Diversity of trees in a community managed forest: the case of Komolchori VCF, Khagrachari, Bangladesh

Abstract

Natural forest in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) of Bangladesh is degrading due to various reasons. Village common forest (VCF) in CHTs is one of the successful forest management schemes without government intervention. This research was conducted in the Komolchori VCF, Khagrachari, Bangladesh to delineate its tree diversity status. A total of 921 individuals belonging to 55 species were found from 25 randomly studied plots. The highest basal area and relative dominance were recorded for Terminalia bellirica which were 1.23 m 2 /ha and 6.07%, respectively, whereas the lowest basal area and relative dominance were 0.47 m 2 /ha and 2.30%, respectively, for Protium serratum. In addition, the highest relative density, relative frequency, and importance value index was occupied by Aglaia cucullata which were 20.41%, 7.54%, and 29.65%, respectively. Aglaia cucullata and Schima wallichii were found as the most dominant species based on hierarchical cluster membership. The Shannon's index, Simpson's index, species diversity index, Margalef's (richness) index, species evenness index and dominance of Simpson index for the Komolchori VCF were found as 3.22, 0.07, 66.03, 7.91, 0.47, and 0.93, respectively. This study will progress the further study to ensure proper action on biodiversity conservation in the CHTs of Bangladesh.

Assessment of natural regeneration status: the case of Durgapur hill forest, Netrokona, Bangladesh

“…Cluster analysis of the current study showed G. nervosa is the most dominant species in the study area whereas, different ecological studies also find similar trend of results among the floral groups (Chowdhury, Islam et al, 2018;Erenso, Vegetati Marya, & Wendawek, 2014;Flinn & Lechowicz, 2008;Sajib & Uddin, 2016). In addition, the regeneration of the forest is affected not only by environmental factors but also by anthropogenic activities (De Cauwer, 2016;Kuma & Shibru, 2015).…”

“…Diversity indices indicate vital information about the composition and current status of vegetation in a study area (Chowdhury, Islam et al, 2018). The diversity indices, e.g.…”

“…The main causes of deforestation and forest degradation in this area were tree cutting for fuelwood, and construction materials production for sale especially. A number of studies are available focused on natural regeneration status in different natural forests of Bangladesh provide potential information for many native tree species (Haider et al, 2017;Hossain, Hossain, Salam, & Rahman, 2013;Hossain, Azad, & Alam, 1999;Hossain & Hossain, 2014;Motaleb & Hossain, 2007;Miah, Udin, & Bhuiyan, 1999;Nur, Nandi, Jashimuddin, & Hossain, 2016;Rahman, Rahman, Chowdhury, & Akhter, 2019;Rahman et al, 2011) and diversity in forest (Chowdhury, Islam, Hafiz, & Islam, 2018;Rahman et al, 2019), but research work on regeneration aspect of forest is not available where Durgapur hill forest lacks information regarding natural regeneration, stocking, and conservation issues. This study will enrich the knowledge of natural regeneration and quantitative distribution of plant species in the case of hill forest which may be useful in providing guidelines for future management of forest.…”

Community Dependency and Conservation Practices in Khagrachari, Bangladesh: A Study on Management of Village Common Forests (VCFs)

“…The study revealed average family size was higher (5.78) in Hridoy Member Para in comparison to Haduk Para (5.25) whereas average earning was more (2.3) in Hridoy Member Para compared to Haduk Para (2.1) ( Table 2). Besides, average annual income among the respondents was higher in Haduk Para (1,25,400 Tk.) than Hridoy Member Para (1, 02, 340 Tk.)…”

“…Community-based practices including indigenous knowledge, behavior, and perception of conservation of resources are highly related to livelihood of local people and several studies confirm this for coastal areas [17,18,19,20] and for hilly tracts in Bangladesh [9,21]. However, while several studies have been conducted on community-based adaptation from the perspective of CHTs and in other parts of Bangladesh [5,6,8,10,13,22] and on species diversity of VCFs and other forests in Bangladesh [23,24,25] few studies on community dependency on VCF are available. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the dependency of the community and participation in and attitudes about conservation practices of Haduk Para and Hridoy Member Para VCF of Khagrachari.…”