Community Classification and Species Assemblage Limit within the Forests of North Andaman Islands, India

摘要

the present study, three large ecological plots of 3 ha each were surveyed in 3 different forest types of North Andaman Islands. Each 3-ha plot (30 sub-plots of 0.1 ha each) was classified into different classes based on site quality as either excellent, good, moderate or poor using an index developed by utilizing vegetation parameters such as species richness, diversity, density, among others. Analysis revealed most of the area to be under the good category in three forest communities, indicating that forests of North Andaman are potential sites of species richness and diversity. The "general limit of species assemblage" with respect to higher angiosperm taxa in North Andaman was observed based on two independent approaches of sampling: stratifiedrandom plots and the large area ecological plots. The general limit of species assemblage was in the range of 14-33 species. The present analysis provides a base for future investigations to identify subplot characteristics that provide variation in species dominance, richness and diversity within a small unit area, which has made it possible to classify the 3-ha plots into four classes.