CHAPTER 3 MATERIALS AND METHODS CHAPTER 3 Materials and Methods

Index

IN T R O D U C T IO N ...... 24

A} SELECTION OF FORTS...... 24

B} SAMPLING AREA OF A FORT...... 26

C} DATA COLLECTION...... 26 a) Field tours...... 25 b) Taxonomical work...... 27 c) Ecological data...... 27 Total count method...... 28 DAFOR and Domin scale...... 28 iii. Tree density by point centered quarter method (PCQ)...... 29 iv. Confidence Interval...... 30 V. Absolute Density of each Species (PCQ)...... 30 vi. Relative Density of a species (PCQ)...... 30 vii. Absolute frequency of a species (PCQ)...... 31 viii. Relative frequency of a species (PCQ)...... 31 ix. Species frequency, density and abundance (forquadrat sampling)...... 31 X. Mean canopy percentage in Quadrat...... 31 xi. Relative cover percentage of each species...... 32 xii. Species Association...... 32 xiii. Beta diversity by Jaccard's Similarity Index...... 33 d) Vegetation, species and fort mapping by GPS...... 33

D} USE OF VARIOUS SOFTWARE FOR DATA ANALYSIS...... 34

List of Tables

Tab le 3. 1: Zo n e details w ith zone n u m b ers...... 24 Tab le 3. 2: Selected forts from each zo n e...... 25 Tab le 3. 3: R egio nal distribution o f forts...... 26 Tab le 3. 4; T h e D o m in scale for visual estimate o f vegetation cover...... 29 Tab le 3. 5: C an o p y cover assessment form at...... 32 T a b le 3. 6: M ean canopy percentage in quadrat...... 32

Page I 23 INTRODUCTION ‘Study of vegetation of forts across the Western , ’ was designed after thorough review of relevant literature, pilot field survey with respect to vegetation, topography and landscape pattern to fulfill aims and objectives of the present study.

A} SELECTION OF FORTS The Western Maharashtra comprises Konkan, WG of Maharashtra and Deccan Plateau. In Western Maharashtra about 300 forts are scattered all along the sea through seacoast to crest of the Western Ghats of Maharashtra and Deccan Plain. There are about 40 ‘Island forts’ and ‘Coastal forts’ in Maharashtra, especially in Konkan; on the crest of WGM, about 150 forts are present and about 40 forts are constructed on the Deccan plain. General survey of these forts was made with reference to vegetation to select the forts for present study. The selection of forts was based on the landscape pattern, geographical area and topography (Survey of India 1991, 1996a, 1996b, 1996c, 1997a, 1997b). For the present study, the Western Maharashtra was divided into six geographical zones based on fort locations. Each zone was considered as a single stratum. From each zone two forts were selected from different districts.

Table 3.1: Zone details with zone numbers

Zone Zone Zone details No. Forts in Sea as an island in Maharashtra - Island Z1 Konlian Forts (Thane and Raigad Forts along the coast in Maharashtra - Coastal Z2 districts) Forts Forts on the border of Konkan and WG region - Z3 WG of Maharashtra Hill Forts (Raigad, Ratnagiri, Forts on the crest of WG of Maharashtra - Hill Z4 , districts) forts Forts on eastern Slope of the WG of Maharashtra Z5 Deccan Plateau - Hill forts (Pune and Satara Z6 districts) Forts on Deccan Plateau - Hill Forts

Page I 24 Selection of forts from study area

General survey of the study area was done with reference to forts with specific parameters / objectives. • With the available literature and maps, a list of forts present in each zone was prepared. Some criteria were applied to select forts for further study. • Prioritization criteria were defined for selection of forts. o Forts under study must be present in the defined study area, o Forts should not be the part of the Sanctuary or the Reserve Forest area; Natural vegetation should be present, o Forts should not have more tourism pressure and should not be the State or National monument • The top five prioritized forts were visited thoroughly from each zone and confirmed the ground realities. • Two forts were selected from each zone by applying parameters keeping the distance of more than 10% of that of total zone. Table 3.2: Selected forts from each zone

