Scientific Rationale and Goals of INDSUBIO

The INDSUBIO initiative is dedicated to understanding the natural dynamics of vegetation on the Indian subcontinent in response to long term climate and environmental changes, using a combination of modelling tools, modern environmental data and palaeovegetation reconstructions. The key task of the INDSUBIO initiative is to adapt existing equilibrium vegetation models to be able to simulate the natural vegetation of the Indian subcontinent. An integral part of the project is to evaluate the modified vegetation modelling schemes using reconstructions of vegetation distribution at key times in the geological past. Palaeovegetation reconstructions, such as those produced by the international BIOME 6000 project (Prentice and Webb, 1998; Prentice et al., 2000), are widely used as a benchmark for the evaluation of earth system models because they provide an opportunity to test the models under climate conditions as radically different from present as those expected due to future anthropogenically-induced climate changes. Since maps of the palaeovegetation of the Indian subcontinent have not been produced as part of BIOME 6000, a second key task of the INDSUBIO initiative is to generate such reconstructions based on available or new pollen and plant macrofossil data and to archive them for model validation exercises. The ultimate goal on the INDSUBIO initiative is to investigate and understand the causes of observed past vegetation changes in order to be able to predict the response of natural vegetation to potential future climate changes. Modelling the environmental response to potential future climate changes is indispensable for planning and decision-making at the regional level in the context of global change.

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Specific Elements of the INDSUBIO initiative

The INDSUBIO initiative consists of several components, including:

the development of vegetation modelling tools appropriate for the Indian subcontinent, based on a new classification of plant functional types and taking into account the known physiological mechanisms underpinning their distribution;
the development of input data sets for modelling, including high-resolution climate and soil data sets;
the modification of existing objective techniques used to reconstruct vegetation from pollen and plant macrofossil data (biomisation) in order to develop a classificaton scheme appropriate for the Indian subcontinent and compatible with the classification used in the modelling schemes;
the extension of the existing modern surface sample pollen data coverage, through new field and laboratory work, in order to provide an adequate spatial coverage of data for the evaluation of the modern biomisation;
the development of modern vegetation data sets for the validation of both the modelling tools and the modern biomisation, based on a combination of botanical and ecological observations at individual sites, standardisation of existing vegetation maps, and remote-sensed data;
the application of the biomisation technique to reconstruct vegetation patterns at key times in the past, initially for 6000 and 18,000 radiocarbon years before present (because of the availability of climate simulations for these time periods) but ultimately for other time periods of interest to the INDSUBIO initiative;
the modelling and analysis of past vegetation changes, using state-of-the-art palaeoclimate simulations in conjunction with the INDSUBIO vegetation modelling schemes and palaeovegetation reconstructions, in order to understand the dynamics of past environmental changes in response to external forcing;
the prediction of future vegetation changes, using state-of-the-art climate simulations in conjunction with the INDSUBIO vegetation modelling schemes.

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Membership of INDSUBIO

The INDSUBIO initiative was set up in January 2000 and now involves scientists from several different institutes and covering a range of different areas of expertise, including vegetation and climate modelling, ecology, palaeoecology and climatology.

The current members of INDSUBIO are:

Sandy P. Harrison	(University of Bristol, UK)
Jean-Pierre Sutra	(Paris, France)
I. Colin Prentice	(University of Bristol, UK)
Gerhard Bönisch	(MPI BGC, Germany)
Doris Barboni	(CEREGE, France)
Anupama Krishnamurthy	(IFP, India)
Chhaya Sharma	(BSIP, India)
Asha Khandelwal	(BSIP, India)
Amalava Bhattacharyya	(BSIP, India)
Anjum Farooqui	(BSIP, India)
Indrani Suryaprakash	(CES; IISc, India)
Kashinath Bhattacharya	(VISVA-BHARATI Univ., India)
Raymonde Bonnefille	(CEREGE, France)
Chuh Yonebayashi	(RISSHO Univ., Japan)
Raman Sukumar	(CES; India)
A.K. Saxena	(MOWR; India)

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The First INDSUBIO Workshop

was held in Jena, 20 to 22 July 2000. The aim of the workshop, which brought together 10 members of the INDSUBIO group, was to test the preliminary PFT and biome classification schemes developed during the first six months of the initiative using pollen data from the INDSUBIO database. Three separate biomisations, using slightly different versions of the PFT and biome classification schemes, were made during the workshop. Although minor refinements of the schemes could produce an improvement to the final biomisation, the workshop established that it is possible to distinguish the major biomes of the Indian subcontinent using pollen data.

