No abstract

The survey indicates that, they are about 129 species belonging to 109 genera under 52 families (Table 1). Of the 52 families documented, the family Fabaceae is the dominant family, comprising 9 spp., the dominance of Fabaceae may be due to the nitrogen-fixing bacteria with which these taxa often are associated, allowing these species to improve their soils. 14 This was followed by Caesalpiniaceae (8 spp.), Euphorbiaceae (7 spp.), Capparaceae and Mimosaceae (6 spp. each), Asclepiadaceae, Asteraceae, Malvaceae, Tiliaceae are represented by 5 species each. The families Boraginaceae, Liliaceae, Rubiaceae are represented by 4 species each. Seven families are represented by 3 species each, they are:

Yadahalli Chinkara Wildlife Sanctuary is located in semi-arid zone of north Karnataka with heterogeneous vegetation types within it. The forest has variable geographical features such as rocky slopes, open grass lands, scrub forest, seasonal minor waterfalls and lakes. The present paper provides a checklist of tree species of Yadahalli Chinkara Wildlife Sanctuary, Bagalkot, which spreads over the Bilagi and Mudhol taluka. The list comprises of 80 tree species belonging to 67 genera of 34 families. The family Fabaceae contributes 23 species followed by Moraceae, Rubiaceae and Rutaceae 4 species each. Out of 80 species, three species are endemic to Peninsular India, four species are Vulnerable (VU), and one species is Near Threatened (NT) at global level. The present work is an inventory of tree species of Yadahalli Chinkara Wildlife Sanctuary, Bagalkot, in view to create awareness among the local people and to support the conservation activities in the forest.

The paper enumerates 59 species of orchids collected from the Yellapur taluk, Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka state.

The forests are the source for many essential requirements such as fuel wood, timber, raw materials for paper and above all, it helps us to maintain the CO2 /O2 balance in nature. Sustainable forest management requires reliable information. The aerial photographs and GIS data information can generate various scenarios for forest management plans at local, national and global scales. IKONOS is the world first one-meter resolution commercial imaging satellite. The interpretation of aerial photograph and satellite data are of great benefit for neighboring and regional land use, forest mapping, to find change detection and are effective for large are inventories, forest planning etc. In the present study, an attempt has been made to classify the FRI forest in to 11-forest cover and land use classes. The major chunk of forest consists of Pine forest, which occupy 94.04 ha and 143.20 ha of the total forest area during 1973 and 2001, respectively. It is followed by mixed forest with 53.31 ha (1973) and 5.50 ha (2001), and Teak with 17.68 ha (1973) and 8.49 ha (2001). The Sal forest showed an increase in forest cover from 4.83 ha (1973) to 5.39 ha (2001). Similarly Eucalyptus forest showed a forest cover of 1.84 ha in 2001, which was not seen in the year 1973. The constructions also showed an increase from 3.14 ha in 1973 to 24.68 ha in 2001 and in case of nursery and miscellaneous (scrub), there has been increasing in total forest cover. The IKONOS image of 2001 surprisingly showed no change in Champa forest cover. Decrease in forest cover of Teak, Sal and Mixed forest must have been due to felling of trees for logging purposes and their forest cover might have been replaced by scrub vegetation (miscellaneous) , construction, Eucalyptus plantation and nursery. The results of the present project showed changes in terms of area coverage by the forest types, which helps us to assess future prospects of the forestland use pattern.