Patterns of species dominance, diversity and dispersion in ＇Khasi hill sal＇ forest ecosystem in northeast India (1).pdfVIP

Tripathi and Shankar Forest Ecosystems(201 4)1：23 DOl 1 0．1 1 86／s40663—01 4—0023—2 Forest Ecosystems SpfingerOpen Journal Patterns of species dominance，diversity and dispersion in l Khasi hil sal forest ecosystem in northeast l nd ia Amit Kumar Tripathi and Uma Shanka r Abstract Background：The Khasi hil sal forest ecosystem in Meghalaya，India represents the easternmost limit of sal distribution．We tested if tree diversity and compositional heterogeneity of this ecosystem was higher than other sal—dominated forests due to moister envi ronment． Methods：Vegetation was sampled jn 1 1 transects of 1 O m width and up to 500 m Jength covering 5．2 ha area．AI Jstems≥1 0 cm girth at breast height were enumerated． Results：We found a pattern of mixed dominance of Shoreo robusto(sa1)and Schimo wolichif and co．dominance of Pinus kesiyo and Coreyo orboreo．The Shannon s diversity index(H )was 3．395 nats．This value is remarkably high and competitive to that of moist saI forests of eastern Himalayan foothils and sal—dominated forests of Tripura． A high value of H was manifested by：a)high species richness(S=1 23)，b)good equitability(70．6％)，c) fair resource apportionment，and d)abundance of rare species(84％ species with Iess than one per cent of totaI individuals，67％ species with two or Jess jndividuals ha and 59％ species with one or Iess jndividuals ha )．The compositiona Jheterogeneity was fai r (Whitaker s w=3．1 5)．The presence of Fagaceae with six species commanding 4-3％ of importance value(IVI)and of a pine kesiya)in saI forest was remarkable．As many as 58 species showed low density( 10 individuals ha一。)，unif0rm dispersion ，five species achieved higher density(10 individuals ha一’)， uniform dispersion and six of the top 1 0 species were clumped ．The forest showed an exponentiaf demog raphic curve ilustrating good regeneration of an expanding community．VerticaI stratification was simple with a poor canopy and fair subcanopy，which together with Iow basaI area(1 5．65 m ·ha f0r indi