostly the valuable medicinal and aromatic plants, which, support the economic condition and health care sys tem of the local communities. It is well known that, in the context of the present scenario of climate change especially due to global warming many of the high-elevated ecosystems are severely sensitive and vulnerable. Their fragility may accelerate the changes occurring in their composition and structure to the slight variations in climatic factors. These regions include glacier, alpine pasture/ meadows and timber line ecosystem, which are the important source of the seasonal runoff, freshwater, valuable medicinal and aromatic plants, grazing land, source of timber and wild edibles for the mankind. Future scenario of climate change: According to the Third Assessment Report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2001, average global temperature close to the earths surface has increased by 0.6 Â °C Â ± 0.2Â ° C since 19th century mainly due to the emission of CO2. If human beings do not act to reduce the present level of CO2 there will be additional increment in temperature of 1.4Â ° C to 5.8Â ° C in the next 40 100 year. Current information available on the pattern of future climate change through General Circulation Models (GCMs) suggested that the annual mean warming would increase about 3Â °C in the decade of 2050s and about 5Â °C in decade of the 2080s over the land region of Asia. Precipitation would increase annually about 7% and 11% in decades of 2050s and 2080s respectively. There would be a decline in the summer precipitation that seems likely to be over the central part of arid and semi-arid Asia. GCM also showed high uncertainty in future projection of winter and summer precipitati on over south Asia, because much of tropical Asian climate is noticeably associated with the annual monsoon cycle. In Central Himalayan region, through the assessment of people perception it is interpreted that, climate change resulted in the increase in warming, decline in rainfall during March- May, high rainfall during Aug- Sept instead of normal peak in July- Aug, decline in the snowfall intensity and winter precipitation in Jan-Feb instead of Dec-Jan (Saxena et al., 2004). This scenario can hardly trigger to think about the changing pattern of climate or its negative and positive impacts at local, regional and global level. Although assessment of future climate change scenario through some of scientific models needs a better infrastructure and high technological inputs, specific impact of climate change on different ecosystems can be discerned by comprehensive studies on long term monitoring of the different aspects of ecosystem which is lacking in the Indian context especially in the Garhwal Himalayan region due to poor infrastructure and management practices. So, as per as need concern in these remote areas the assessment of impact on the natural resources in future climate changes can be done through the site-specific sensitivity analysis and it can be related to the traditional knowledges of the peoples living in this particular region of the Himalaya. Sensitivity analysis would help to assess what will be happen if various climatic variables changed, and analysis also evaluates the positive or negative impacts of changing climate on the natural resources. This assessment would help us to make the l ocal communities realize the importance of conservation and management practice so that the endangered and threatened species could be saved from becoming extinct. Assessment of vulnerability and adaptive capacity of the various ecosystems and to develop indigenous knowledge based coping mechanism are important to determine the impact of climate change. This also links the ecological processes to the social processes and appreciates the relationship between the biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Climate change: Impact on different vegetation zone Natural ecosystems at high elevations are much more sensitive to the climatic variations (Ramakrishnan et al., 2003) or global warming then the managed systems. Their sensitivity is prominently attributed to their limited productivity during snow-free growing season (Price et al., 2000), low dispersal capability, geographically localized, genetically impoverished, highly specialized and slow reproducing ability of the high altitude plants (McNeely, 1990; WWF, 2003). As a consequence of global warming the present distribution of species in high altitude ecosystems projected to shift higher as results of upward altitudinal movement of the vegetation belts. Although the rate of vegetation change is expected to be slow and colonization success would depend on the ability of adaptation and interaction of the plant species with the climate and other associated species, weeds, exotic and invasive species. Their success also depends on their ecological niche width and their role in the ecosy stem functioning. Increase in the temperature would result competition between such species and new arrivals. As the result, species which have wide ecological tolerance have an advantage to adapt and those which are at the edge of range, genetically impoverished, poor dispersal ability and reproducer are under the threshold of extinction. A likely impact of climate change is also observed over the phenological aspect of vegetation in the alpine, sub alpine and timberline zone. Changes in the pattern of snowfall and snowmelt in these mountain regions and increase in mean annual surface temperature has pronounce impact on the date and time of the flowering and other phenophases of certain valuable, keystone species of plants. Earlier snowmelt simulate early flowering in some early growing plants and possibly increase in surface temperature may extend the growing period and productivity of certain grass species in the cooler climatic region. There is a gradual decrease in the growing period from timberline to the snow line, Rawat and Pangtey, (1987) reported about 20 weeks growing period near timberline and barely 4-6 weeks above 5000 m asl. Thus, increase in the average temperature due to global warming the growing period of the vegetation would be seems to extend at high altitudes. Evidences of climate change through p eople perception in Garhwal Himalaya reveals that increase in the warming results decline in the yield of apple fruits and shortening the maturity period of winter crops, whereas, the production of cash crops like potato, peas and kidney beans under warm condition increases. Change in rainfall pattern, snowfall intensity will increase large-scale mortality and damage to the crops, which are close to the maturity on the other hand, Barley and wheat crop production is severely affected due to winter precipitation in months of Jan- Feb (Saxena et al., 2004). Vulnerability of different vegetation belts in the Garhwal Himalaya. Dominant tree species in the low and mid altitude zone have a wider range of distribution. Shorea robusta the climax species of lower elevation is distributed over moist to dry deciduous bio-climates in central India where temperature is much higher while rainfall is quite low. Quercus spp. the climax species at mid elevation is also distributed over a wide range (1100- 1800m) The mid altitude which is dominated by broad leaves and coniferous forest (Rao, 1994) mainly species of Quercus spp. and Pinus spp. on response to the warming may be replaced by the species like Shorea robusta and Terminalia spp. Warming also increases the chance of greater fire risk in dry or moist deciduous forests, these impacts on the forest can directly influence the local livelihood based on fuel and fodder (Ramakrishnan et al. 2003). Rhododendron arboreum is a very prominent forest species because of its red flowers covering almost the whole canopy. At higher elevations this species used to attain peak flowering stage in February / March but now due to warming flowering time in this species seems to shift in the months of January/February. The phenological calendar at lower altitude has thus shifted to the higher altitudes. Exact times of leaf fall, flushing, flowering and fruiting may vary depending upon the elevation indicating sensitivity of phenophases to temperature and moisture stress regime. Flowering and fruiting start earlier about a month with increase in elevation by 600 m (increase in temperature by 2.4 degree C) in Rhododendron arboreum, Prunus cerasoides, Myrica esculenta, Pyrus Pashia and Reinwardtia indica in Central Himalaya. Leafless period in deciduous species like Aesculus indica and Alnus nepalensis is longer at higher altitude as compared to lower altitude. At higher elevation (1500-3300m) i n Central Himalaya, evergreen and winter deciduous species occur equally across the elevation/temperature gradient. All across the elevation / temperature gradient, majority of tree species show vernal flowering. Species showing vernal flowering (before 15 June) increased in frequency and those with aestival flowering (between 15 June 15 September) decreased with increase in annual temperature drown based on the elevation gradient. Thus, change in the temperature would affect flowering and fruiting time of different species or also induce change in species composition. Vegetation of the timberline in different parts of world not only differs in terms of species composition but also exhibit different types of species (Crawford, 1989). In some regions the timberline represents exclusively evergreen conifers while in some it represents totally deciduous broad-leaved trees (Purohit, 2003). In the central Himalaya the Betula utilis, Abies pindrow and Rhododendron campanulatum, are the native species of timberline (Rawal and Pangtey, 1993), and have a complex, spatial habitat and reservoir of large number of medicinal and aromatic plants and wild edibles. During recent past, timberline, the most prominent ecological boundary in the Himalaya where the sub-alpine forests terminates, has been identified as sensitive zone to environmental change and could be effectively modeled / monitored for future climate change processes. The species from tree-line have a narrow range of distribution, as temperature optima for most of these species is higher than the temperature in their natural habitats, warming will be expected to promote their growth but they may be threatened if they fail to compete with the changing climatic conditions (Saxena et al., 2004). Due to the over exploitation and changing global climatic condition many of the medicinal and aromatic plants in and around the timberline shrunk in size and distribution from their natural habitats and some of them are listed rare, threatened and endangered. Besides, the herbs some tree species of the timberline across the western Himalaya viz. Taxus baccata, Betula utilis etc. are also facing sever threats of depletion (Purohit, 2003). Most of the species valued by local communities have a poor soil seed bank, there could be large-scale local extinction of these species if seed production on a landscape scale decline (Saxena et al., 2004). Swan (1967) identified two parts of the alpine region i.e. above timberline (Lower alpine zone; 300 -4000 masl) and higher alpine zone (4000 masl snowline). Grasses and sedges are dominating members of alpine vegetation at lower altitude but they are characteristically replaced by non- grassy dwarf plant species at higher altitude near snowline. The area immediate above timberline and zone of stunted trees shrubs marks the alpine scrub. The vegetation of the lower alpine zone consists of dwarf shrubs, cushionoid herbs, grasses and sedges, Salix, Rosa, Lonicera, Ribes, Cotoneaster and Berberis etc. form the major shrub species at lower alpine zone (Kala et. al., 1998). The herbaceous flora of this zone represent spectacular array of multicolored flowers and include many short period growing cycle plant species. The major herbs of this zone are Potentilla, Geranium, Fritillaria, Lilium, Corydalis, Cyananthus, Anemone, Ranunculus, and Impatiens etc. The vegetation of the higher alpine zone is rather sparse, dotted with moraines, boulders and rocky slopes forming suitable habitat for the patches of shrubs e.g. Rhododendron lepidotum, Juniperus spp. Betula utilis and many species of colourful flowering plants, grasses and sedge etc. In the alpine with the onset of summer, the physical condition of the every patches of ground undergoes constant change, this is the root cause for the instability and succession of plants. Another feature of alpine plant distribution is that in the same habitat one could see the growth of several related or unrelated species and only one species dominate in the entire habitat almost to the exclusion of the other species. This difference may be due to the Physico- chemical properties of the soil. Initiation of growing season depends on the intensity of snowfall in the proceeding season and start of the melting of snow during spring (April May). In alpine region flowering is started during the month of May in some species, but in most of the species flowering occurs during June to late July and it goes up to early August (Nautiyal et al., 2001). Jennifer A. Dunne