Plant community and diversity patterns within the forested landscape of North-Eastern U.P.

摘要

A synthesis of observations was made for the phytosociological characterization of the regional forested landscape of northeastern Uttar Pradesh, India, which is a mosaic of major and minor plantation forests and interspersed patches of mixed forests. The latter showed greater species richness and number of trees, shrubs and lianas than the associated communities of plantation forests of sal (Shorea robusta) and Eugenia. The Shannon's index ( alpha -diversity) was however, highest in sal stands followed by mixed forests and sal-teak (Tectona grandis) combination but the index was much lower for Trevia and Terminalia stands. gamma -diversity for the regional forested landscape was 4.035. The species-area curves suggested that the increase in the number of species was more regular in mixed forest and in some sal stands as compared to other stands. The general form of the dominance-diversity curve for the forested landscape was quite normal but that for trees (>30 cm gbh) showed a steep decline. Rare occurrences of many species may be due to the loss of natural associations of several genera in presence of recurrent disturbance. Nevertheless, the fairly high species richness and plant diversity suggests that the regional forested landscape is still able to provide the much required gene pool for the conservation of species and ecosystems of the region..