Impact of anthropogenic disturbances on riparian forest ecology and ecosystem services in Southern India

Abstract

This article highlights the impact of anthropogenic disturbance on forest structure and plant diversity in the riparian forest in the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, Karnataka, Southern India. We clustered 11 transects into groups with low and high anthropogenic disturbances. In total, 73 tree species were recorded on 11 transects, of which 57 species were found in less-disturbed sites and 39 species in high-disturbed sites. Shannon–Wiener diversity confirmed higher values for less-disturbed sites (3.2 ± 0.7) compared with high-disturbed sites (2.7 ± 0.5). Evenness index suggested no complete evenness in the two sites. Mean species richness and number of individuals in the majority girth classes were found to be higher in less-disturbed sites than in high-disturbed sites. Non-native plants dominated the high-disturbed sites. The occurrence of native and non-native species was correlated with the level of disturbance. Current disturbance intensities may have led to loss of native species such as Ixora bracheata, Madhuca latifolia, Syzygium cumini and Terminalia arjuna in riparian forests. This study concludes that species-rich areas in the riparian forests are under threat. Protection of these areas should be prioritized in policy, because anthropogenic disturbance has led to decreasing riparian forest species diversity and structure.