et al. (2003) reported that in experimental condition, increasing 2Â °C average soil temperature during the growing season for every two weeks of earlier snowmelt flowering time is advanced by 11 day in the sub-alpine region. Senescence at community level was gradually starts from July to September depending on the growth cycle of the plant species in Central Himalaya (Nautiyal et al., 2001). However in a study conducted by Zhang and Welker (1996) in Tibetan Tundra alpine the community senescence, which actually starts in September was postponed until October under warmer condition and stimulates the growth of grasses. It indicates that the warmer condition as result of increase CO2 enrichment extend the growing period and increase in the grass productivity and dis tribution may suppress the growth of forbs, shrubs (Zhang and Welker, 1996), similarly the valuable medicinal plants also affected (Ramakrishnan et al., 2003). It is possible that timber productivity in the high altitudes/ longitudes could increase as result of climate change, but it could take decades to occur and the newly form forests habitats are likely to retain lower level of native biodiversity due to loss of species that are unable to cope and some species will become more abundant and widely distributed (Alward et. al., 1999) Biotic invasion is another important cause of change in the geographical distribution of the plant species, which is derived or accelerated by the global change. Elevated CO2 might enhance the long-term success and dominance of exotic grasses and their shift in species composition mainly driven by global change has potential to accelerate fire cycle and may reduce biodiversity (Smith et al, 2000). The water use efficiency due to increase atmospheric CO2 can allow increase in potential distribution of Acacia nilotica spp. indica in Australia and increase temperature favour its reproductive life cycle (Kriticos et al, 2003). As the glaciers are receding at a fast rate the newly formed moraine belt is an excellent area to study the invasion of plants from the adjacent mountains and pastures.In recent several land uses and land covers of the high altitude is eroded due to the glacier melting, avalanches and land slides, which favour to extend the distribution of Polygonum polystachyum, a fast growing herb, is mostly found on freshly eroded slopes, past camping sites, river banks and avalanche tracks (Kala et. al., 1998). The other successful invaders found in these habitats are species of Lonicera and Berberis followed by Rosa and Ephedra. Increase temperature may results higher pathogen survival rate and most of the plant species will be severely threatened due to insect, pest and fungal disease. To the changing climate, plants can respond following possible ways firstly no change in their species composition but change in productivity and biogeochemical cycle. Secondly, evolutionary adaptation to the new climatic condition either through plasticity (i.e. shift in phenology) or through genetic response. Followed by emigration to the new areas, as warming observed in the alpine has been associated with upward movement of some plant taxa by 1-4 meter per decade on mountain tops and loss of some taxa that formally were restricted to higher altitude (Grabherr et.al., 1994). Ultimately, they may undergo extinction (Bawa and Dayanandan 1998, Ramakrishnan et al.2003). Most of the plant species changes over time through the process of succession, with pioneer species preparing the way for others, identifying the species present, the physical forms plant takes and the area they occupied are the way for observing change. All the changes involve dynamic and that are difficult or impossi ble to predict, natural ecosystems in this regard serve as a kind of natural laboratory, where natural mechanisms of change such as change in climatic condition and change in the feature of physical and biological systems observe practically. Appropriate management strategies need to developed in such a way that it may have to find a new balance between traditional conservation and maintenance of biodiversity and other ecosystem functioning. Effect on the vegetation: Upward movement of the vegetation belt. It result change in the pattern of structure and distribution of many valuable plant species, Reduction in the area of severely sensitive ecosystem like high altitude pastures, snow cover peaks and important glaciers. Changes in the phenology of some plant species, which include change in time of flowering and seed formation. Changes in the habitat, which is favourable for new alien weedy and invasive species. Increases fire risk in the sub-temperate and temperate dry deciduous and pine forests. Increases productivity of some grass species from the high altitude regions. Adverse impact on the timber production of forest. Effect on the agro-system: Changes the pattern and time of cropping. Shortening the maturity period of some winter crops, which are traditionally important constituent of mountain agriculture. Increase in the pathogen survival rate and crops are more susceptible to pest, insect and fungal diseases. Decline in the yield productivity of some traditional crops; whereas increasing temperature may also be favour the productivity crops like wheat. Decline in the yield of some horticultural fruits which needs chilling effect for their fruit development as seen in case of Apple fruit production. Uncertain high precipitation leads to destruction of crop productivity during flowering, seed formation and maturation time. Effect on Physical system: Accelerate intensity of glacier melting. Reduces area under snow cover and changes the time of snowmelt and snowfall at high-elevated ecosystems. Adverse impact on the seasonal runoff, freshwater availability. Increases the incident of landslides in mountains, drought condition and sever flood condition at lowland regions. Soil properties and process like organic matter decomposition, leaching and soil-water relation were influenced by increase temperature. Socio-economic conditions of the humankind severely affected: Reduction in the area of pasture adversely affect the local pastoral economy, as most of the local livestock of the transhumant and adjoining lowland peoples depends on the high altitude pastures in Garhwal in the summer season. Impact on the timber, medicinal plants and agriculture in the high altitude region in some extent gives negative results to the related industries. Economy through the hydropower generation is affected. Change in the social culture of the peoples living at high altitude regions, i.e. the time of the migration of the transhumant in Garhwal in recent affected due to the adverse climatic conditions. Which also affect their source of economy like agriculture, wool based occupation etc. Changes were also seen in the health conditions of the people living in high altitude, peoples of these regions now more worried about the heat stresses, vector borne diseases, respiratory, eye disorder etc. Status of many endangered wildlife fauna in the Himalayan region affected, and changes in the behavioural and seasonal migration of the animal species can be possible. Table: Distribution of some major plant species at different altitudinal belt of Garhwal Himalaya. Altitude (m asl) Plant species 500- 1400 Shrubs: Zizyphus xylopyrus, Woodfordia fructicosa, Trees: Rhododendron arboreum, Shorea robusta, Dalbergia sisso, Acacia catechu, Adina cardifolia, Terminalia, Cassia fistula, Mallotus philippensis, Bombax ceiba.Agele, 1500-2400 Herbs: Clematis montana, Anemone rivularis, A. obturiloba, Ranunculus hirtellus, Thalictrum chelidonii,Barbarea vulgaris, Silene indica, Malvia verticillata, Geraanium nepalense, Fragaria indica, Potentilla fulgens Epilobium pulustre,Bupleurum falcatum, Aster peduncularis, A. thomsonii, , Gentiana aprica etc. Shrubs: Prunus cornuta, Rosa macrophylla, Zizyphus xylopyrus, Woodfordia fructicosa Trees: Rhododendron arboreum, Shorea robusta, Dalbergia sisso, Acacia catechu, Pinus roxburghii,P. wallichiana, Quercus leucotricophora, Q. semecarpifolia, Adina cardifolia, 2500- 3400 Herbs: Anemone rivularis, A. obturiloba, Ranunculus hirtellus, Thalictrum chelidonii, T. minus, T. elegans, Aquilegiaa pubiflora, Caltha palustris Clematis montana, Clematis barbellata, Delphinium vestitum, Podophyllum hexandrum, Corydalis cornuta, Arabis nova, Viola canescens, Silene edgeworthii, S. Indica, Stellaria monosperma, Geranium collinum, G. himalayense, Trigonella emodi, Geum roylei, Potentilla fruticosa, P. fulgens, P. gelida, P. leuconota, P. polyphylla etc. Grasse Sedge: Carex cruciata, Agrostis pilosula,Poa supina, P. alpina, Danthonia. Shrubs: Cotoneaster macrophylla, Cotoneaster acuminatus, Lonicera, Salix, Rubus foliolosus, Spiraea bella, Berberis glaucocarpa, Myricaria bracteata, Skimmia laaureola, Astragallus candolleanus, Rosa macrophylla. Ribes himalense, Trees: Betula utilis, Taxus baccata, Rhododendron campanulatum, Alnus nitida, A. nepalensis, Abies pindrow, Cedrus deodara, Pinus wallichiana, Acer ceasium, Junipers 3500-4400 Herbs: Cypridium elegans*, C. himalaicum, Epipogium aphyllum, Dactylorrhiza hatagirea, Listera tenuis, Neottianthe secundiflora, Aconitum balfouri, A. falconeri, A. heterophyllum, A. violaceum, Ranunculus pulchellus, Thalictrum alpinum, Podophyllum hexandrum, Acer caesium*, Meconopsis aculeate, Corydalis sikkimensis, Megacarpaea polyandra, Astragallus himalayanus, Nardostachys graandiflora*, Picrorhiza kurrooa*, Pleurospermum angelicoides, Saussurea costus*, S. obvallata, Angelica glauca, Ribes griffithii, Lonicera asperifolia, Waldhemia tomentosa, Primula glomerata, Arnebia benthamii, Geranium pratense, Impatiens thomsonii, I. racemosa, Dioscorea deltoidea*, Allium humile, A. stracheyi*, A. wallichi, Clintonia udensis, Thamnocalamus falconeri, Orobanche alba, Sedum ewersii, S. heterodontum,Pimpnella diversifolia, Morina longifolia Grasse Sedge: Elymus thomsonii, Agrostis munroana, Calamagrostis emodensis, Danthonia cachemyriana, Festuca polycolea, Poa pagophila, Stipa roylei, Carex infuscate, C. nivalis, Kobresia royleana, K. duthei etc. Shrubs: Cotoneaster duthiana, Cotoneaster acuminatus Hippophae tibetana, Rosa sericea, Sorbus macrophylla, S. ursine, Rhododendron anthopogon, Trees: Sorbus aucuparia, Cedrus deodara, Betulla utilis, 4500- above Herbs: Oxygraphis glacialis, Ranunculus pulchellus,Corydalis bowerii, Alyssum canescens,Draba altaica, Silene gonosperma, Potentilla sericea, Sedum bouverii, Saussurea obvallata, S. simpsoniana, Christolea himalayensis Literature cited Rau, M. A. (1975). High altitude flowering plants of west Himalaya. BSI, Howrah, India, pp.214. Singh, D. K. and Hajra, P. K., in Changing Perspectives of Biodiversity Status in the Himalaya (eds Gujral, G. S. and Sharma, V.), British Council Division, British High Commission, Publ. Wildlife Youth Services, New Delhi, 1996, pp. 23-38. Dunne, J.A., Harte, J. and Taylor, K. (2003). Sub alpine Meadow Flowering Phenology Responses To Climate Change: Integrating Experimental And Gradient Methods, Ecological Monographs 73 (1), pp. 69-86. IPCC (2001). Climate Change-2001: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, contribution of Working Group II to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Kriticos, D.J., Sutherst, R.W., Brown, J.K., Adkings, S.W. and Maywald, G.F. (2003) Climate Change and The Potential Distribution of an Invasive Alien Plant: Acacia nilotica ssp.indica in Australia, Journal of Applied Ecology, 40; 111-124. Nautiyal, B.P., Prakash, V and Nautiyal, M.C. (2000). Structure And Diversity Pattern Along An Altitudinal Gradient In An Alpine Meadow Of Madhyamaheshwer, Garhwal Himalaya, India. Indian Journal of Environmental Science 4(I). 