Zone Zone Name of Fort District Region Nearest No. Village/Town Forts in Sea as an Kihim/ Raigad Konkan island in Alibaug Z1 Maharashtra - Island Padmadurg Raigad Konkan Murud Forts Forts along the coast Coastal Vasai Thane Vasai Z2 in Maharashtra - Region Coastal Forts Korlai Raigad Konkan Revdanda Forts on the border Raigad Konkan Panvel Z3 of Konkan and WG Bhairvagad Ratnagiri Konkan Chiplun region - Hill Forts Forts on the crest of Dhakoba Pune Desh Junnar Z4 WG of Maharashtra Makarandgad Satara Desh - Hill forts Forts on eastern Pawananagar/ Pune Desh Slope of the WG of Kamshet Z5 Maharashtra - Hill Satara Desh Wai forts Deccan Purandar Pune S as wad Forts on Deccan Plain Z6 Plateau - Hill Forts Deccan Gondavale/ Satara Plain Dahiwadi

Page I 25 Table 3. 3: Regional distribution of forts

Sr. No. District No. of Forts Name of the forts 1 Pune Tikona, Dhakoba, Purandar Satara Mahimangad, Kamalgad, Makarandgad Raigad Khanderi, Padmadurg, Korlai, Prabalgad, Ratnagiri , Thane Vasai

B} SAMPLING AREA OF A FORT Sampling area of island, coastal and hill forts was defined separately because of different topography. For island and coastal forts, vegetation up to the outermost boundary wall of forts with bastions was considered. However, for the hill forts, two subareas, namely, area delimited by the outermost fortified wall with bastions and area outside the fortified wall with adjoining spurs and ravines was considered. Vegetation data was collected according to the landscape pattern, terrain and altitude.

C} DATA COLLECTION Field data was collected with reference to taxonomy, ecology, mapping of fort, vegetation and individual species with GPS. a) Field tours Each fort was visited at least twice in a year preferably in summer and winter seasons only because of inaccessibility during rainy season. However, the vegetation data of some accessible forts was collected even in monsoon season. The total data of each fort was categorized in three phases. The first phase (one and half year duration) comprises general survey, habitat identification, listing and identification of plant species. During the second phase (two years duration) mapping of forts, landscape pattern, vegetation and individual species with GPS was done and in the third phase (two years duration) the data was analyzed by using various software and confirmed with an iterative field visits.

Page I 26 b) Taxonomical work • Plant specimens were collected from the forts and herbarium was prepared by using the method described by Jain & Rao (1979). • Identification of plant species was done with the help of regional floras (Sharma and Karthikeyan, 1996; Singh and Karthikeyan, 2000) and the expertise from the field of plant taxonomy. • The photographs of forts with vegetation and unique plant species were snapped by the Canon EOS 400D Digital SLR camera of 10.2 mega pixel capacity. The images were stored in ‘.jpg’ format for further utilization. • All identified species were arranged according to ‘Bentham and Hooker’s (1862-1883) system of classification with some modifications according to the recent nomenclature (Singh and Karthikeyan, 2000; www.ipni.org). • Updated nomenclature was used for all the taxa. • To study each species, habit, habitat, landscape, distribution patterns according to altitude, associated species and its position in multi storied forest was recorded. A database was prepared in MS-Access and MS-Excel. • ‘Electronic Herbarium’ of plant species was prepared (Chandra, 2009). o Electronic Herbarium (E-Herbarium) Digitalization of the Herbarium and Digital Photographs are the two components of ‘Electronic Herbarium’. Digitalization of the Herbarium was done by scanning the dried specimens under scanner at 600 dpi (dots per inches) with HP ScanJet 1020 scanner. The images were stored in ‘.jpg’ format. Digital photograph of the species was used directly for the preparation of ‘E-Herbarium’. Each scanned file or digital photograph was labeled with the species name and sorted in different family folders according to natural system of classification. The traditional information of each species was recorded in ‘E-Herbarium’ with photo editor software. The database of the ‘E - Herbarium’ was developed in MS - Access. c) Ecological data Vegetation on the selected forts was studied from the point of view of ecological parameters like stratification, species density, species distribution pattern (including

Page I 27 lithophytes), species associations and canopy cover. Some of the ecological parameters were recorded with GPS. Based upon the landscape pattern and altitude, strata were marked on each fort. Species density was estimated by stratified random sampling method described by Dash (1993) and Sutherland (1996). For some forts, ‘Total count method’ and ‘DAFOR scale’ was used for the estimation of the species cover as described by Bullock (1996). For tree species, sampling was done by laying quadrats of 10 x 10 m size on the forts to calculate the density, abundance and frequency of species (Ravindranath and Premnath, 1997). The number of quadrats was dependent on the size of stratum and diversity in it. For island and coastal forts and undulating terrain, different methodology was applied for laying quadrats. For this, distance based ‘Point Centred Quarter (PCQ)’ sampling method was adopted for estimation of species density (Newton, 2006). For small sized forts, population studies of tree and shrub species were done whereas herbaceous species were only listed. All ecological data was further analyzed with MS-Excel. For the distribution pattern of lithophytes, specific locations, namely, fort wall (FW), rock crevices (RC) and fort ground (FG) were marked. Each species was recorded with reference to these locations. Ecological methods used to assess vegetation on forts are;

i. Total count method (Bullock, 1996; Sutherland, 1996) In this technique, each individual of a species or a number of a species in the study area was counted. This measures the true density rather than sampling to avoid biasness.

