India, April 15 -- Himalayan forests are facing a silent regeneration crisis, with seedlings and saplings of key species like Cedrus deodara, Pinus roxburghii and Quercus leucotrichophora failing to establish.

Dense monocultures, poor understory conditions, altered fire regimes and invasive plants are reshaping forest structure, undermining resilience and threatening long-term ecosystem stability despite apparently stable forest cover.

Forest ecosystems rely on continuous regeneration, as seedlings grow into saplings and eventually mature trees. When this process is disrupted - especially when saplings are missing - it signals regeneration failure. The result is an imbalanced forest dominated by older trees, with gaps in younger age cla...