Kumaun University

Groundwater quality (subsurface groundwater) in the Lesser Himalaya is controlled by the interplay of geogenic and anthropogenic processes. This study assessed 32 spring-water samples from the Pithoragarh district during pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons, integrating major ions and trace metals (Cr, Pb, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, U) to elucidate hydrogeochemical processes and implications for drinking and agricultural use. The results indicate that groundwater ranges from mildly acidic to alkaline in nature and is primarily dominated by HCO3- and Cl- among anions and Mg2+ and Ca+ among cations. Elevated HCO3- concentrations and high HCO3-/(HCO3- + SO42-) ratios (>0.5) indicate that carbonic acid weathering is the primary driver of solute chemistry. Gibbs and Piper diagrams further confirm that rock-water interaction is the dominant hydrogeochemical process, with localized influence from anthropogenic activities. Quantitative assessment indicates that rock-water interaction accounts for around 71.9% of the governing processes, while Mg2+ and Ca2+ together contribute more than 75% of the total cation concentration. Similarly, HCO3- and Cl- collectively account for nearly 90% of the total anion concentration. Seasonal shifts in hydrochemical facies (Ca-Mg-HCO3, Ca-Mg-SO4, Na-K-Cl, and mixed ion types) reflect variable water-rock interaction intensities. Irrigation suitability is generally favorable, though site-specific salinity and magnesium hazards may impair long-term use. Multivariate analysis showed that 82.82% of pre-monsoon variance was controlled by Mg2+, HCO3-, TDS, EC, and Ca2+, underscoring their geochemical significance. Overall, the findings advance our understanding of Himalayan aquifer vulnerability under seasonal and environmental stressors, with implications for groundwater management, sustainability, and public health in complex mountain terrains.

Maternal environment plays a vital role in shaping morphological variability in invasive plants, which can enhance their ecological adaptability under heterogeneous environmental conditions. Therefore, the present study was assessed to examine the influence of population origin on structural, functional, and reproductive characteristics of an invasive plant Crofton weed (Ageratina adenophora). Seeds were collected from eight geographically different populations of Uttarakhand, India, and seedlings were grown under uniform greenhouse conditions to minimize environmental variations during the plant developmental phases. Multiple structural, functional, and reproductive traits were measured, and differences among populations were evaluated using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Results indicated that most primary structural traits, including shoot length, root length, and leaf morphological characteristics, did not vary statistically among populations, suggesting morphological plasticity among different populations when grown under uniform environmental conditions. In contrast, several functional and reproductive traits related to allocation and seed production showed significant population level variations demonstrating strong maternal or epigenetic influences on resource allocation and reproductive investment. Because all plants were grown under identical environmental conditions, the observed differences primarily reflect maternal effects, transgenerational plasticity, or epigenetic variations. The results suggest role of maternal origin in influencing allocation strategies and reproductive performance more strongly than basic plant size traits and high degree of morphological plasticity in plant structural traits. Such variability may contribute to the ecological flexibility and invasion success of A. adenophora by enabling populations to produce offspring with diverse functional strategies across varying environments.

We construct a new class of exact solutions for shear-free, spherically symmetric radiating stars undergoing gravitational collapse in the presence of pressure anisotropy. Starting with the static metric potentials, we specialise the parametric family to the inhomogeneous anisotropic subclass n=- 2 and carry out a complete dynamical and thermodynamic analysis of this configuration. The interior solution, obtained in closed form, satisfies the standard regularity and energy conditions (null, weak, strong, and dominant), and is matched across the stellar boundary to an exterior Vaidya spacetime through the appropriate junction conditions. The configuration admits an initially static perfect-fluid limit and evolves smoothly into a dissipative collapse driven by radiative heat transport. A numerical study is also performed, wherein the effect of the anisotropy parameter on radial profiles and temporal evolutions of the density, pressures, heat flux, collapse rate, redshift, luminosity, and interior temperature is studied. The energy conditions are verified. The results demonstrate that increasing pressure anisotropy strengthens the matter variables, accelerates the contraction rate and enhances thermal dissipation throughout the radiating phase.