39- 48. Nautiyal, M.C., Nautiyal, B.P. and Prakash, V. (2001). Phenology And Growth Form Distribution In An Alpine Pasture At Tungnath, Garhwal Himalaya. Mountain Research and Development, Vol. 21, No. 2, 177-183. Price, M.V. and Waser, N.M. (2000). Responses of sub alpine meadow vegetation to four year of experimental warming. Ecological Applicati Alpine Plant Biodiversity in the Central Himalayas Alpine Plant Biodiversity in the Central Himalayas Alpine Plant Biodiversity in the Central Himalayan Region: Perspective of Global Climate Change Summary Increase in surface temperature at global scale has already affected a diverse set of physical and biological systems in many parts of the world and if it increases at this rapid rate then the condition would be worst one could have ever thought off. Garhwal Himalaya, major part of the great Himalayan mountainous system is also much sensitive and vulnerable to the local, regional and global changing climate. Due to strong altitudinal gradient, varied climatic conditions and diverse set of floral and faunal composition, the impact of climate change seems to be much higher. This paper highlights some important features of the changing pattern of vegetational composition, distribution and impact of climate change on the phenological aspect of major alpine plant species present in the Garhwal Himalayan region. It also shows cumulative changes, which operate at local level but are globally pervasive. These cumulative changes include change in the land cover/ land use and other anthropogen ic activities, which are related to the climate change. Overall biodiversity in the Himalayan region has been depleted as the consequences of complex and multitude pressure of climate change. The depleted biodiversity has indirectly affected the socio-economic development of the local communities on which their sustenance depends and is inherently critical to the consideration and management of natural resource. Introduction Plant diversity and Status The varied altitudinal, climatic and topographical conditions in the Himalaya results in different types of microhabitats. Geographic isolation, glaciations, evolution and migration of the species in the past all together have contributed to the high level of biodiversity in this mountain system. As per genetic, species and ecosystem level resources, Himalaya is one of the hotspots of biodiversity in the world, which represents about one-tenth of the worlds known species of high altitude plant and animal species. Some parts in the Himalayan region are center for origin of many crops and fruit species and are important source of gene for their wild relatives. The floral diversity of this region shows assemblage of many endemic and exotic species of plants from the adjoining regions. A large number of western Himalayan flora in the Garhwal Kumaon region seems to have been invaded from Tibet, western China and adjoining north-east Asia (Rau, 1975). In the present scenario biodiversity seems to have been depleted in these regions due to land degradation, habitat fragmentation, increasing population pressure, over exploitation of bio-resources and finally due to the changing pattern of the climate. Nearly 10% of flowering plants are listed under various categories of threatened species. Red Data Book of Indian plants listed about 620 threatened species, of which, 28 are presumed extinct, 124 endangered, 81 vulnerable, 160 rare and 34 insufficiently known (Nayar and Sastry, 1987, 1988), however, Red list of threatened plants indicates 19 species as extinct. Among others, 1236 species are listed as threatened, of which, 41 taxa are possibly extinct, 152 endangered, 102 vulnerable, 251 rare and 690 of indeterminate status (IUCN, 1997). From the Himalayan region the important plant species included in threatened categories are mostly the valuable medicinal and aromatic plants, which, support the economic condition and health care sys tem of the local communities. It is well known that, in the context of the present scenario of climate change especially due to global warming many of the high-elevated ecosystems are severely sensitive and vulnerable. Their fragility may accelerate the changes occurring in their composition and structure to the slight variations in climatic factors. These regions include glacier, alpine pasture/ meadows and timber line ecosystem, which are the important source of the seasonal runoff, freshwater, valuable medicinal and aromatic plants, grazing land, source of timber and wild edibles for the mankind. Future scenario of climate change: According to the Third Assessment Report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2001, average global temperature close to the earths surface has increased by 0.6 Â °C Â ± 0.2Â ° C since 19th century mainly due to the emission of CO2. If human beings do not act to reduce the present level of CO2 there will be additional increment in temperature of 1.4Â ° C to 5.8Â ° C in the next 40 100 year. Current information available on the pattern of future climate change through General Circulation Models (GCMs) suggested that the annual mean warming would increase about 3Â °C in the decade of 2050s and about 5Â °C in decade of the 2080s over the land region of Asia. Precipitation would increase annually about 7% and 11% in decades of 2050s and 2080s respectively. There would be a decline in the summer precipitation that seems likely to be over the central part of arid and semi-arid Asia. GCM also showed high uncertainty in future projection of winter and summer precipitati on over south Asia, because much of tropical Asian climate is noticeably associated with the annual monsoon cycle. In Central Himalayan region, through the assessment of people perception it is interpreted that, climate change resulted in the increase in warming, decline in rainfall during March- May, high rainfall during Aug- Sept instead of normal peak in July- Aug, decline in the snowfall intensity and winter precipitation in Jan-Feb instead of Dec-Jan (Saxena et al., 2004). This scenario can hardly trigger to think about the changing pattern of climate or its negative and positive impacts at local, regional and global level. Although assessment of future climate change scenario through some of scientific models needs a better infrastructure and high technological inputs, specific impact of climate change on different ecosystems can be discerned by comprehensive studies on long term monitoring of the different aspects of ecosystem which is lacking in the Indian context especially in the Garhwal Himalayan region due to poor infrastructure and management practices. So, as per as need concern in these remote areas the assessment of impact on the natural resources in future climate changes can be done through the site-specific sensitivity analysis and it can be related to the traditional knowledges of the peoples living in this particular region of the Himalaya. Sensitivity analysis would help to assess what will be happen if various climatic variables changed, and analysis also evaluates the positive or negative impacts of changing climate on the natural resources. This assessment would help us to make the l ocal communities realize the importance of conservation and management practice so that the endangered and threatened species could be saved from becoming extinct. Assessment of vulnerability and adaptive capacity of the various ecosystems and to develop indigenous knowledge based coping mechanism are important to determine the impact of climate change. This also links the ecological processes to the social processes and appreciates the relationship between the biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Climate change: Impact on different vegetation zone Natural ecosystems at high elevations are much more sensitive to the climatic variations (Ramakrishnan et al., 2003) or global warming then the managed systems. Their sensitivity is prominently attributed to their limited productivity during snow-free growing season (Price et al., 2000), low dispersal capability, geographically localized, genetically impoverished, highly specialized and slow reproducing ability of the high altitude plants (McNeely, 1990; WWF, 2003). As a consequence of global warming the present distribution of species in high altitude ecosystems projected to shift higher as results of upward altitudinal movement of the vegetation belts. Although the rate of vegetation change is expected to be slow and colonization success would depend on the ability of adaptation and interaction of the plant species with the climate and other associated species, weeds, exotic and invasive species. Their success also depends on their ecological niche width and their role in the ecosy stem functioning. Increase in the temperature would result competition between such species and new arrivals. As the result, species which have wide ecological tolerance have an advantage to adapt and those which are at the edge of range, genetically impoverished, poor dispersal ability and reproducer are under the threshold of extinction. A likely impact of climate change is also observed over the phenological aspect of vegetation in the alpine, sub alpine and timberline zone. Changes in the pattern of snowfall and snowmelt in these mountain regions and increase in mean annual surface temperature has pronounce impact on the date and time of the flowering and other phenophases of certain valuable, keystone species of plants. Earlier snowmelt simulate early flowering in some early growing plants and possibly increase in surface temperature may extend the growing period and productivity of certain grass species in the cooler climatic region. There is a gradual decrease in the growing period from timberline to the snow line, Rawat and Pangtey, (1987) reported about 20 weeks growing period near timberline and barely 4-6 weeks above 5000 m asl. Thus, increase in the average temperature due to global warming the growing period of the vegetation would be seems to extend at high altitudes. Evidences of climate change through p eople perception in Garhwal Himalaya reveals that increase in the warming results decline in the yield of apple fruits and shortening the maturity period of winter crops, whereas, the production of cash crops like potato, peas and kidney beans under warm condition increases. Change in rainfall pattern, snowfall intensity will increase large-scale mortality and damage to the crops, which are close to the maturity on the other hand, Barley and wheat crop production is severely affected due to winter precipitation in months of Jan- Feb (Saxena et al., 2004). Vulnerability of different vegetation belts in the Garhwal Himalaya. Dominant tree species in the low and mid altitude zone have a wider range of distribution. Shorea robusta the climax species of lower elevation is distributed over moist to dry deciduous bio-climates in central India where temperature is much higher while rainfall is quite low. Quercus spp. the climax species at mid elevation is also distributed over a wide range (1100- 1800m) The mid altitude which is dominated by broad leaves and coniferous forest (Rao, 1994) mainly species of Quercus spp. and Pinus spp. on response to the warming may be replaced by the species like Shorea robusta and Terminalia spp. Warming also increases the chance of greater fire risk in dry or moist deciduous forests, these impacts on the forest can directly influence the local livelihood based on fuel and fodder (Ramakrishnan et al. 2003). Rhododendron arboreum is a very prominent forest species because of its red flowers covering almost the whole canopy. At higher elevations this species used to attain peak flowering stage in February / March but now due to warming flowering time in this species seems to shift in the months of January/February. The phenological calendar at lower altitude has thus shifted to the higher altitudes. Exact times of leaf fall, flushing, flowering and fruiting may vary depending upon the elevation indicating sensitivity of phenophases to temperature and moisture stress regime. Flowering and fruiting start earlier about a month with increase in elevation by 600 m (increase in temperature by 2.4 degree C) in Rhododendron arboreum, Prunus cerasoides, Myrica esculenta, Pyrus Pashia and Reinwardtia indica in Central Himalaya. Leafless period in deciduous species like Aesculus indica and Alnus nepalensis is longer at higher altitude as compared to lower altitude. At higher elevation (1500-3300m) i n Central Himalaya, evergreen and winter deciduous species occur equally across the elevation/temperature gradient. All across the elevation / temperature gradient, majority of tree species show vernal flowering. Species showing vernal flowering (before 15 June) increased in frequency and those with aestival flowering (between 15 June 15 September) decreased with increase in annual temperature drown based on the elevation gradient. Thus, change in the temperature would affect flowering and fruiting time of different species or also induce change in species composition. Vegetation of the timberline in different parts of world not only differs in terms of species composition but also exhibit different types of species (Crawford, 1989). In some regions the timberline represents exclusively evergreen conifers while in some it represents totally deciduous broad-leaved trees (Purohit, 2003). In the central Himalaya the Betula utilis, Abies pindrow and Rhododendron campanulatum, are the native species of timberline (Rawal and Pangtey, 1993), and have a complex, spatial habitat and reservoir of large number of medicinal and aromatic plants and wild edibles. During recent past, timberline, the most prominent ecological boundary in the Himalaya where the sub-alpine forests terminates, has been identified as sensitive zone to environmental change and could be effectively modeled / monitored for future climate change processes. The species from tree-line have a narrow range of distribution, as temperature optima for most of these species is higher than the temperature in their natural habitats, warming will be expected to promote their growth but they may be threatened if they fail to compete with the changing climatic conditions (Saxena et al., 2004). Due to the over exploitation and changing global climatic condition many of the medicinal and aromatic plants in and around the timberline shrunk in size and distribution from their natural habitats and some of them are listed rare, threatened and endangered. Besides, the herbs some tree species of the timberline across the western Himalaya viz. Taxus