Compositional and Structural Diversity of Forest Vegetation in Kais Wildlife Sanctuary, North Western Himalaya: Conservation Implications

Abstract

Status of vegetation and understanding the structural and compositional patterns of vegetation of the ecosystem are the key factor for the its conservation. Therefore, present study conducted in KWLS to assess compositional and structural diversity of forest vegetation. 607 species of vascular plant and 23 forest communities were identified that is broad leaved evergreen, board leaved deciduous, broad leaved deciduous and evergreen coniferous mixed, broad leaved evergreen and coniferous mixed, coniferous broad leaved evergreen mixed and coniferous board leaved deciduous mixed communities. The unplanned collection of forest resources has severely affected the forest ecosystem. The study concludes that natural resources are under severe threats due to anthropogenic activities and changing environmental conditions. Communities such as Picea smithiana, Picea smithiana-Pinus wallichiana mixed Cedrus deodara-Picea smithiana mixed need to protect because of their representation in limited sites, habitats, narrow altitudinal range and supports maximum ecologically and economically important species.

Altitudinal Variation and Soil Characterstics Effect on Forest Communities of North Western Himalayan Region of Uttarakhand, India

“…The study was carried out in Dandachali forest of Tehri Forest Division, Tehri Garhwal (district), Uttrakhand (State) part of North West Himalaya. Tehri Range of the division lies between 30 0 -22'077" North latitude and 30 0 -25'599" East longitude which covers 16144.70 ha area at Tehri Forest Division, [8][9][10].…”

“…Selection of sites and habitats for vegetation sampling, Data analysis and Formulae used and Importance value index (IVI) [8][9][10].…”

“…Community composition is made on the basis of the highest value of IVI of individual tree species given in Fig. 1 and table respectively reported by [8].…”

“…The forest composition is affected by co-factors such as topography, aspect, an inclination of slop, and soil nature, and type within the same elevation (Shank and Noorie 1950). The Forest communities and soil studies are necessary and essential for protecting, conserving the natural plant communities [8].…”

Prioritization of habitats and communities for conservation in Cold Desert Biosphere Reserve, Trans Himalaya, India

“…The exclusively rich and unique biodiversity of CDBR has not been yet explored quantitatively. Furthermore, the evaluation of communities for species richness, nativity, endemism, rarity and economic values and their prioritization has not been carried out so far, except a few studies in the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve of Uttarakhand (Arya, ; Arya & Samant, ; Joshi, ; Joshi & Samant, ; Samant et al, , ) and in protected and biodiversity rich areas of Himachal Pradesh (Lal, ; Marpa, ; Pant & Samant, ; M. S. Rana & Samant, ; Sakshi, ; P. Sharma, ; P. Sharma, ; A. Singh, ; M. Singh, ; A. Singh & Samant, ). However, no such studies are exclusively available for CDBR.…”