ii. DAFOR and Domin scale (Bullock, 1996, Sutherland, 1996) Visual estimate was made for the cover of species either in the whole study area or in the sample plots. Dominant, abundant, frequent, occasional and rare (DAFOR) classes of species were used for ‘visual-estimate classification’. These classes were decided by own interpretation, as they have no specificity. Percentage cover can be estimated by unaided eye either by creating own percentage classes or by using those given in the Domin scale (Table 3. 4).

Page I 28 Wel-Come to E-Herbaria Designed by R. Mungikar and K. R. Gandhe

Index No.: 001

Name of the species:

Exacum pedunculatum L. FamilyT Gentianaceae Habit: Herb Habitat: FG, SL Location: Bhairavagad fort Collection Area: Chiplun Maximum Altitude: 1000m Minimum Altitude: 50m Associated Members: None

Distribution Pattern: In patches DAFOR Scale: Frequent Other Notes: Distributed mainly on open plateaus and slopes Table 3.4: The Domin scale for visual estimate of vegetation cover

Value Domin + 1 individual, with no measurable cover < 4% cover with few individuals < 4% cover with several individuals < 4% cover with many individuals 4-10 % cover 11-25 % cover 26-33% cover 34-50% cover 51-75% cover 76-90 % cover 10 91-100% cover iii. Tree density by point centered quarter method (PCQ) (Sutherland, 1996; Southwood and Henderson, 2000) To determine the estimation of ‘absolute population density’ and for its confidence intervals, ‘Point Centred Quarter’ method was applied as described by Pollard (1971) and Seber (1982). When topography was highly undulating and where no clear stratification of vegetation was present, PCQ method was applied. For this, a single point was marked randomly on the fort and from that four directions, namely. North, South, East and West were marked. N

Page I 29 Then, distance of nearest neighboring tree species in each NE, SE, SW and NW quadrant was recorded. To reduce the error, maximum possible points were taken (Newton, 2006). The absolute density for trees was calculated by using equation

_ 4(4n-l)

■ Where N is the estimate of population density, n is the number of sample points from which the observations were topography was highly undulating and where no clear stratification of vegetation on forts made, and rij is the distance from random point, i to the nearest tree species in the quadrant j (j= 1,2,3,4;/=1,2,...... n). iv. Confidence Interval Confidence interval estimates for k was calculated from the following formula For n > 7, the endpoints of a confidence interval at the (1-a) 100% level are determined by

T j • 1 ( z f + V l 6 n - l ) . • 1 (zi-f+\/16n-l)^ Lower endpoint: X = ' n p 2 and upper endpoint X = ^ ^

where zp is the standard normal z-value corresponding to probability p.

V. Absolute Density of each Species (PCQ) The absolute density of an individual species is the expected number of trees of that species per square meter (or hectare). The absolute density (X^) of species k is estimated as the proportion of quarters in which the species was found number of times is the absolute density of all trees. — Quarters with species k ^ Xk = ------:------X X 4n

vi. Relative Density of a species (PCQ)

Quarters with species k Relative density (Species k) = ------x 100

Page I 30 vii. Absolute frequency of a species (PCQ)

Total number of sample points with a species xlOO Total number of sample points viii. Relative frequency of a species (PCQ)

Absolute frequency of a species ;clOO Total frequency of all species

ix. Species frequency, density and abundance (for quadrat sampling)

„ . Total number of quadrats in which species has occurred Frequency (%) = ------x 100 Total number of quadrats studied

. _ Total number of individuals of the species Total number of quadrats studied

. Total number od individuals of the species Abundance =•------— — - — — Total number of quadrats in which the species has occurred

X. Mean canopy percentage in Quadrat (Ravindranath and Premnath, 1997) To measure the canopy cover, canopy type and canopy distance of nearest neighboring trees the method proposed by Ravindranath and Premnath (1997) was used. The canopy cover was categorized in to four types 1) Without canopy cover (0-20%); 2) Adjacent crowns with gap (40%); 3) Crowns overlap but sky is visible; and 4) Sky is not visible (100%). To calculate the mean canopy percentage in plot, product of frequency summation of the individual canopy type and percentage was taken.