baccata, Betula utilis etc. are also facing sever threats of depletion (Purohit, 2003). Most of the species valued by local communities have a poor soil seed bank, there could be large-scale local extinction of these species if seed production on a landscape scale decline (Saxena et al., 2004). Swan (1967) identified two parts of the alpine region i.e. above timberline (Lower alpine zone; 300 -4000 masl) and higher alpine zone (4000 masl snowline). Grasses and sedges are dominating members of alpine vegetation at lower altitude but they are characteristically replaced by non- grassy dwarf plant species at higher altitude near snowline. The area immediate above timberline and zone of stunted trees shrubs marks the alpine scrub. The vegetation of the lower alpine zone consists of dwarf shrubs, cushionoid herbs, grasses and sedges, Salix, Rosa, Lonicera, Ribes, Cotoneaster and Berberis etc. form the major shrub species at lower alpine zone (Kala et. al., 1998). The herbaceous flora of this zone represent spectacular array of multicolored flowers and include many short period growing cycle plant species. The major herbs of this zone are Potentilla, Geranium, Fritillaria, Lilium, Corydalis, Cyananthus, Anemone, Ranunculus, and Impatiens etc. The vegetation of the higher alpine zone is rather sparse, dotted with moraines, boulders and rocky slopes forming suitable habitat for the patches of shrubs e.g. Rhododendron lepidotum, Juniperus spp. Betula utilis and many species of colourful flowering plants, grasses and sedge etc. In the alpine with the onset of summer, the physical condition of the every patches of ground undergoes constant change, this is the root cause for the instability and succession of plants. Another feature of alpine plant distribution is that in the same habitat one could see the growth of several related or unrelated species and only one species dominate in the entire habitat almost to the exclusion of the other species. This difference may be due to the Physico- chemical properties of the soil. Initiation of growing season depends on the intensity of snowfall in the proceeding season and start of the melting of snow during spring (April May). In alpine region flowering is started during the month of May in some species, but in most of the species flowering occurs during June to late July and it goes up to early August (Nautiyal et al., 2001). Jennifer A. Dunne et al. (2003) reported that in experimental condition, increasing 2Â °C average soil temperature during the growing season for every two weeks of earlier snowmelt flowering time is advanced by 11 day in the sub-alpine region. Senescence at community level was gradually starts from July to September depending on the growth cycle of the plant species in Central Himalaya (Nautiyal et al., 2001). However in a study conducted by Zhang and Welker (1996) in Tibetan Tundra alpine the community senescence, which actually starts in September was postponed until October under warmer condition and stimulates the growth of grasses. It indicates that the warmer condition as result of increase CO2 enrichment extend the growing period and increase in the grass productivity and dis tribution may suppress the growth of forbs, shrubs (Zhang and Welker, 1996), similarly the valuable medicinal plants also affected (Ramakrishnan et al., 2003). It is possible that timber productivity in the high altitudes/ longitudes could increase as result of climate change, but it could take decades to occur and the newly form forests habitats are likely to retain lower level of native biodiversity due to loss of species that are unable to cope and some species will become more abundant and widely distributed (Alward et. al., 1999) Biotic invasion is another important cause of change in the geographical distribution of the plant species, which is derived or accelerated by the global change. Elevated CO2 might enhance the long-term success and dominance of exotic grasses and their shift in species composition mainly driven by global change has potential to accelerate fire cycle and may reduce biodiversity (Smith et al, 2000). The water use efficiency due to increase atmospheric CO2 can allow increase in potential distribution of Acacia nilotica spp. indica in Australia and increase temperature favour its reproductive life cycle (Kriticos et al, 2003). As the glaciers are receding at a fast rate the newly formed moraine belt is an excellent area to study the invasion of plants from the adjacent mountains and pastures.In recent several land uses and land covers of the high altitude is eroded due to the glacier melting, avalanches and land slides, which favour to extend the distribution of Polygonum polystachyum, a fast growing herb, is mostly found on freshly eroded slopes, past camping sites, river banks and avalanche tracks (Kala et. al., 1998). The other successful invaders found in these habitats are species of Lonicera and Berberis followed by Rosa and Ephedra. Increase temperature may results higher pathogen survival rate and most of the plant species will be severely threatened due to insect, pest and fungal disease. To the changing climate, plants can respond following possible ways firstly no change in their species composition but change in productivity and biogeochemical cycle. Secondly, evolutionary adaptation to the new climatic condition either through plasticity (i.e. shift in phenology) or through genetic response. Followed by emigration to the new areas, as warming observed in the alpine has been associated with upward movement of some plant taxa by 1-4 meter per decade on mountain tops and loss of some taxa that formally were restricted to higher altitude (Grabherr et.al., 1994). Ultimately, they may undergo extinction (Bawa and Dayanandan 1998, Ramakrishnan et al.2003). Most of the plant species changes over time through the process of succession, with pioneer species preparing the way for others, identifying the species present, the physical forms plant takes and the area they occupied are the way for observing change. All the changes involve dynamic and that are difficult or impossi ble to predict, natural ecosystems in this regard serve as a kind of natural laboratory, where natural mechanisms of change such as change in climatic condition and change in the feature of physical and biological systems observe practically. Appropriate management strategies need to developed in such a way that it may have to find a new balance between traditional conservation and maintenance of biodiversity and other ecosystem functioning. Effect on the vegetation: Upward movement of the vegetation belt. It result change in the pattern of structure and distribution of many valuable plant species, Reduction in the area of severely sensitive ecosystem like high altitude pastures, snow cover peaks and important glaciers. Changes in the phenology of some plant species, which include change in time of flowering and seed formation. Changes in the habitat, which is favourable for new alien weedy and invasive species. Increases fire risk in the sub-temperate and temperate dry deciduous and pine forests. Increases productivity of some grass species from the high altitude regions. Adverse impact on the timber production of forest. Effect on the agro-system: Changes the pattern and time of cropping. Shortening the maturity period of some winter crops, which are traditionally important constituent of mountain agriculture. Increase in the pathogen survival rate and crops are more susceptible to pest, insect and fungal diseases. Decline in the yield productivity of some traditional crops; whereas increasing temperature may also be favour the productivity crops like wheat. Decline in the yield of some horticultural fruits which needs chilling effect for their fruit development as seen in case of Apple fruit production. Uncertain high precipitation leads to destruction of crop productivity during flowering, seed formation and maturation time. Effect on Physical system: Accelerate intensity of glacier melting. Reduces area under snow cover and changes the time of snowmelt and snowfall at high-elevated ecosystems. Adverse impact on the seasonal runoff, freshwater availability. Increases the incident of landslides in mountains, drought condition and sever flood condition at lowland regions. Soil properties and process like organic matter decomposition, leaching and soil-water relation were influenced by increase temperature. Socio-economic conditions of the humankind severely affected: Reduction in the area of pasture adversely affect the local pastoral economy, as most of the local livestock of the transhumant and adjoining lowland peoples depends on the high altitude pastures in Garhwal in the summer season. Impact on the timber, medicinal plants and agriculture in the high altitude region in some extent gives negative results to the related industries. Economy through the hydropower generation is affected. Change in the social culture of the peoples living at high altitude regions, i.e. the time of the migration of the transhumant in Garhwal in recent affected due to the adverse climatic conditions. Which also affect their source of economy like agriculture, wool based occupation etc. Changes were also seen in the health conditions of the people living in high altitude, peoples of these regions now more worried about the heat stresses, vector borne diseases, respiratory, eye disorder etc. Status of many endangered wildlife fauna in the Himalayan region affected, and changes in the behavioural and seasonal migration of the animal species can be possible. Table: Distribution of some major plant species at different altitudinal belt of Garhwal Himalaya. Altitude (m asl) Plant species 500- 1400 Shrubs: Zizyphus xylopyrus, Woodfordia fructicosa, Trees: Rhododendron arboreum, Shorea robusta, Dalbergia sisso, Acacia catechu, Adina cardifolia, Terminalia, Cassia fistula, Mallotus philippensis, Bombax ceiba.Agele, 1500-2400 Herbs: Clematis montana, Anemone rivularis, A. obturiloba, Ranunculus hirtellus, Thalictrum chelidonii,Barbarea vulgaris, Silene indica, Malvia verticillata, Geraanium nepalense, Fragaria indica, Potentilla fulgens Epilobium pulustre,Bupleurum falcatum, Aster peduncularis, A. thomsonii, , Gentiana aprica etc. Shrubs: Prunus cornuta, Rosa macrophylla, Zizyphus xylopyrus, Woodfordia fructicosa Trees: Rhododendron arboreum, Shorea robusta, Dalbergia sisso, Acacia catechu, Pinus roxburghii,P. wallichiana, Quercus leucotricophora, Q. semecarpifolia, Adina cardifolia, 2500- 3400 Herbs: Anemone rivularis, A. obturiloba, Ranunculus hirtellus, Thalictrum chelidonii, T. minus, T. elegans, Aquilegiaa pubiflora, Caltha palustris Clematis montana, Clematis barbellata, Delphinium vestitum, Podophyllum hexandrum, Corydalis cornuta, Arabis nova, Viola canescens, Silene edgeworthii, S. Indica, Stellaria monosperma, Geranium collinum, G. himalayense, Trigonella emodi, Geum roylei, Potentilla fruticosa, P. fulgens, P. gelida, P. leuconota, P. polyphylla etc. Grasse Sedge: Carex cruciata, Agrostis pilosula,Poa supina, P. alpina, Danthonia. Shrubs: Cotoneaster macrophylla, Cotoneaster acuminatus, Lonicera, Salix, Rubus foliolosus, Spiraea bella, Berberis glaucocarpa, Myricaria bracteata, Skimmia laaureola, Astragallus candolleanus, Rosa macrophylla. Ribes himalense, Trees: Betula utilis, Taxus baccata, Rhododendron campanulatum, Alnus nitida, A. nepalensis, Abies pindrow, Cedrus deodara, Pinus wallichiana, Acer ceasium, Junipers 3500-4400 Herbs: Cypridium elegans*, C. himalaicum, Epipogium aphyllum, Dactylorrhiza hatagirea, Listera tenuis, Neottianthe secundiflora, Aconitum balfouri, A. falconeri, A. heterophyllum, A. violaceum, Ranunculus pulchellus, Thalictrum alpinum, Podophyllum hexandrum, Acer caesium*, Meconopsis aculeate, Corydalis sikkimensis, Megacarpaea polyandra, Astragallus himalayanus, Nardostachys graandiflora*, Picrorhiza kurrooa*, Pleurospermum angelicoides, Saussurea costus*, S. obvallata, Angelica glauca, Ribes griffithii, Lonicera asperifolia, Waldhemia tomentosa, Primula glomerata, Arnebia benthamii, Geranium pratense, Impatiens thomsonii, I. racemosa, Dioscorea deltoidea*, Allium humile, A. stracheyi*, A. wallichi, Clintonia udensis, Thamnocalamus falconeri, Orobanche alba, Sedum ewersii, S. heterodontum,Pimpnella diversifolia, Morina longifolia Grasse Sedge: Elymus thomsonii, Agrostis munroana, Calamagrostis emodensis, Danthonia cachemyriana, Festuca polycolea, Poa pagophila, Stipa roylei, Carex infuscate, C. nivalis, Kobresia royleana, K. duthei etc. Shrubs: Cotoneaster duthiana, Cotoneaster acuminatus Hippophae tibetana, Rosa sericea, Sorbus macrophylla, S. ursine, Rhododendron anthopogon, Trees: Sorbus aucuparia, Cedrus deodara, Betulla utilis, 4500- above Herbs: Oxygraphis glacialis, Ranunculus pulchellus,Corydalis bowerii, Alyssum canescens,Draba altaica, Silene gonosperma, Potentilla sericea, Sedum bouverii, Saussurea obvallata, S. simpsoniana, Christolea himalayensis Literature cited Rau, M. A. (1975). High altitude flowering plants of west Himalaya. BSI, Howrah, India, pp.214. Singh, D. K. and Hajra, P. K., in Changing Perspectives of Biodiversity Status in the Himalaya (eds Gujral, G. S. and Sharma, V.), British Council Division, British High Commission, Publ. Wildlife Youth Services, New Delhi, 1996, pp. 23-38. Dunne, J.A., Harte, J. and Taylor, K. (2003). Sub alpine Meadow Flowering Phenology Responses To Climate Change: Integrating Experimental And Gradient Methods, Ecological Monographs 73 (1), pp. 69-86. IPCC (2001). Climate Change-2001: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, contribution of Working Group II to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Kriticos, D.J., Sutherst, R.W., Brown, J.K., Adkings, S.W. and Maywald, G.F. (2003) Climate Change and The Potential Distribution of an Invasive Alien Plant: Acacia nilotica ssp.indica in Australia, Journal of Applied Ecology, 40; 111-124. Nautiyal, B.P., Prakash, V and Nautiyal, M.C. (2000). Structure And Diversity Pattern Along An Altitudinal Gradient In An Alpine Meadow Of Madhyamaheshwer, Garhwal Himalaya, India. Indian Journal of Environmental Science 4(I). 39- 48. Nautiyal, M.C., Nautiyal, B.P. and Prakash, V. (2001). Phenology And Growth Form Distribution In An Alpine Pasture At Tungnath, Garhwal Himalaya. Mountain Research and Development, Vol. 21, No. 2, 177-183. Price, M.V. and Waser, N.M. (2000). Responses of sub alpine meadow vegetation to four year of experimental warming. Ecological Applicati

