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 Maharashtra, India’ 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 Satara, Pune 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/ Khanderi 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 Prabalgad 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 Mahabaleshwar - Hill forts Forts on eastern Pawananagar/ Tikona Pune Desh Slope of the WG of Kamshet Z5 Maharashtra - Hill Kamalgad Satara Desh Wai forts Deccan Purandar Pune S as wad Forts on Deccan Plain Z6 Plateau - Hill Forts Deccan Gondavale/ Mahimangad 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 Bhairavgad, 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