Tree Community Assemblage and Abiotic Variables in Tropical Moist Deciduous Forest of Himalayan Terai Eco-Region
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Tree Community Assemblage and Abiotic Variables in Tropical Moist Deciduous Forest of Himalayan Terai Eco-Region Omesh Bajpai1 • Venkatesh Dutta1 • Rachna Singh2 • L. B. Chaudhary3 Jitendra Pandey2
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Received: 18 February 2019 / Revised: 4 October 2019 / Accepted: 20 December 2019 The National Academy of Sciences, India 2020
Abstract The Himalayan foothills in northern India form one of the distinct eco-climatic regions of the world which affect plant communities. This study aims to analyse tree community assemblage along with associated abiotic variables in the tropical moist deciduous forests of Dudhwa National Park (DNP) in the Terai region. The cluster and non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) analyses grouped the forests of DNP into five major forest types: Sal miscellaneous forest (SMF), Sal-Asna miscellaneous forest (SAMF), low-land miscellaneous forest (LMF), teak plantation (TP) and eucalyptus plantation (EP). Each forest type has its specific species composition and dominance. A sum of 23 site-specific tree species have been found to grow in the study area, with the maximum 14 site-specific species from the SMF followed by LMF and TP with seven
and two species, respectively. The nMDS and Pearson’s correlation reveal that the different forest communities in Dudhwa National Park are characterized by the variations in abiotic variables (i.e. total organic nitrogen, TON; electrical conductivity, EC; soil bulk density, BD; soil porosity, SP; available phosphorous, P; potassium ion, K; and water holding capacity, WHC; air temperature, AT; and absolute air humidity, AAH). The study also reported 23 site-specific species, which require proper conservation measures due to their low ecological amplitude and narrow range of distribution.
Significance Statement Himalayan Terai is characterized by a distinct eco-climatic region of the world which potentially affects the tree community attributes. This study analyses the role of abiotic (edaphic and climatic) variables in tree community assemblage in Dudhwa National Park. The result reveals that the tree community assemblage is significantly affected by the different abiotic variables such as total organic nitrogen (TON), electrical conductivity (EC), soil bulk density (BD), soil porosity (SP), available phosphorus (P), potassium ion (K), water holding capacity (WHC), and air temperature (AT), and absolute air humidity (AAH) and CO2.
Introduction
& Omesh Bajpai [email protected]
1
Venkatesh Dutta [email protected]
Department of Environmental Science, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Vidya Vihar, Raebareli Road, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226025, India
2
Rachna Singh [email protected]
Centre of Advanced Study in Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh 221 005, India
3
Plant Diversity, Systematics and Herbarium Division, CSIRNational Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226001, India
L. B. Chaudhary [email protected]
Keywords Trees Phytosociology Ab
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