Plant Diversity and Vegetation Structure in Sal (Shorea robusta Gaertn.) Dominated Forest of Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary, Jharkhand, India

Abstract

The Sal (Shorea robusta) dominated forest vegetation of Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary, West Singhbhum, Jharkhand, India was explored to evaluate the diversity and vegetation structure through different phyto-sociological attributes. The knowledge of the structure and composition of the plant communities has enormous significance in conservation of managed forests, therefore, the plant species diversity, structure and importance value index (IVI) at various levels, viz., trees, shrubs and herbs were studied. A total of 153 plant species (66 trees, 30 shrubs and 57 herbs) belonging to 124 genera of 51 families were recorded from the 30 random plots marked for sampling within the sanctuary. The IVI was highest in Shorea robusta (40.87) and lowest in Syzygium salicifolium (1.08). Shannon-Weaver’s diversity index was recorded highest in herbaceous species (3.66) than in trees (3.08) and shrubs (2.66). Simpson’s index was highest in trees (0.106) than in shrubs (0.035) and herbs (0.028). Pielou’s index was found highest in herbs (0.064) than in shrubs (0.048) and trees (0.046) which was within the range reported for different Indian forests and also which indicates that the sanctuary exhibits species diverse forest. The result of plant species diversity and their quantitative features reveal that the overall community is heterogeneous.

Phytosociology and Stand Structure of Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest of Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary, Jharkhand, Eastern India

“…[27] but lesser than 66 spp. [28]. The study also aligns with tropical dry deciduous forest in Bhadra WLS (46 spp.)…”

“…Sal is one of the dominant trees in the forests of South Asia [32]. The dominance of S. robusta was also evident from the previous studies in the Dalma wildlife sanctuary [27][28]; sal forests of Ranchi [33]; sal forests of Jharkhand [34]; tropical deciduous forests of Chhotanagpur plateau, Bokaro, Jharkhand [35]. Sal dominance is influenced by a number of factors, including age, species association, disturbance regime, successional shifts, water buildup, and anthropogenic activity for wood and other purposes.…”

“…The present study falls within the limits of the index. The high value of the evenness index reflects that much of the value of diversity which is attributed to the relatively rare species [28].…”

Tree diversity and species composition of tropical dry forests in Vietnam's Central Highlands Region

“…However, the structural dynamics and tree species diversity of DF are inadequate and lack consistent research (Gopalakrishna et al, 2015). Most of the research on DF dynamics has been carried out in continental South and Southeast Asia, particularly in India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Nepal and Indonesia (Wanthongchai et al, 2014;Manuri et al, 2016;Das et al, 2018;Lal et al, 2019;Bhatta & Devkota, 2020), and very few in tropical Vietnam (Do et al, 2017). DF researchers in Vietnam have primarily focused on developing growth models, allometric equations, to estimate forest biomass and silvicultural studies (Luong et al, 2015;Huy et al, 2016Huy et al, , 2018Huy et al, , 2019.…”