Why Gender Matters in Understanding September 11th :: September 11 Terrorism Essays

Usually when the word gender is used in a political sense often times what is described is the role of women in a certain aspect of politics. This paper is a look at certain social norms that are directly related to women and their rights that seem to allow and harbor terrorist. The idea of the article that I am basing this paper on is by Amy Caiazza Ph.D. who suggests that if we were to change some of our ways in society regarding women we might have been able to foresee the events of the September 11th attacks. Historically women have taken a back seat to men in almost every aspect of life we were always second choice. Fortunately for us as the time moves forward we see a dramatic increase in the role that women play in society today. Though our progress has been great there are still women who are not satisfied with the place in society that women have. Locally here in the U.S. women have it pretty good and most of them tend not to complain but there are those feminist that want women abroad to be able to experience the same freedoms that the women of America enjoy and some times take for granted. Women in our traditional roles or as some may say in our natural state are known as the child bearers, family care takers, household keeper, and nurturer of all. The list that I just stated is only the beginning of what a woman can do. In other countries for example in Afghanistan in 1997 when the now popular Taliban first came into power they put into practice a radical form of Islamic rule known as Sharia. This radical rule that they governed with limited women in so many ways the women of Afghanistan were not allowed to educate themselves. These women were also not allowed to participate in any form of activism and were not able to even have a physical position in their own society. When women have been found in violation of these rules the end results were never too good. In fact many women have been beaten and put to death once they were caught breaking the rules.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  These acts of disrespect and violence against women are no secret to the United States of America. America jokingly is often called the world police and is known for â€Å"sticking their nose in other peoples business† but for some unknown reason they have taken no action against the Taliban for these injustices they are imposing on the women of Afghanistan.

Longitudinal Analysis Using Panel Data for Assessing Seasonality Effects on the Food Security Situation in Tajikistan 2005 Hbs

Issue: Longitudinal analysis using panel data for assessing seasonality effects on the food security situation in Tajikistan 2005 HBS Tajikistan: Longitudinal analysis using panel data for assessing seasonality effects on the food security situation in Tajikistan 2005 HBS RAMASAWMY, Seevalingum FAO Statistics Division, Rome. Italy Household income and expenditure survey (HIES) usually collects food data from households at only one period which may refer to one week, two weeks or one month. Most HIES extend the field work over the entire period of one year to account for any seasonal effects of household expenditure particularly food consumption. The survey estimates assume seasonal effects cancelled out in large groups of households but not at the level of the individual household. Thus, the inter-household variation estimated on the basis of such data would tend to include the seasonal effects. However, the Tajikistan Household Budget Survey (HBS) presents a particular characteristic that it collects expenditure and income data from the same household over a long period of time. The longitudinal design survey accounts for all variations including the seasonal effects when analysed over the months of the yearly period. This paper presents some trend analysis of food security statistics derived from the 2005 Tajikistan household panel monthly food consumption data collected from the sample of 925 households and evaluate the impact of the variability of the distribution of the food consumption in the food security statistics estimates. Keywords: Food consumption data, Food security statistics, Panel data, Dietary energy consumption, Food Deprivation, Critical food poverty, Coefficient of variation. Acknowledgements: FAO (Statistics Division and Food Security Information for Action Programme) for technical assistance and the European Community for financial support. 1. BACKGROUND Tajikistan is a landlocked country, largely mountainous and sparsely inhabited, 90 percent is mountainous and the total area splits the country into four regions (Oblasts) and one independent city, the national capital Dushanbe. Only seven percent of the land area is arable; cotton and wheat are the main important crops. Aluminium is the major country resource together with other limited mineral resources such as silver, gold, uranium, and tungsten. With abundant water resources, it possesses much hydropower facilities which are however not well distributed among its population. The civil war (1992-97) severely damaged the already weak economic infrastructure and caused a sharp decline in industrial and agricultural production. While Tajikistan has experienced steady economic growth since 1997, nearly two-thirds of the population continues to live in poverty. Economic growth reached 10. percent in 2004 but dropped to eight percent in 2005 and to 7 percent in 2006. Tajikistan's economic situation, however, remains fragile due to uneven implementation of structural reforms, weak governance, widespread unemployment, and the external debt burden. Unemployment is officially estimated at 30 percent, while the figure is likely to be much higher. Lack of alternative sources of livelihoods continue to exacerb ate household food insecurity and results in under-employment in the agricultural sector, while a large number of young men seasonally or definitely migrate for employment in other CIS countries. There is a high mobility of the working population to Russia, where more than half a million of the population are currently working. The 2007 Tajikistan population was about seven million; nearly 70 percent live in rural areas. The annual population growth is about 2 percent. 2. OBJECTIVES, METHODS AND DATA The paper analyses the trends of food security statistics derived from the monthly and quarterly food consumption data of the Tajikistan 2005 HBS. It also evaluates the trend variations of inequality measures of dietary energy onsumption due to other factors such as income and area of residence and their effects on the measurement of food deprivation. The Tajikistan State Committee of Statistics has been conducting household budget survey (HBS) based on the Soviet methodology collecting household consumption expenditure from a fixed sample of households over time. A nationally representative sample of 925 households was selected from the 2000 population census data frame using th e multi-stage stratification. Rural and urban areas together with criteria of mountains, valley, uplands, lowlands and country borders on the north and south were accounted for. The households were selected at the last stage using the available administrative data with regard to the composition of the household. Household detailed expenditure including food and income data are collected using daily records from the same 925 households over years since January 2000. Each household receives a monthly incentive equivalent to one dollar in local currency. The Tajikistan HBS collected consumption and expenditure data from 925 households over the year using eight different types of questionnaires which enable the collection of complementary expenditure data on a daily, monthly and quarterly basis. Food data are recorded in detail, – stock at the start of the month for each food item, purchases, own production, transfers, (aid, gifts, etc. ) during the month on a daily basis, and closing stock at the end of the month. Income is also collected by sources on a daily and monthly basis. SCS uses a detailed nutrient conversion table covering dietary energy, protein, fat and carbohydrate values for computing nutrient values. The Tajikistan 2005 HBS monthly food consumption data together with the household income were analysed using the FAO statistical procedures of the food security statistics module (FSSM). The paper compares the food security statistics (FSS) estimates from the two sets of data namely the twelve sets of monthly food consumption data and the quarterly aggregated data of the 925 households. The food consumption in terms of dietary energy and expenditure are examined together with the dietary energy unit value at the national level and by the four main regions, Dushanbe, RPR, Sogd and Chatlon and by income quintiles. The inequality measure of food assess is studied in much details to evaluate the variation of area of residence and income over the months of 2005. Measures of prevalence of hunger, food deprivation and critical food poverty are also discussed. Lastly the food expenditure share of total consumption and the diet diversity are compared for the two sets of data. 3. FOOD SECURITY STATISTICS DERIVED USING THE LONGITUDINAL APPROACH. a. Dietary energy consumption The average daily dietary energy consumption (DEC) of the Tajik was 2150 kcal in 2005. The DEC by regions and income levels showed wide fluctuations over the months of the year 2005 as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 below. The population of the capital city Dushanbe and RPR regions had lower DEC levels than the national level during all the months of the year. These two regions had low food production as Dushanbe is the capital city and RPR is the region of aluminium ores and had to rely on food imports from other local regions or imports from neighbouring countries. However, Sogd, the industrial region and Chatlon, the cotton and wheat growing region had DEC higher than the national level almost all the months of the year. These two regions have good food availability as they contain the largest cropping areas cultivating crops such as potatoes, barley, melons, etc. Figure 1: Trends of DEC by Regions Figure 2: Trends of DEC by Income levels |[pic] |[pic] | Analysing the DEC by daily per person income quintiles showed a gradual increasing in the overall monthly level of dietary energy consumption from the lowest to the highest income population groups. The population of the three lowest income groups had DEC below the national minimum dietary energy requirement (MDER) of 1880 kcal/person/day during all the months of the year. Those of the two highest income quintiles had DEC well above the national average DEC. The fluctuations in the DEC of the four lowest income groups over the months were small and less irregular than those observed among regions. However, the highest income population group had more pronounced fluctuations which kept increasing over the months with peaks in March and October. The dietary energy consumption among the Tajik population related more to income levels than place of residence. The levels of DEC for the population of the first four income quintiles did not differ greatly in magnitude. The average daily per person income ranged from 0. 91 Somoni for the lowest quintile to 1. 91 Somoni for the fourth one while the highest quintile had a much higher average of 3. 