Changes in the Ecological Parameters of Mixed Forests of Sal (Shorea robusta Gaertn.) Are a Function of Distance from the Human Settlements

Changes in the Ecological Parameters of Mixed Forests of Sal (Shorea robusta Gaertn.) Are a Function of Distance from the Human Settlements

Sapkota, Ramesh P.;Stahl, Peter D.;Hengaju, Krishna;Rijal, Kedar;Sapkota, Ramesh P.;Stahl, Peter D.;Hengaju, Krishna;Rijal, Kedar;
international journal of ecology 2018 Vol. 2018
230
p2018changesinternational

Abstract

Forests in Nepal are extremely important for supporting the livelihood of millions of people who collect forest products for their subsistence use and partly for income generation. Such inherent dependence is expected to cause disturbance in the forest ecosystem. We investigated changes in the structural assemblages caused by the interaction between anthropogenic disturbances and forest management activities in the mixed forests of Sal (Shorea robusta Gaertn.) of Terai, Central Nepal. We evaluated three buffer zone community forests (BZCFs), namely, Radha Krishna, Musharni Mai, and Janajagaran of Parsa Wildlife Reserve (PWR); the forest inside PWR was taken as a control. A transect of 2 km length was laid in each forest, and six plots, each of 1 ha size, were established at a successive interval of 300 m along the edge to the interior of the forests to count and record the diameter at breast height (DBH) of the studied plants. We observed that the species diversity increased linearly (p < 0.05) towards the forest interior in the BZCFs. Species other than S. robusta had significantly higher (p < 0.05) dominance and Importance Value Indices in the interior sites. We did not observe such trends in the control forest. Multivariate analysis showed that the sites of BZCFs had higher structural dissimilarity, but the control forest sites were closer to each other in composition. The forest sites near the settlements had undergone biotic homogenization (S. robusta mixed forest changed to S. robusta forest) due to the interaction between anthropogenic disturbances and forest management activities. On the basis of vegetation density, the edges of BZCFs appeared to be protected, but on the basis of diversity failed to do so. Future management strategies should be directed towards enhancing the diversity, heterogeneity, and forest quality, especially near the forest edges.

Citation

ID: 10533
Ref Key: p2018changesinternational
Use this key to autocite in SciMatic or Thesis Manager

References

Blockchain Verification

Account:
NFT Contract Address:
0x95644003c57E6F55A65596E3D9Eac6813e3566dA
Article ID:
10533
Unique Identifier:
10.1155/2018/1394814
Network:
Scimatic Chain (ID: 481)
Loading...
Blockchain Readiness Checklist
Authors
Abstract
Journal Name
Year
Title
5/5
Creates 1,000,000 NFT tokens for this article
Token Features:
  • ERC-1155 Standard NFT
  • 1 Million Supply per Article
  • Transferable via MetaMask
  • Permanent Blockchain Record
Blockchain QR Code
Scan with Saymatik Web3.0 Wallet

Saymatik Web3.0 Wallet