Species diversity and vegetation structure across various strata in natural and plantation forests in Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, North India (original) (raw)

Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS) in Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh, encompassing about 400 km 2 area, represents a typical Terai ecosystem characterized by extensive alluvial plains, hygrophilous grasslands and tropical moist deciduous forests. A large proportion of the natural forest in the sanctuary has been converted into commercial plantations. We studied species diversity, structure and concentration of dominance of woody plants at various strata of natural and plantation forests within the sanctuary. The study sites included three categories of natural forests viz., sal mixed, miscellaneous and riverine and three types of plantation forests i.e., sal, sal under planting and teak plantations. All categories of vegetation except riverine forests were deciduous in nature. Tree densities were higher in plantations as compared to natural forests. Basal area of trees ranged from 24.84 m 2 ha -1 (riverine forest) to 45.55 m 2 ha -1 (sal mixed forest). However, there was no significant difference in overall basal area between natural (35.9 m 2 ha -1 ) and plantation forests (32.3 m 2 ha -1 ).