Moisture Content and its Annual Variation in Temperate Coniferous Forests of Kashmir Himalaya

The soil moisture is regarded as indicator of climate change. The temperate forest has great relation with moisture content which showed variation with altitude, seasons and depths. The seasonal variation of moisture depends upon the precipitation comes from. Kashmir Himalaya has snow the main source of precipitation which adds moisture to the forest ecosystem by melting it with increase in the temperature of the area. The seasonal variation of moisture content and its annual variation were studied and the results revealed that Daksum has highest moisture content than corresponding ranges both among range wise and depth wise and dominated among all the three seasons of the year. Surface layer of forest has maximum moisture than subsurface layers during all the seasons. Daksum showed positive increment during autumn and summer season while negative during spring. The results conclude that spring season showed highest moisture content than summer and winter. All the results were subjected to ANOVA and the results were found significant at p<0.05 level of significance.