Butterflies are sensitive indicators of habitat quality and respond rapidly to vegetation change, making them effective sentinels for assessing the ecological consequences of extractive activities. We compared butterfly diversity, richness, and community composition between two active mining sites and two adjacent natural forest reference sites in Bageshwar district, Kumaun Himalaya. Standardized monthly transect surveys (Pollard-style transects and fixed-radius point counts) were conducted from January 2021 to December 2023. We quantified α-diversity (observed richness, Chao1, Shannon, Simpson, Hill numbers), β-diversity partitioning (turnover vs. nestedness), multivariate community differences (NMDS, PERMANOVA), and temporal dynamics (STL decomposition, Mann–Kendall, GAMM). Across all sites, a total of 87 species were recorded. Natural forests supported substantially higher richness (Kausani = 87 spp.; Girechhina = 81 spp.) than mines (Jhiroli = 56 spp.; Dafout = 49 spp.). Effect-size estimates indicated a large decline in within-site diversity associated with mining (Hedges’ g = 1.1 for Shannon; g = 1.29 for richness), and PERMANOVA revealed significant community shifts between mined and natural habitats (p < 0.01). β-diversity was dominated by turnover (0.68) rather than nestedness (0.21), indicating species replacement of forest specialists by disturbance-tolerant generalists (e.g., Eurema, Catopsilia, Pieris). Time-series analyses showed stable seasonal cycles in natural sites but a declining trajectory in mined sites (Mann-Kendall τ = -1.0, slope = -0.51 species month− 1; GAMM Habitat effect = -19.9 species, p < 0.001). NMDS (stress = 0.20) and clustering corroborated habitat-driven compositional divergence. Collectively, results indicate that active mining in this Himalayan landscape causes substantial loss and simplification of butterfly communities, underscoring the need for biodiversity-informed mine management, targeted restoration, and long-term monitoring. These results add to mounting evidence that extractive industries accelerate insect declines and biotic homogenization in biodiversity-rich montane systems, with implications for Himalayan conservation priorities and impact assessment protocols.

Environmental justice (EJ) has moved from the margins of social mobilization to the center of environmental governance discourse. Yet despite its institutional adoption, distributive and procedural inequalities persist across climate and environmental policy regimes. This article argues that environmental injustice in the Anthropocene cannot be adequately explained as a failure of implementation or regulatory oversight. Rather, it is structurally embedded within the institutional design and political economy of contemporary environmental governance. Drawing on interdisciplinary environmental justice scholarship and political economy analysis, the article traces the evolution of EJ from grassroots struggles against environmental racism to its incorporation into state bureaucracies and global climate frameworks. While institutionalization expanded the normative vocabulary of environmental politics, it also transformed a radical critique of structural inequality into technocratic policy language. Market-based instruments, carbon trading systems, risk assessment models, and voluntary corporate commitments, hallmarks of neoliberal environmentalism, prioritize efficiency and competitiveness, often reproducing socio-economic hierarchies through ostensibly neutral governance tools. The article develops a multidimensional framework integrating distributive, procedural, and recognition justice with an institutional political economy perspective. This framework demonstrates how growth-dependent states, globalized production networks, and technocratic regulatory rationalities constrain transformative reform. In response, the article advances a structural reform agenda centered on redistributive fiscal mechanisms, democratic deepening, recognition-based co-governance, and transnational accountability. By reframing environmental justice as a structural governance issue and a test of democratic legitimacy, the article contributes to debates within environmental politics by moving beyond policy instrument analysis toward institutional transformation. Justice-centered governance is shown to enhance legitimacy, policy durability, and social stability, positioning environmental justice not as a peripheral concern but as foundational to the future of climate governance.