A Arunachalam Editor

Jahangeer A. Bhat, PhD, is currently associated with the Piramal Foundation for Education Leadership at Piramal University, Mumbai, India. Before taking on his current position, he was associated with the College of Horticulture and Forestry at Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, India. Earlier, he served as Head of the Department of Forestry at the College of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry at Fiji National University, Republic of Fiji Islands. His research work in India and Fiji Islands spans 12 years and encompasses emerging issues in forestry, including conservation of biodiversity, traditional knowledge of plants, and sustainable management of forest resources, particularly in the light of climate change scenarios. He has worked as counselor, mentor, and coordinator for forestry academic programs and has been instrumental in developing higher education and technical and vocational education and training streams of forestry and allied programs. He worked closely for accreditation with the Fiji Higher Education Commission and forestry stakeholders. He is the first researcher to report the first time growing of Acacia dealbata Link. (silver wattle), an invasive species in the high altitudes of the Himalayas. His focus of research is on vegetation ecology, ethnobotany, and evaluation of ecosystem services, forest plant biodiversity, climate change, and sociocultural issues in forestry.

Gopal Shukla, PhD, is currently working as Professor in Forestry at North Eastern Hill University, Tura Campus, Tura, Meghalaya, India. Before joining as Professor, he was working as Senior Assistant Professor in Forestry at Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India. Dr. Shukla has teaching and research experience of more than 12 years. He has worked on different projects, including the National Agricultural Innovation Project (ICAR); National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (ICAR); and also as a young scientist on the project on carbon stock of different land uses (Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India). The focus of his research and development work is on agroforestry, medicinal plants, forest ecology, and conservation. He has national and international publications that include 90 research papers, 30 book chapters, and eight books. He has successfully completed several research projects on forest ecology, medicinal plants, and agroforestry. Dr. Shukla also guided four doctoral and 6 master’s students.

Manmohan J. Dobriyal, PhD, is Professor and Head of the College of Horticulture and Forestry at Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Uttar Pradesh, India. He was a faculty member in different institutes, such as Doon (P.G) College of Agriculture Science and Technology (DCAST), Dehradun; Dolphin PG Institute of Bio Medical & Natural Sciences DIBNS, Dehradun, Uttrakhand; and College of Horticulture and Forestry CoHFat, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Udaipur MPUAT, Udaipur/AU, Kota, Rajasthan, as Assistant Professor (Forestry). He also served as Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Silviculture and Agroforestry at the College of Horticulture and Forestry, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari, Gujarat, India. He has more than 19 years of experience in forestry research, teaching, and extension. His specialization is forest ecology and environment/silviculture, non-wood forest products (medicinal and aromatic plants) agroforestry, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem services. He has published more than 100 papers and articles in refereed journals, attended various conferences, and operated research projects, as well as guiding many postgraduate and PhD students. He graduated with a degree in Forestry, followed by postgraduate and doctorate degrees from institutions that include GB Pant University, Pant Nagar; TNAU, Coimbatore; and Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, India.

Sumit Chakravarty, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Forestry, Uttar Banga Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Pundibari, Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India. He has vast experience of more than 20 years in forestry training, research, and development. He has conducted research on several aspects of forestry, agroforestry, medicinal plants, and climate change with national and international reputed publications. This includes 120 research papers, 48 book chapters, and eight books. He has successfully completed and continuing 15 research projects on forest ecology, medicinal plants, and agroforestry. He has trained more than 50 master and doctoral students in the field of forestry. Dr. Chakravarty has attended more than 50 national and international conferences as presenter and invited speaker. He holds a master‘s degree in Forestry and a doctoral degree in Agronomy from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India.

A. Arunachalam, DSc, is a tropical ecologist, globally noted for his contributions to soil ecology, ecosystem ecology, shifting agriculture, and land use dynamics, particularly in the Indian Himalayan Region. He is presently working as a Director of the ICAR-Central Agroforestry Research Institute, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India. He is also an Adjunct Professor at over 12 national/international universities. Dr. Arunachalam is the Project Coordinator of the ICAR-All India Coordinated Research Project on Agroforestry and the Coordinator of the Task Force of Himalayan Agriculture under the National Mission on Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystems supported by DST, Govt. of India. Dr. Arunachalam has more than 26 years of experience in teaching, research, and extension in the field of forestry, biodiversity, ecology, and natural resources management. He has guided 15 PhD students; written/edited over 21 books in English and Tamil; and published over 240 research articles in national/international journals of scientific repute, over 120 book chapters, and 35 popular articles. Dr. Arunachalam worked as an Assistant/Associate Professor for the North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, Arunachal Pradesh; Principal Scientist in ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region; as Principal Scientific Officer in ICAR HQ in New Delhi; and as Assistant Director General (International Relations) at ICAR HQ. Academically, he is a Gold Medalist for both his BSc and MSc degrees from Madurai Kamaraj University. He earned his doctorate degree from North-Eastern Hill University. He did his post-doc in Restoration Ecology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA, and Biodiversity Monitoring from JNCASR, Bengaluru, India.

Rainer W. Bussmann, PhD, is an ethnobotanist and vegetation ecologist and is currently Head of the Department of Botany at the State Museum of Natural History in Karlsruhe, Germany. He is also a Full Professor of Ethnobotany at the Department of Ethnobotany, Institute of Botany, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia. Dr. Bussmann was formerly Director of the William L. Brown Center at Missouri Botanical Garden, William L. Brown Curator of Economic Botany (WLBC), and Senior Curator. Before WLBC, he held academic appointments as Research Fellow in geography and the environment at the University of Texas at Austin, USA; as Associate Professor of Botany and Scientific Director at the Harold Lyon Arboretum at University of Hawaii, USA, and as Assistant Professor at University of Bayreuth, Germany, following a postdoc at the same institution. He holds affiliate appointments and serves as external thesis advisor at universities worldwide. Dr. Bussmann‘s work focuses on ethnobotanical research and the preservation of traditional knowledge in the Andes, Caucasus, and the Himalayas. He has authored over 350 peer-reviewed papers, over 1300 peer-reviewed book chapters, and authored or edited 38 books. According to PLOS Biology, he is one of the most cited and recognized ethnobotanists among the most influential scientists worldwide. He currently serves as editor-in-chief of the Ethnobotany of Mountain Regions book series, published by Springer Nature. Dr. Bussmann is editor-in-chief of Ethnobotany Research and Applications, deputy editor of the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine,associate editor of Ethnobiology and Conservation, academic editor of PLOS One, editor of ethnobotany topics for the Nordic Journal of Botany, and member of the editorial boards of Antibiotics, Life, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, Pleione, and Nelumbo. Dr. Bussmann is past President of the Society for Economic Botany and has served as a board/council member of the International Society for Ethnopharmacology, Society of Ethnobiology, Botanical Society of America, and International Society of Ethnobiology.