Ecological exploration of Kuwana forest: A tropical moist deciduous forest of eastern Terai, India

Abstract

The present study was conducted in the Kuwana forest of Gonda forest division in Uttar Pradesh to explore its ecological inventories. Random stratified sampling was adopted to collect the basic information like frequency, density and abundance for the calculation of importance value index (IVI). On the basis of principal component analysis (PCA) plot, three forest communities were identified and named as, Syzygium Lowland Forest (SLF), Shorea Miscellaneous Forest (SMF) and Mallotus Miscellaneous Forest (MMF). MMF community allowed the maximum 39 while SLF minimum 18 tree species growing in it. Conversely, SMF community showed higher heterogeneous tree diversity validated by lower Dominance index (0.088) and higher Simpson index (0.912). The values of these two indices were found very low in comparison with their range for tropical forests of India. On the otherhand the diversity indices (Shannon & Fisher alpha) was calculated as maximum (2.797 & 11.960 respectively) for MMF community, which indicates the existence of better tree diversity in this forest community. The higher values of Evenness & Equitability indices (0.646 & 0.859 respectively) for SMF community showed the more evenly distribution of tree species in this community.