A quantitative checklist of woody angiosperm diversity, population structure and habitat grouping in Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary of Tripura, northeast India

Koushik Majumdar,B Datta

doi:10.15560/10.5.976

Abstract

A quantitative vegetation inventory was conducted in Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary of Tripura, Northeast India. Twenty five 500×10 m belt transects were used to record diversity and population structure of woody angiosperms. Overall 289 species belonging to 158 genera and 64 families were recorded at ≥10 cm GBH (Girth at Breast Height). Moraceae (25 spp.), Phyllanthaceae (21 spp.), Leguminosae (21 spp.), Euphorbiaceae (15 spp.), and Rubiaceae (14 spp.) were the top five families with highest species diversity. Habit wise, 226 species were trees, 25 woody shrubs, 23 woody climbers, 6 bamboos, 6 rattan and 3 palm species. Shannon–Wiener diversity index values ranged between 1.42–4.25, and Simpson dominance index ranged between 0.02–0.42. Mean species richness index was 2.83 and species evenness index was 0.78. The present quantitative checklist indicates the potential plant resources of the sanctuary which can be used for future biodiversity inventories and species conservation.

Highlights

Quantitative floristic inventories have been used in recent years to characterize vegetation in different tropical forests by documenting their structure, composition and diversity (Parthasarathy 1999; Sagar et al 2003)
Six forests types were evaluated based on the predominant tree composition and maximum Importance value index (IVI) contribution among the 25 studied transects of Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS)
Overall 10,949 individuals were counted at ≥10 cm girth at breast height (GBH) from 12.5 ha. sampling area of the sanctuary

Summary

Introduction

Quantitative floristic inventories have been used in recent years to characterize vegetation in different tropical forests by documenting their structure, composition and diversity (Parthasarathy 1999; Sagar et al 2003) Such forest inventories serve as an invaluable research base for diverse aspects of tropical ecology while providing crucial information for their conservation and management efforts (Ayyappan and Parthasarathy 1999). The region has 49 protected areas (11 national parks and 38 wildlife sanctuaries) covering a land area of 13936 km, which comprises 5.46% of the total area of the northeast (Rodgers et al 2000). Deb (1981; 1983) recorded a total of 1,545 plant taxa for the Flora of Tripura State; with 379 species of tree, 320 shrubs, 581 herbs, 165 climbers, 16 climbing shrubs, 35 ferns, 45 epiphytes and 4 parasites. Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS) is the second largest sanctuary (194.71 km2) of Tripura after Gumti (389.54 km2) (SFR 2011)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion