E. S. Abhilash , A. R. R. Menon

Abstract

The study reveals the phyto-sociological aspects of Nageia wallichiana and plant diversity in the study area. In both the study sites the same typical evergreen species Palaquium ellipticum and Cullenia exarillata showed higher dominance among other species. It is evident that Nageia wallichiana is definitely established in the community but not as a dominant or co-dominant one in the study sites. In both the study sites the Nageia wallichiana showed random distribution. However, most of the species in site I were contiguously distributed and in site II randomly distributed. The floristic study shows that the natural habitats of Nageia wallichiana harbour large number of endemic plants and other categories of the conservational importance viz. endangered, rare and vulnerable plants.

Keywords

Nageia Wallichiana, Phytosociology, Floristics, Species Richness, Species Diversity,
Endemics

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E. S. Abhilash , A. R. R. Menon , K. Balasubramanian

Abstract

A study was conducted in natural habitats of Goodrical Reserved Forest to assess the abundance and diversity of seedling regeneration as a function of Forest Ecosystem. The most dominant species encountered was Palaquium ellipticum (Dalz.) Engl. Based on the distribution pattern except the saplings of study site-I, all categories and sites, Nageia wallichiana (Presl.)O.Ktz. showed contagious distribution but majority of the other species, we can see the preponderance of random distribution. In the case of Nageia wallichiana (Presl.) O.Ktz. a high mortality rate is seen especially from unestablished to established stage. In the study site-II it is noted that the increase in individual percentage of secondary species might have been due to past selection felling operations and has resulted decrease in the individual percentage of endemics and other conservational categories. The habitat is highly diverse in nature and harbours considerable number of endemics and other conservational categories like rare, endangered, vulnerable etc.

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