Progress During First Phase of INDSUBIO

The first phase of INDSUBIO focussed on three objectives:
• The construction of a data base containing pollen data (and supporting metadata) from the Indian subcontinent. The database contains modern surface samples from 344 sites, and 45 fossil pollen samples for 6000+/-500 and/or 18,000+/-1000 yr B.P. Some of the data were supplied by members of the INDSUBIO project; the data from the remaining sites were digitised from published diagrams.

• The development of a classification of Indian vegetation types. According to this scheme, the vegetation of peninsular India can be grouped into ca 12 major biomes. Each of these biomes can be recognised by the presence of a characteristic assemblage of plant functional types (PFTs).

• Reconstruction of vegetation patterns during the mid-Holcoene (6000+500 yr B.P.) and last glacial maxiumum (18,000+1000 yr B.P.), using pollen data from the database and the new PFT-biome classification scheme. The biomisation procedure was first test using modern pollen samples and shown to be highly successful at predicting observed vegetation at individual sites. The procedure was then applied unchanged to reconstruct palaeovegetation patterns.

• The results from the first phase of INDSUBIO are currently being written up for publication. Members of the INDSUBIO project can access the current draft of the manuscript. from the password-protected part of this site.

Members of the INDSUBIO team were able to meet at the EILQUEC and POLTRAIN workshop (sponsored by the IGBP), which was held in Pondicherry, India in February 2003, to discuss the biome reconstructions for the mid-Holocene and last glacial maximum. These reconstructions are currently being written up for publication.

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INDSUBIO Phase II (2003-2005)

In the second phase of INDSUBIO, we plan to:

1) Use the existing INDSUBIO data set for validation of palaeoclimate model simulations of the mid-Holocene and last glacial maximum (LGM) currently being carried out within the framework of the Palaeoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP)

2) adapt the BIOME4 model to include the biomes identified as important for the Indian subcontinent. As part of this initiative, new soil and climate data sets for the Indian subcontinent are being developed.

3) continue the development of the INDSUBIO pollen data base. This work will be carried out through new data collection initiatives (for further information, please contact Anupama Krishnamurthy: email) and partly through expanding the membership of INDSUBIO to include palynologists from other laboratories (see new members, below).

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New Members of INDSUBIO (Phase II)

INDSUBIO welcomes the participation of the following new members in the second phase of the project:

Kashinath Bhattacharya	(VISVA-BHARATI Univ, India)
Samir K. Bera	(BSIP, India)
K.P.N. Kumaran	(ARI, India)
Aniruddha S. Khadkikar	(ARI, India)
M. Shahidul Islam	(CERU, India)
Nimai Chandra Barui	(Surendranath College, India)
Mahesh Shindikar	(ARI, India)
Asha Gupta	(UK)
Mahesh Shindikar	(Univ. Pune, India)

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Archiving and Access Policy

The archiving policy and data access are based on simple rules and clear principles:

• we define data in a broad sense, i.e. to mean both palynological and ecological data and the output of vegetation or climate models. The INDSUBIO data therefore includes primary data (pollen counts, vegetation model code, climatic data) and accompanying meta-data (location information, site description, dating information), secondary data (pft scores, biome scores, biome reconstructions at individual sites, simulated pft abundances, simulated biomes) and tertiary data (regional maps of observed and simulated past and future vegetation patterns). All of these data sets will be archived

• INDSUBIO will archive data centrally at the MPI-BGC with the aim of making these data available to project members during the course of the project.

• The INDSUBIO data become available for other purposes within the project when the paper in which they are included is "in press".

• When the INDSUBIO data are published, they will be made available to the international community (via archiving with the public access data base at NOAA-NGDC, Boulder)

• All data contributors are co-authors of the publication in which these data are first used. Data contributors become full members of INDSUBIO and can therefore participate fully in the intellectual life of the project.

If you are interested in participating in the INDSUBIO initiative, or for further information, please contact: Sandy P. Harrison
For information about the INDSUBIO data base, please contact the Database Manager: Gerhard Bönisch

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