Tree Species Diversity and Distribution Patterns in Tropical Forests of Garo Hills
RESEARCH ARTICLES Tree species diversity and distribution patterns in tropical forests of Garo Hills Ashish Kumar1,2,*, Bruce G. Marcot3 and Ajai Saxena1,4 1Wildlife Institute of India, Post Box 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun 248 001, India 2 Present Address: National Tiger Conservation Authority, Bikaner House, Annexe 5, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi 110 011, India 3USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, 620 S.W. Main Street, Portland, OR 97205, USA 4Present address: Department of Ocean Development, Block 12, C.G.O. Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110 003, India pressure, particularly shifting cultivation (locally known We analysed phytosociological characteristics and diver- 1 sity patterns of tropical forest tree species in Garo as jhum) . Nevertheless, pristine PFs of Garo Hills still occur Hills, western Meghalaya, Northeast India. The main as remnant patches in remote localities mainly in the inte- vegetation of the region included primary forests rior hills. SF growth originates from many years of prac- (PFs), secondary forests (SFs), and sal (Shorea ro- tising jhum, resulting in patches of various forest ages busta) plantations, with 162, 132, and 87 tree species dispersed across the area. Many recent studies4–7 have des- respectively. The Shannon–Wiener diversity index of cribed vegetation characteristics and diversity of the tropical trees in PF was 4.27 (n = 21 one-ha belt-transects), forests of India and other parts of the world. Meghalaya, which is comparable to the world’s richest tropical however, has remained, largely unstudied, except for our forests. Statistical results revealed that primary for- work and another landscape level assessment1,2,8.
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