20 Somoni. This group of high income population which were present in all the four regions may probably influence those observed fluctuations. March and October 2005 were the two months registering high peaks in dietary energy consumption, probably linked to national socio-cultural or religious events. More than 90 percent of Tajiks are Sunnis and were most probably fasting in October 2005 which was the month of Ramadan in Tajikistan. It is a well known fact that during that special religious month, there is a high acquisition and consumption of food in terms of both quality and quantities particularly among the high income levels households. In addition, there is much sharing of food among the community with a large part of food given away by households and at the same time received by other households. However, the recording of such data on food transfers did not take place, thus leaving its effect unknown. b. Food expenditure The national average daily per person monetary values of the food expenditure fluctuated over the months of the year with the lowest value (1. 12 Somoni) in February and the highest value (1. 68) in October when there was that overall high level of consumption. The analysis by regions showed that the population of Dushanbe had a relatively low level of dietary energy consumption, but food expenditure higher than the national level indicating that prices in the capital city were higher than in other parts of Tajikistan probably due to a high importation of food products from other regions or countries. The industrial region of Sogd showed a high level of food expenditure ranging from 1. 17 to 1. 61 Somoni slightly higher than the average food spending in Dushanbe. The population of RPR had the overall lowest food expenditure (Figures 3). Figure 4 shows the monthly trends of food expenditure by income levels. Again the hierarchical differences from highest to lowest income quintile are clearly observed. Food expenditures for the population of the three lowest income quintiles were lower than the national level for all the months of the year. The amount of money spent on food remained at almost the same levels, but with an increase in October followed by a decrease in November and another increase in December probably due with the end of the year celebrations events. The population of the highest income quintile had increasingly high food expenditures with peaks in the three last months of the year of 2005. Figure 3: Trends of food expenses by Regions Figure 4: Trends of food expenses by Income levels |[pic] |[pic] | Figure 4 shows the monthly trends of food expenditure by income levels. Again the hierarchical differences from highest to lowest income quintile are clearly observed. Food expenditures for the population of the three lowest income quintiles were lower than the national level for all the months of the year. The amount of money spent on food remained at almost the same levels, but with an increase in October followed by a decrease in November and another increase in December probably due with the end of the year celebrations events. The population of the highest income quintile had increasingly high food expenditures with peaks in the three last months of the year of 2005. c. Dietary unit value The national average dietary unit value was 0. 57 Somoni per 1000 kcal. This value varied from 0. 55 Somoni for the months of February and March to 0. 63 Somoni in December. The population of the capital city Dushanbe had the highest dietary energy unit value over all months of the year of 2005, paying abnormal high values in the months of January (0. 71 Somoni) and October (0. 75 Somoni). Population of Sogd had also a high overall dietary energy unit value which increased slowly over the months of 2005 (see Figure 5). It is surprising to note that the dietary unit value fell in all regions in the month of November before going up again in December. This could probably be due to a fall in food prices resulting in a surplus of food items on the market due to the end of the religious month of October. Figure 5: Dietary energy unit value by Regions Figure 6: Dietary energy unit value Income levels |[pic] |[pic] | The dietary energy unit value showed marked increasing patterns over the months of the year when analysed by income levels with again a drop in the values in November followed by an increase in December. The lowest quintile population had an overall yearly dietary energy unit value of 0. 49 Somoni compared to a value of 0. 66 Somoni for the highest income quintile. d. Diet Diversity The share of total calories of nutrients in total calories of dietary energy showed a protein deficiency diet when compared to the WHO norms (Figure 7). The share contribution of protein was around nine percent, while the |Figure 7: Share (%) of nutrients in total calories and WHO guidelines | |WHO minimum and maximum values are 10 and 15 percent respectively. The| | |share contribution of fats was within the WHO norms, but the share | | |contribution of carbohydrates (70 percent) was more towards the | | |maximum value of 75 percent. Consumption of protein food sources such| | |as pulses, fish, meat or dairy products were very low. | | | |[pic] | The regional analysis of the share of protein calorie contribution to total calories is given in Figure 8 and showed large and uneven variations were observed among the regions over the months of the year. The population of Dushanbe were more protein deficient (almost below 9 percent in all months except July to September) than other regions while the population of RPR had relatively, though still deficient, higher protein consumption. There were two months (July and September) when there was increasing protein consumption in all regions probably due to availability of protein rich food products coming from the harvest seasons. There was no clear difference in the level of protein consumption among population groups of different income levels over the months of the year (Figure 9), except that all income groups showed the same increasing patterns over the months of July and September, before falling down in October. This situation could be the due to the scarcity of high protein food products on the Tajikistan markets or highly prohibitive selling prices if available. Figure 8: Share of protein calorie by Regions Figure 9: Share of protein calorie by Income levels |[pic] |[pic] | e. Inequality. The distribution of dietary energy consumption is assumed to be lognormal and its variance is a function of the Coefficient of Variation (CVx). This CVx includes income and biological sources of variations of dietary energy consumption and is a measure of access to food. The biological variation (CVr) accounts for factors such as sex age composition, body weight and physical activity of household members. The CVr is estimated as a value of 20 percent. |Figure 10: CV of dietary energy consumption due to income by 2005 quarters and |Figure 10 gives the inequality of food access due to income | |months |computed for groups of households classified according to the | | |income deciles. The national CVx of dietary energy consumption| | |(DEC) on yearly basis had a value of 30 percent which included| | |a value of 22 percent corresponding to the CV of DEC due to | | |income. The CVx values estimated for quarterly data differed | | |marginally from the yearly CVx. The estimated monthly CVx was | | |less than the yearly CVx, except for the months of October and| | |November. |[pic] | | A striking observation is that the monthly inequality measures of DEC due to income were in most cases (except the three last months) less than the quarterly or yearly values which are inflated with other variations due to inter household, seasonal (within quarter) and other non random factors. Those variations were analysed using the available 2005 longitudinal food data with between household factors of area of residence and income using a linear model of the log of dietary energy consumption with repeated measures (months). The analysis of variance results are shown below. |[pic] |The variation estimates in the rightmost column have been | | |converted to the original dietary energy consumption scale for| | |better understanding. As expected area of residence (rural and| | |urban) and income levels (deciles) were significant sources of| | |the between household variation (standard deviation of 2062 | | |Kcal/ person/ day). This variation reflects sources of | | |variations not included in the model, the random variation and| | |the undesirable variation due to sampling design and | | |instrumental errors. The within sources of variation were | | |significant in time (months) and time within area of residence| | |and time within income levels. | The within household variation (standard deviation of 608 Kcal/person/day) was smaller than the between household variation. However there is a significant source of variation due to seasonality. In this study one should take into account that the between household variation estimates may be over-estimated as result of the sampling design. This study does not address on this design effect on the variation between households. In commonly used household survey design where the household reference period is of one month or less and households are allocated over a one-year survey period the sources of the within variation (month, month within area, month within income and error) is added to the survey estimates. This means that in NHS considering random allocation throughout the year add variation to the between household CV and hence over-estimate the prevalence of food deprivation. f. Food deprivation. The longitudinal data of Tajikistan 2005 HBS was also analysed by comparing the food deprivation over the four quarters to study the food consumption distribution and any improvement in the level of undernourishment over the one year period. Four percent of the population had moved out from the food deprived population over the year due to a 2 percent increase in the average daily dietary energy consumption and a three percent point decrease in the coefficient of variation (CV) due to income from 31 to 28 percent. The MDER of 1880 kcal/person/day was the same for both quarters. Movements of population from food deprived population were observed in both urban and rural areas by two and six percent respectively. There were marginal increases in DEC were noted in both urban and rural areas, but the later registered a significant 5 percentage point decrease in the CV due to income. While there were significant improvements among the population of the three lowest income quintiles, there were small set backs for the populations of the two highest quintiles groups due mainly to an around 2 percent fall in their dietary energy consumption (Figures 11 and 12). Figure 11: Food deprivation (%) by RegionsFigure 12: Food deprivation (%) by Income levels |[pic] |[pic] | The prevalence of food critical poverty which measures food income deprivation showed a marginal fall of 1 percentage point at national level from quarter one to quarter 4 of the year 2005 (Figure 13). Figure 13: Food critical poverty (%) by quarters of 2005 national and sub national levels |[pic] | | | |The prevalence of critical food poverty fluctuated over the four | | |quarters of the year. There was a high prevalence of food poverty | | |in the second quarter at the national and sub national levels. It | | |then fell in the following quarters. However, food critical | | |poverty in urban areas was higher than rural areas due to the food| | |availability at lower prices. g. Depth or Intensity of Food Inadequacy Figures 14 and 15 below show the depth of food poverty with relation to the MDER over the four quarters of the year, at the national and sub national levels and by income levels respectively. The Figures show that urban areas which had a low DEC had a higher food deficit than the national and rural areas. The food deficit was less in the fourth quarter at the national level and in urban and rural areas. This was also true for the income levels due to the high level of DEC observed as from October 2005. There was a general high food deficit during the third quarter in almost all the regional or economic population groupings and the high income group witnessed a food deficit of about 150 kcal/person/day. Figure 14: Food deficit (Kcal) to MDER Regions Figure 15: Food deficit (Kcal) to MDER Income levels |[pic] |[pic] | h. Food share The share of food expenditure to total consumption expenditure estimated from the annual household data at national level was 69 percent. The share of food expenditure at national level showed an erratic trend over the four quarters of the year 2005. From a level of 68. 4 percent in the first quarter, it increased to 69. 6 percent, fell down to 65 percent in the third quarter and rose to 65. 