The Shivalik landscape is extended from the Indus basin to the Brahmaputra with one gap of over 300 km from the Sapta Kosi to the Manas river. The Shivalik landscape, has been categorized under Indo-Gangetic plains and it has special significance in India's biogeography due to intermingling of taxa from the Indo-Malayan and Palaearctic regions.

The alpine vegetation of the Sikkim Himalaya has received limited attention despite being a part of the Eastern Himalaya global
biodiversity hotspot. The current study undertaken in the third highest landscape in the world—the Khangchendzonga National Park (KNP)—provides information on the different alpine vegetation communities and aspects of their ecology. The transverse spurs from the unique north–south Khangchendzonga range result in a landscape level differentiation of the Outer, Inner, and Tibetan Himalaya in just 50 km.

The genus Quercus (oak) is a large group of hardwood trees with about 600 species worldwide1. In the Himalayan region, extensive oak forests (35 species) occur between 1500 and 3300 m elevations. Of the various species of oaks, the white oak or banj (Q. leucotrichophora) forms an extensive belt along the middle elevation (1200

The Khangchendzonga National Park is a part of the eastern Himalaya global biodiversity hotspot and is located in the Sikkim state of India. Increasing livestock populations coupled with the government policy to ban grazing and its selective implementation resulted in conflict. Hence we undertook this multidisciplinary study involving consultations with traditional resource users, field surveys, and remote sensing.