Response of Woody Species to Anthropogenic Disturbances in Sacred Forests of Northeast India

K Upadhyaya, S K Barik, H N Pandey, O P Tripathi

Abstract


The response of woody species to anthropogenic disturbances was studied in three forest stands viz., Swer, Nonglangand Nongkrem representing subtropical humid forests of the area. These forest stands were preserved till recentlyas sacred groves on the basis of religious beliefs. However, during the past decade, some portions of these sacredgroves have been disturbed due to product extraction following erosion in religious beliefs. The diversity andregeneration of woody species present in these forests has been studied to assess the response of the species tohuman disturbance. A total of 114 woody species ($5cm dbh) were identified in the three forests. The speciesrichness in disturbed stands was significantly lower in the disturbed stand (24-26) than the undisturbed stands (60-32). The density also followed a similar trend in Swer and Nonglang forest stands whereas, it increased from 898stems ha-1 in the undisturbed stand to 954 stems ha-1 in the disturbed stand at Swer. The basal area of woody specieswas significantly higher in the undisturbed stands (27 - 62 m2 ha-1) than the disturbed stands (3.14 - 58.25 m2 ha-1).The distribution of density in different dbh classes resulted in a reverse J-shaped curve in all the undisturbed stands,while in the disturbed stands, there was a reduction in density in the higher dbh classes. The densities of seedlingsand saplings were significantly higher in the undisturbed stands than the disturbed stands, although seedling densityfar exceeded the sapling density in all the stands. The proportion of species showing no regeneration was high inthe undisturbed stand as compared to the disturbed stand. Results revealed that species richness significantly gotreduced, tree population structure showed a decrease in higher girth class individuals and the regeneration statusof the species was also altered due to disturbance.

Keywords


Subtropical Humid Forest, Species Richness, Tree Population, Sacred Grove, Conservation

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