3 percent in the last quarter. The same patterns occurred in urban and rural areas, but with higher magnitude in rural areas and lower values for urban areas (figure 18). However, the food share showed a decreasing trend over the four quarters with increasing income levels with a high food share (80 percent) among the population of the low income group to about 50 percent for those of the highest income group. The second quarter had the maximum food share in most of the population groupings (Figure 19) which could be a period of harvest of some food crops. Figure 16: Food expenditure share by Region Figure 17: Food expenditure share by Income levels |[pic] |[pic] | Figures 18 and 19 illustrate the share of dietary energy consumption by food sources at national and sub-national levels and by income levels respectively for the four quarters of 2005. Purchase was almost the only source of dietary energy consumption for the population of the urban regions, while own production food constituted a significant share of DEC to the order of about 40 percent in most of the other population groupings. There was little variation in own production contribution between the quarters, apart from some high share in quarters one and four for the high income level groups, probably due to the harvesting season. Figure 19: Share of DEC by food sources & Figure 18: Share of DEC by food sources & Regions Income levels |[pic] |[pic] | 4. CONCLUSION The analysis of the longitudinal food consumption data of Tajikistan 2005 HBS provides some useful and pertinent characteristics of food security statistics: †¢ Food deprivation differed by seasons and by income levels. †¢ Food consumption is seasonal and is influenced by national ocio-religious events. †¢ Food demand was high in high income levels during specific periods. †¢ Dietary energy unit value differed with seasons and income levels. †¢ Diet consumption of nutrients was affected over the seasons. †¢ Food consumption from purchases were not affected by seasons while that from own production varied over the months of the year. †¢ There was a seasonal affect on the diet consumption of nutrients †¢ Food inequality or access measures were low when estimated with monthly data and the use of more aggregated d ata caused overestimation. The intensity of hunger differed by season and income levels †¢ Food share varied with seasons and level of income. REFERENCES 1. FAO (2003). Methodology for the measurement of food deprivation. Statistics Division, Food Security Statistics. Rome. Available at the Metadata of the Food Security Statistics webpage http://www. fao. org/faostat/foodsecurity/index_en. htm 2. FAO (2006). Food Security Statistics Module, Step 1 – Processing User Manual, Step 2 – Analysis User Manual and Step 3 – Reports User Manual, FAO July 2006. . Sibrian R Ramasawmy S and Mernies J (2007). Measuring hunger at sub national levels from household surveys using the FAO approach: MANUAL. FAO Statistics Division Working Paper Series No. ESS/ESSA/005e. Available at the webpage. http://www. fao. org/es/ess/faostat/foodsecurity/Papers_en. htm . 4. Tajikistan Food Insecurity Assessment report derived from the food consumption data of Tajikistan 2005 HBS, Dushan be August 2007. http://www. stat. tj/english/home. htm[pic]

Kiowa Indians essays

Kiowa Indians essays The earliest written mention of the Kiowa Indians, of the mid-west plains, was in 1682 by Ren Robert Cavelier who heard of them from a captive Pani slave, boy at Fort St. Louis who called them Manrhouts and Gattacha. The Kiowa are a group of warrior plains people who lived on the southern Great Plains. They became known as expert hunters, horse riders, and warriors who were feared for their raids on other Indian groups (SIRS). It is said that they were first discovered by Saynday, also know as Trickster, who was wandering alone on the sunless earth when he came upon the Kiowas living underground. He helped them crawl up though a hollow cottonwood tree and pulled the from a small owl hole. He had pulled a lot out and a pregnant woman got stuck in the hole and they couldnt get her to come free so the rest of the Kiowa got stuck in the ground, that is why today there arent very many of them (Starwolf). As a result of the Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867, the Kiowa were assigned to a reservation in Oklahoma in 1868. They never really confined their activities to the reservation, however, and in 1874 resumed warfare with the white settlers in the vicinity. It wasnt until around a year later, when a large number of their horses were captured and destroyed, and several of their leaders were captured that the Kiowa were defeated (Virginia Haase). The Kiowa hunted buffalo for food, clothing, supplies, shelter, and even pictures. Like the Comanche, they lived in tee-pees, which are very easy to move, and being nomads this helped the Kiowa out greatly. They moved mainly to follow buffalo herds because buffalo was their most important source of food, they also ate plants, roots, and berries when they ran out and couldnt find anymore buffalo, women doing the gathering, men the hunting. Now The Kiowa did realize that buffalo were very important to them so the respected a...

Effects of underage drinking on the academic development of teenagers

Effects of underage drinking on the academic development of teenagers Abstract This paper attempts to investigate the effects of underage drinking on the academic development of the teenagers. In effect the question which is posed in this research seeks to investigate the severity of the effects of alcohol abuse on the school attendance of the teenagers.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Effects of underage drinking on the academic development of teenagers specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The effects which arise as a result of underage drinking and which ultimately affects their academic development impact on three areas. One of the possible areas that alcohol abuse impacts on is the teenager’s brain development. It has been argued that it is during adolescence that the part of the human brain responsible for the regulation of emotion develops. The other possible effect of alcohol abuse is on the personality of the teenager. This is because alcohol has a way of inhibiting rational thinking. As a result the person concerned reacts to very minor problems in anger, he is always anxiety as well as developing dependence on alcohol which ends up hurting his progress academically. At the same time, the students find it very difficult to relate to figures in authority. In addition, alcohol abuse has an effect on the learning ability of the students. This is as a result of the fact that alcohol abuse can severely impair the part of the brain which is responsible for memory due to the fact that the human brain at this stage is very vulnerable. The rationale of the study is to investigate the effects of underage drinking on the academic development of the teenagers. This will provide critical information which can be used to craft the necessary policies in order to address this problem. The method used in this research to collect the information is by use of questionnaire. This was used to collect the information about the extent of the effects of underage dri nking on the academic development of the teenagers. Introduction It is has been noted that teenagers who start taking alcohol have a problem in as far as their academic development is concerned. For this reason it is important that the parents play an active role in the lives of their children; by giving them sound advice and also ensuring that they act as appropriate role models.Advertising Looking for research paper on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This sometimes entails being protective and keeping track of the company that the teenager keeps as well as the places which they visit. This will in turn make the child accountable and he is likely to keep away from the places and the company that the parents disapprove (Gifford 2009). According to Gifford (2009), if the parents do not advise their teenagers appropriately, they are likely to get the wrong information from the media as well as from their pee rs. It has been pointed out that the time that the teenager spends taking alcohol could be used more constructively in academic pursuits. Additionally, Myers and Isralowitz (2011) argue that the teenagers are more likely to be adversely affected by alcohol abuse more than adults would. This is because it is during the adolescence stage that the brain develops and any disruption on this development is likely to have very detrimental effect on the life of that teenager. It is the responsibility of the parents, teachers, government as well as any other relevant stakeholders to ensure that the teenagers are sufficiently protected to ensure that they do not engage in underage drinking. Therefore, alcohol drinking in teenagers has an effect of adversely affecting the ability of the teenagers to develop academically as it disrupts their learning ability. Literature review Effects of underage drinking on Development According to Hannigan et al. (1999), there are various stages in human deve lopment. The stages can be enumerated as-childhood, adolescence and then the transition into adulthood. It has been argued that alcohol abuse starts during early adolescence and then levels off when the teenagers are getting into their twenties. Alcohol abuse in teenagers has an effect of affecting their character and behavior. According to Galanter (2005), some behaviors that can help a parent in identifying whether the teenager has been initiated in alcohol abuse include: the teenager has a problem in interacting with others, poor self control, problem with depression, and also extreme shyness.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Effects of underage drinking on the academic development of teenagers specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More These signs could point out to the possibility that the teenagers could be engaging in alcohol abuse and this could have a profound effect on his development. It can also be argued that those teenagers who have extreme behavioral and personality disorders are the ones who are more likely to develop alcohol disorders even in adulthood. According to Castillo (2009), it can also be argued that children who have been brought up in families which have conducive environment are less likely to engage in alcohol abuse. This conducive family environment is fostered by parents who are responsive to the needs of their children. This in turns helps the parents to be attentive to the behavior of their children and to be in a better position to rectify errant behavior including underage drinking. Conversely those children who are brought up in dysfunctional families are more likely to engage in underage drinking with very disastrous effects. In addition, those teenagers who are brought up in families whose parents are struggling with alcohol disorders are more likely to engage in teenage drinking. It has also been pointed out that during the adolescence stage teenagers star ts to identify more with their peers. It is at this stage that these peers might start to pressurize the teenager to conform to the negative practices prevalent in the peer group. This negative behavior may include alcohol and drug abuse. The teenagers may resort to engage in alcohol abuse so that they can gain acceptance in the group (Park 2008). According to Bonnie and O’Connell (2004), there are two major factors which might influence the teenager to engage in alcohol abuse. These factors are: environmental influences and genetic influences. In early adolescence stage when the teenager is being initiated in alcohol drinking the factors which are likely to come into play are the environmental factors. However, in late adolescent stages the factors which are more likely to influence the likelihood of alcohol abuse are the genetic influences. These genetic influences could be specifically related to alcohol abuse or have an influence on the character of the teenager that can predispose him to engage in alcohol abuse.Advertising Looking for research paper on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More According to Tsuang and Stone (2007), it is also known that the different regions of the brain do not all develop at the same time. Regions like the one responsible for regulation of emotions develop during the period of early adolescence. This is because the hormones which are responsible for the development of this region are also the same ones which set the stage for one to get into puberty. On the other hand, the frontal cortex which is responsible for self regulation and decision making develops with time even after the end of the adolescence stage. This is the reason why the adolescence stage is marked by heightened emotions with very little control over ones actions. This sets the stage for alcohol abuse especially if the youth is not properly mentored and guided by the parents. Another factor which predisposes the teenagers to alcohol abuse is the differences in alcohol sensitivity between the adolescents and the adults. It has been proven that the adolescents are less likel y to feel the effects of alcohol abuse acutely as compared to the adults. This explains why the teenagers can engage in much heavier heavy drinking without feeling the same level of physiological effects experienced by the adults. This in effect implies that the teenagers are more likely to engage in heavy drinking which has the effect of impairing their development process (Tsuang and Stone 2007). Myers and Isralowitz (2011) claim that alcohol abuse in teenagers is likely to affect: school attendance, the development of the brain, concentration, and the relationships that the teenager has with the parents and peers. All these effects will