Vegetation Analysis, Species Diversity and Productivity of Revegetated Semiarid Subtropical Forest in North India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36808/if/2019/v145i2/144263Keywords:
Biomass Production, Community Structure, Diversity indices, Rehabilitated Forest, Sodic Land.Abstract
A rehabilitated site in the Gangetic alluvial plain in north India was selected to assess the impact of restoration process. Three forest stands (S1, S2, S3) were selected at Banthra, Lucknow (26°45' N, 80°53' E). Basal area ranged from 26 (S1) to 34 (S3) m2ha-1 in overstory, 7 (S1) to 4 (S3) m2ha-1 in understory vegetation, whereas ground layer had maximum basal cover in S2 stand. Diversity index was greater in S1 stand for overstory (3.99), S2 stand for understory (3.80) and S3 stand for ground layer vegetation (1.76). Biomass value increased from S1 (292.8 mgha-1) to S3 stand (386.2 mgha-1) in overstory and vise versa for understory. Stand S2 consisted of predominance of ground layer biomass due to greater basal cover. The forest consisted of 347 ± 27 mgha-1 biomass and 25 ± mgha-1yr-1 net productions. Annual litter fall estimated as 8.45 ± 0.18 mgha-1. Fine root biomass (up to 45 cm depth) decreased from S1 to S3 stands with mean value of 532 ± 79 gm-2. Rainy and summer season contributed 67% of total annual fine root production (233 gm-2 yr-1) up to 30 cm depth. The rehabilitated forest has achieved up to 70% of the reference forest site of this region.References
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