Vegetation composition and woody species diversity at Chandoli National Park, northern Western Ghats, India

摘要

Woody plant species diversity at Chandoli National Park, an under-explored area from northern Western Ghats, Maharashtra, was assessed in detail by establishing ten transects of 1000 m x 5 m each. All individuals with GBH >= 15 cm were enumerated. Atotal of 4200 stems were sampled which represented 107 species belonging to 86 genera and 44 families. Shannon's index value ranged from 2.0 to 3.2. We have identified a new subtype Memecylon-Syzygium-Olea of previously defined Memecylon-Syzygium-Actinodaphne floristic series in the literature. Family importance value of pooled data showed that Melastomataceae was the most dominant family (50.32), followed by Myrtaceae (32.39) and Euphorbiaceae (23.16). The frequency distribution of all the species washighly skewed with Mememecylon umbellatunt, Syzygium cumini, Olea dioica, Catunaregam spinosa and Terminalia elliptica accounting for 50% of the population. Twenty-three species were represented by only one individual in the transects sampled, indicating the underlying lognormal distribution.