have a profound effect on the future of the teenagers in becoming productive members of the society. Additionally, it is argued that the teenagers who engage in underage drinking are more likely to engage in alcohol abuse in adulthood and possibly develop dependence on alcohol. It is also known that adolescents are more prone to the negative effec ts on memory due to alcohol abuse as compared to the adults. Research has also shown that teenagers are also more susceptible to brain damage than the adults. Effects of underage drinking on personality According to Goldberg (2005), alcohol abuse has a way of impacting on our personality adversely. If alcohol abuse is allowed to go on for long it often leads to depression, anxiety and anger. The most unfortunate thing is that the consumption of alcohol may inhibit the ability of the person to reflect on his actions thereby making him to act on the above mentioned negative traits with often very disastrous effects. Teenagers who engage in alcohol abuse may become withdrawn and generally unwilling to be part of the society. Alcohol abuse has the ability to turn a very gentle person into a very unreasonable one. However, the concerned person might not even be aware of the changes and even in instances where they are aware they may even deny that they have a problem therefore making it very difficult for the concerned person to request for professional assistance. According to Reiss et al. (1993), alcohol abuse affects the way we react to normal occurrences; the person who has been affected tends to overreact when faced with very minor problems. On the other hand, when faced with very major problem the person often resorts to anger and physical abuse. During the initiation stage in alcohol abuse, a person may realize that he is somewhat in control of how much beer that he consumes. However, if the person persists in alcohol abuse he is very likely to develop dependence on alcohol such that he cannot be able to engage in any activity without consuming alcohol. In fact, the problem may persist until he gets to a point where he cannot solve any problem but actually turns to alcohol abuse to avoid the responsibility of having to face his responsibilities head on. Furthermore, the person gets to a point where he takes alcohol in order to alleviate depression. According to Schuckit (2005), instead of alcohol helping to lessen depression, it might actually lead to more depression. This is because the person develops tolerance to alcohol such that he requires more alcohol each time in order to alleviate the depression. Alcohol is also known to have an effect of lessening anxiety. In fact, it is argued that when alcohol is taken in moderation it might help in calming the nerves. Nonetheless, when the consumption of alcohol exceeds a particular amount it might actually result into more anxiety. This forms a vicious cycle in that the person has to engage in more drinking in order to alleviate the anxiety. Finally, in the process the person might actually develop dependence on alcohol. According to Schuckit (2005), alcohol abuse results to a situation where the person actually shifts his goals in life such that everything revolves around alcohol. Consumption of alcohol becomes the most important thing in that person’s life. Everything else just f ades into comparison. If it is a teenager he might actually neglect his studies which impacts negatively on his academic pursuits and on his ability to become a productive member of the society. This heavy dependence on alcohol has an effect of affecting the relationship that the person has with those who are close to him like the family and friends. As a result when confronted with a very small problem, the person will most likely react by being violent. This is because alcohol ends up impairing his ability to think rationally therefore resulting to those angry and violent outbursts. Alcohol abuse has an effect on the learning process of the person concerned. This is because inhibits the synthesis of proteins in the neurons of the brain which is crucial in the encoding of new information. This can result to a situation where the person easily gets disoriented with loud noises and bright lights. Learning process may also be hampered by the dependency that comes along with alcohol ab use. This is because the person must always consume alcohol in order to perform even the most basic of all tasks. In addition, alcohol affects the ability of the person to get sufficient sleep. This is because alcohol interferes with the sleeping pattern such that if the person is disturbed while sleeping he is not likely to resume sleeping. Effects of underage drinking on the Learning process Ammerman et al. (1999), adduces that the adolescent brain is more susceptible to alcohol. In fact, is argued that the teenagers are more likely to suffer from dysfunctional memory as a result of the effects of alcohol abuse. This can have a significant effect on the learning capability of the teenagers. It is claimed that the most severe neurological damage on teenagers as a result of alcohol damage occurs in the region in the brain which is responsible for learning and memory. This ultimately implies that underage drinking has the effect of hampering the learning ability and intellectual deve lopment of the adolescents. Other effects that might affect the learning ability of the adolescents are the sleep disturbance, depression, as well as alcohol intoxication and withdrawal symptoms. All these factors might contribute to the deterioration of the academic performance of the concerned students. Alcohol abuse also affects the ability of the students to attend classes regularly as well as derailing the students from being able to catch up on their schoolwork. This arrested intellectual development occurring during adolescence stage is likely to persist even in adulthood. Consequently, it is advocated that the teenagers should be protected against the promotions and advertisement which tends to glorify alcohol consumption in order to preclude them against engaging in alcohol consumption which ultimately lead to alcohol abuse. Methodology The method used in the collection of the relevant data is by use of questionnaire. It seeks to investigate the effects of alcohol abuse wit h regard to school attendance. The questionnaire is in form of questions. The questions posed in the questionnaire include: The severity of the effects of alcohol abuse on the school attendance of the teenagers affected by alcohol abuse. The respondents were supposed to rate the effects of alcohol abuse on a scale of between one and ten. With one representing the least severe effect and ten used to denote the most severe. The respondents selected for the purpose of this research were drawn from diverse field with the majority being drawn from the education sector. The sampling method used in drawing the participants is the probability sampling method where all the members of the selected population had an equal chance of being selected to participate in the study (McBurney and White 2009). This was intended to avoid bias. In addition, the respondents were drawn such that there was equal representation of male and females. The objective of this research was to gather information on t he severity of the effects of drug abuse on the affected underage drinkers. This was informed by the fact that inability of the students to attend class due to alcohol abuse has a profound effect on their academic development. This has an effect of affecting the future of these teenagers to become useful members of the society (Ammerman et al.1999). Results and discussion The results of the research indicated that the majority of the respondents believed that alcohol abuse had severe effects on the school attendance of the affected students. This is because it has been proven that alcohol abuse is one of the leading cases that cause drop outs among the students. This has a detrimental effect on the ability of the students to exert themselves in academic pursuits. This is exacerbated by the fact that alcohol abuse leads to inability by the affected students to consistently attend classes as well as catch up on their school work. At the same time, the student spends a lot of time deal ing with the hangover which comes with drug abuse. Another reason why the academic development might be hampered is because of the negative effect that the alcohol abuse could have on the brain development of the concerned teenagers (Thatcher 2011). Moreover, according to Christine Bichler (2000), alcohol use affects decision making which can result in poor choices that influence everything from physical and mental health to relationships with friends, family, and peers, as well as work and study habits and other habits that affect your (teens) future (p. 8). At the same time, the dependence that comes with alcohol abuse results to a situation where the student cannot concentrate in class unless he consumes alcohol. It can be concluded that the older members of the society have failed to act as effective role models and this have had an effect of encouraging the teenagers to engage in alcohol abuse. It has been pointed out that alcohol abuse is one of the top reasons why teenagers d rop out of school. In fact it has been reported that about half of the high school students claim to have taken alcohol at least once. One of the most notable sign which indicate that the teenager is engaging in underage drinking is a drop in academic performance in school. This is exacerbated by failure to attend all the classes as well as the fact that those teenagers have a problem in dealing with figures of authority like the teachers. In addition, this drop in performance can be attributed to the fact that the teenagers often gets in trouble at home due to his failure to abide by the laid down rules at home. Alcohol abuse is also the avenue which ushers in the teenagers to engage in consumption of other hard drugs like marijuana and cocaine (Torr 2002). Conclusion In order to ensure that the teens do not engage in underage drinking, it is important that early intervention strategies should be instituted to ensure that those teenagers who are more likely to engage in underage dr inking are well catered for to ensure that they do not engage in it. At the same time, all the stakeholders who are involved in the development of the child should be enlightened on what signs they should look out for in a teenager who engages in alcohol abuse. This will help them to offer the necessary support and help to those teenagers to help them to stop alcohol abuse. Another strategy that can be used to prevent the teenagers against engaging in alcohol abuse is educating them on the dangers of drug abuse. This training should entail teaching the teenagers about the positive coping skills in order to prevent them from engaging in alcohol abuse. Some of the stakeholders who can contribute in educating the youth about the dangers of alcohol abuse include the churches and community agencies. All in all, everybody in the community needs to get involved in protecting the teenagers against alcohol abuse with a view to enabling them to be achieve their academic pursuits. It has been noted that the effects of the alcohol abuse on the teenagers impacts on their social development, their personality as well as on their learning development. All these have a great bearing on the ability of the teenagers to advance academically. At the same time, alcohol abuse impairs the ability of the teenagers to be able to concentrate fully in class or even while studying. However, another interesting thing to note is that alcohol abuse creates dependence which impedes on the ability of the person concerned to be able to face life challenges with a view to looking for solution. Consequently, this impacts on the ability of the person to be able to exert and work hard in school in order to succeed academically. In order to reduce the likelihood of the teenagers engaging in alcohol abuse the teachers and parents should cooperate and ensure that all the students get the right information on alcohol abuse. At the same time, the government should step in and ensure that all the advert isement that seeks to encourage underage drinking should be eliminated. Reference List Ammerman, R. Ott, P. and Tarter, R. (1999). Prevention and societal impact of drug and alcohol abuse. Mahwah, NJ: Taylor Francis. Bichler, C. (2000). Teen Drinking. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group. Bonnie, R. and OConnell, M. (2004). Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Castillo, K. (2009). The Causes That Lead Teenagers to Drug and Alcohol Abuse. Norderstedt, Germany: GRIN Verlag. Galanter, M (2005). Alcohol Problems in Adolescents and Young Adults. Newyork, NY: Plenum Publishers. Gifford, M. (2009). Alcoholism. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. Goldberg, R. (2005). Drugs across the spectrum. Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education. Hannigan, J. Spear, L. and Spear, N. (1999). Alcohol and alcoholism: effects on brain and development. 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