Data for: Vegetation and soil ecology of threatened Himalayan Trillium habitats in Kashmir, Himalaya

Understanding the vegetation and soil ecology of natural habitats
harbouring threatened species is critical in conservation planning and
restoration. The present study investigated the vegetation composition and
soil physico-chemical attributes of natural habitats of Trillium
govanianum – a threatened Himalayan endemic species. We laid 120 quadrats
across eight randomly selected sites where the species was growing in the
Kashmir Himalaya. We collected the soil samples from these sites and
determined soil physico-chemical attributes using standard methods. Across
all the sites, we found a total of 57 plant species with dominance of
Rosaceae and Ranunculaceae. The IVI results revealed that Fragaria
nubicola, Corydalis diphylla, Galium aparine, and Leucanthemum vulgare,
were the dominant species in T. govanianum communities. The density,
abundance and IVI of 3-leaf vegetative plants was higher than 1-leaf
vegetative and 3-leaf reproductive plants across all the study sites. We
found that T. govanianum alone forms 23.5 % positive, 0 negative, 76.4%
random co-occurrences with other associated species in its community. Our
results reveal that the variations in vegetation composition among the
sites was influenced by differences in soil properties. Principal
component analysis revealed that several soil parameters such as organic
carbon, nitrogen, potassium, and sulphur were concentrated in five sites,
namely Dara, Drung, Bangus, Gulmarg, and Doodhpathri, which also showed
the highest density, frequency, and abundance of T. govanianum. Overall,
our study contributes quantitative information on the vegetation and soil
ecology of T. govanianum-assemblages, which in turn can help in developing
conservation strategies for this threatened species, and its sustainable
management and habitat restoration.