Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

FLORISTIC COMPOSITION, DIVERSITY AND REGENERATION OF PLANT SPICIES IN TROPICAL DECIDUOUS FORESTS, INDIA

Shruti Mishra, Sanjay Yadav, Manisha Rani and Anshumali

Abstract

Changes in the legume and nonlegume diversity and regeneration were studied in three sites of the tropical deciduous forests around Jharia Coalfield (JCF) in the eastern part of India. Three 1- ha plots were established one in each site, located 6 to 20 km apart. Each plot was divided into 100 quadrats each of 10 m X 10 m in size. In each quadrat, the diameter at breast height (dbh) of all adult trees (≥ 9.6 cm) and saplings (≥ 3.2 to < 9.6 cm) were measured and identified. The inventory of established seedlings was carried out at diameter < 3.2 cm at ≥ 30 cm height. The tree species richness in the JCF was compared to the reported maximum richness in the tropical deciduous forests of Central India, Neotropics and Southeast Asia. The Fabaceae and Moraceae were the most speciose leguminous and nonleguminous family, respectively. The density of seedling, sapling and adult of legumes were maximum in highly disturbed BR site, while KDH had the maximum nonlegume densities in all three stages of the life-cycle. The legumes and nonlegumes showed poor regeneration, near linear to the overall concave appearance of the d-d relationships and reverse Jshaped basal area-diameter distribution in the study area. The nonlegumes had a high species richness, evenness and α-diversity and indices increased from highly disturbed BR to KDH. The positive relationship between the α-diversity and species/individual revealed that the nonlegumes are ecologically more sensitive to anthropogenic disturbances in the Jharia Coalfield region.