Page I 31 Table 3.5: Canopy cover assessment format

PCQ Canopy cover data (in percent) Points No canopy Adjacent Crowns Sky not No. cover crowns overlaps, visible 0-20 with gap sky still visible (100 %) (40 %) (80 %) 1 2 3 Total

Table 3.6: Mean canopy percentage in quadrat

Sr. No. Canopy Percentage (x) Frequency (f) (fx) 1 10% 2 40% 3 80% 4 100%

Total I f Ifx

Formula used for calculation

Mean canopy cover of the plot = I f xi. Relative cover percentage of each species Relative cover percentage was calculated based on the canopy distance of individual species and total length of the canopy cover of all the species.

Length of the cover of one species Relative cover percentage = X 100 Total length of the cover of all species xii. Species Association Species association was noted at each PCQ point as well as in the patches of arboreal vegetation. The repeatedly associated species were marked visually and noted from different areas of the fort.

Page I 32 xiii. Beta diversity by Jaccard’s Similarity Index Beta diversity is a measure of the extent to which the diversity of two or more spatial units differs and is generally used to characterize the degree of spatial heterogeneity in diversity at landscape scale, or to measure the change in diversity along transects or environmental gradients (Magurran, 2004). The rate of change of species with respect to the altitude range was studied with the help of Jaccard's similarity index (Cj) noted by Magurran (2004). a Cj = a + b + c Where a is the total number of species present in between two samples (altitude range is a sample) being compared, b is the number of species present only in sample 1, and c is the number of species present only in sample 2.

d) Vegetation, species and fort mapping by GPS Global Positioning System (GPS) is a device which is used to record latitude, longitude and altitude from mean sea level (MSL) at any point on the earth. Vegetation mapping is generally done with GIS imagery. The ground truthing of GIS imagery data is confirmed with GPS (Behra, 2000). In the present study, vegetation profile was prepared by recording tracks and waypoints at different landscapes and vegetation composition by GPS (Anon., 1995, 2005). GPS data was collected by using two different hand held GPS devices. • Meridian GPS version 4 and MapSend™ software (Map Send Worldwide Basemap v. 1.10a (build 1075)). • Garmin eTrex Vista GPS and Garmin Mapsource software version 6.15.6 Fort area mapping was done by tracking the peripheral wall around the fort. Waypoints were recorded at peculiar locations like boundary wall, features inside fort, quadrat locations, landscape type, different vegetation types and RET (Rare or Endemic or Threatened) category species, if present, on the fort. In the present study, RET category was considered for individual species mapping with reference to its geographical locations, altitude, distribution pattern, habitat diversity and associated species. In quadrat mapping method, location and altitude at the center of a quadrat was recorded with GPS. Vegetation maps in the study area were designed by using GPS data, GPS software and MS-Excel.

Page I 33 D} USE OF VARIOUS SOFTWARE FOR DATA ANALYSIS To analyze vegetation data for different parameters, various software were used. For basic data entry, processing and analysis, mostly Microsoft office was used. MS- Word was used for formatting the text material. Ecological and GPS data was processed and analyzed in MS-Excel. Vegetation distribution maps were prepared by using GPS processed data. MS-Access was used to develop the database of ‘E- Herbarium’. It was also used to link database with digital photographs and scanned plant images. Special photo editor software like Adobe Photoshop 7.0 and Coral draw were used to import photos from camera, to prepare photo plates, for processing scanned images and digitalization of photographs for ‘E-Herbarium’. Canon Digital Photo Professional 2.2 software was also used to process and to download the images from Canon EOS 400D digital SLR camera. GPS software like Garmin - Mapsource, version 6.15.6; Magellan MapSend Worldwide V 1.10 and Magellan Vantagepoint were used with Google Earth. They were mainly used to download the data from Garmin and Magellan GPS, to process it and to export the data to Google Earth and MS Excel and vice a versa. The exported data in Google Earth and Ms-Excel was used for preparation of vegetation layers, maps and graphs. For managing bibliography, some of the specialized features like Zotero plug-in of Mozilla Firefox and Mendeley Desktop plug-in were used. During the field visits on the forts, observations were noted and processed by using different methods, techniques and software. These were organized in successive chapters.

Page I 34