Fire is known to have dramatic consequences on forest ecosystems around the world and on the livelihoods of forest‐dependent people. While the Eastern Ghats of India have high abundances of fire‐prone dry tropical forests, little is known about how fire influences the diversity, composition, and structure of these communities. Our study aimed to fill this knowledge gap by examining the effects of the presence and the absence of recent fire on tropical dry forest communities within the Kadiri watershed, Eastern Ghats. We sampled plots with and without evidence of recent fire in the Eswaramala Reserve Forest in 2008 and 2018. Our results indicate that even though stem density increases in the recently burned areas, species richness is lower because communities become dominated by a few species with fire resistance and tolerance traits, such as thick bark and clonal sprouting. Further, in the presence of fire, the size structure of these fire‐tolerant species shifts toward smaller‐sized, resprouting individuals. Our results demonstrate that conservation actions are needed to prevent further degradation of forests in this region and the ecosystem services they provide.

In order to manage forest ecosystems for conservation and human livelihoods, it is important to understand the effects of anthropogenic activities on plant populations of economic, cultural, and conservation concern (Grogan et al., 2014;Kaye et al., 2001). Harvesting and use of plant products, especially non-timber forest products (NTFPs), account for a large proportion of the livelihoods of people living adjacent to forests (Ticktin, 2005). Overexploitation of timber and NTFPs is a concern, as 40% of plant species in the world are at risk of extinction (Nic Lughadha et al., 2020), and unsustainable harvesting practices are major drivers of plant loss (Brummitt et al., 2015).However, traditional harvesting practices by indigenous people can often be sustainable (Shackleton et al. 2015). Further, conservation