Understory vegetation as environmental factors indicator in forest ecosystems

Background: Herbaceous vegetation is of great ecological importance and responds quickly to environmental changes. Present study was aimed to understand the variation in herbaceous species composition, diversity, biomass and soil physicochemical properties in canopy gaps and under the canopy of semi-arid forests in the Aravalli hills. Methods: Four permanent plots consisting of canopy gaps and under canopy were established. To study herbs phytosociological attributes and biomass, 10 quadrats of 0.5 x 0.5 m size were laid in each plot. For soil physico-chemical properties, 5 soil samples were collected randomly at 0-10 cm depth from each plot. Relationship between biodiversity indices, herbs biomass and soil physicochemical properties was determined using Redundancy Analysis (RDA) and correlation analyses. Results: The sites differed in terms of herbaceous species composition, diversity, biomass and soil physico-chemical properties. Canopy gaps were dominated by grasses while forbs were higher under the canopy. Across the sites, poaceae was the dominant family. All species showed contagious distribution pattern. Oplismenus burmannii reported highest IVI (138.0; 230.5) under the canopy while Achyranthes aspera (56.15) and Eragrostis ciliaris (53.1) had highest IVI in canopy gaps. Diversity indices were higher in canopy gaps. Herbaceous community biomass in canopy gaps ranged from 700-900 gm-2 while under the canopy it ranged from 30-70 gm-2. Cenchrus ciliaris (597.97 gm-2) and Chrysopogon sp. (391.2 gm-2) constituted major proportion of biomass in canopy gaps. The soil of under canopy regions had lower pH and bulk density, but higher soil moisture (%), electrical conductivity, soil organic carbon (SOC), soil total nitrogen (TN), SOC stock and soil TN stock than the canopy gaps. Linear positive relationship between species diversity and biomass; negative relationship between soil chemical properties and herbaceous biomass was found in study area. Even though canopy had positive effects on soil physico-chemical properties, overall negative effect on herbaceous diversity and biomass was seen. Conclusions: Reduced light for photosynthesis and tree root competition for soil resources may be the major factors negatively affecting herbaceous diversity and biomass. Canopy had a significant impact and herbs species composition, diversity, biomass and soil physico-chemical properties showed distinct differences in relation to it.

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“…Understorey vegetation serves as a good indicator of the ecological condition of a system (Schmidt, 2005;Mataji et. al.…”

Section: Discussion Species Composition and Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of tree canopy on species composition, diversity and biomass of herbaceous vegetation and soil characteristics in semi-arid forests of the Aravalli hills

Garg

Joshi

Garkoti

2020

Preprint

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“…Martinák et al 2014). However, the fact that differences in ground vegetation communities of stands even of similar structure can address different soil properties (Mataji et al 2010) is a basis for forest site quality classifications.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality of organic and upper mineral horizons of mature mountain beech stands with respect to herb layer species

Špulák¹,

Souček²,

Dušek³

2016

J. For. Sci.

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ABSTRACT:The study analyses the chemical properties of the soil in open-canopy beech stands in relation to the predominant species of ground vegetation. A hypothesis is examined whether the predominant ground vegetation species can represent in chemical terms different site conditions. Four localities were used for testing reed grass, myrtle blueberry, wavy hair grass and vegetation-free patches. Samples were taken from three organic horizons (litter (OL), fragmented (OF) and humus (OH)) and from the humic first mineral horizon. Significant differences between the variants were found only in the OL horizon, in which the vegetation species explained 65% of the variability in data. The OL horizon in the vegetation-free variant showed the significantly lowest pH/KCl and the lowest potassium content. The most distinct particular differences were observed between the blueberry variant and the grass variants. Although the studied variants of vegetation growing under the beech stand represented significant differences in the litter horizon chemistry, the effects on the other humus horizons and on the upper mineral horizon were marginal.

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“…Hence, inoculation of effective microbes may be a way to further enhance the ecological restoration, especially by targeting specific microbial functions (Chanway 1997). The addition of particular inorganic nutrients (Table 1) may also be effective for enhancing the ecological restoration (Mataji et al 2010;Kuramae et al 2011). These actions are expected to further rehabilitate the belowground components for ecosystem restoration in the Acacia plantation plots so as to overcome the barrier (Ren et al 2007) that the in-succession ecosystem seems to be encountering.…”

Section: Consequences and Perspective Of The Acacia Plantation In Thementioning

confidence: 99%

Slow restoration of soil microbial functions in an Acacia plantation established on degraded land in Thailand

Doi

Ranamukhaarachchi

2013

Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Deforestation diminishes the ecological services that a forest provides (e.g., flood prevention). To restore such services, reforestation is often utilized. The full restoration of the original forest ecosystem, however, can take several decades. The present study was conducted to identify the missing key components for rehabilitation of a degraded plot of land in Thailand on which Acacia trees were planted 18 or 19 years ago. Canopy spectral and soil physicochemical profiles of the Acacia plantation plot showed more advanced rehabilitation than in the soil microbial functions, as represented by soil dehydrogenase activity and community-level physiological profiles, when compared with those of a natural evergreen forest. The slower restoration of the soil microbial functions was thought to: (1) be attributed to the loss of certain microbes that played important roles in the evergreen forest soil, and (2) restrict the restoration of the entire forest ecosystem which was found to be still progressing towards a full restoration of the land's original conditions. Finally, possible measures for further rehabilitation of the ecosystem were discussed.

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Understory vegetation as environmental factors indicator in forest ecosystems

Cited by 12 publications

References 27 publications

Effect of tree canopy on species composition, diversity and biomass of herbaceous vegetation and soil characteristics in semi-arid forests of the Aravalli hills

Effect of tree canopy on species composition, diversity and biomass of herbaceous vegetation and soil characteristics in semi-arid forests of the Aravalli hills

Quality of organic and upper mineral horizons of mature mountain beech stands with respect to herb layer species

Slow restoration of soil microbial functions in an Acacia plantation established on degraded land in Thailand

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