Floristic Diversity, Vegetation Analysis and Threat Status of Plants in Various Forest Types in Dharmapuri Forest Division, Tamilnadu, Southern India

Abstract

The present paper deals with the study conducted to know the floristic diversity assessment and vegetation composition analysis in various forest types of Dharmapuri Forest division situated in Eastern Ghats of Southern India in the state of Tamilnadu. A total of 352 species of 233 genera and belonging to 79 families were recorded. The quantitative features such as density and important value index (IVI) varied greatly among forest and different forest types. In the present study the diversity index of shrubs and herbs were found to be higher than the tree species. The presence of high number of higher girth class of tree species and low number of sapling and seedling indicates that the present forest is old and exhibiting the low regeneration.

Floristic Diversity and Vegetation Analysis of Plants from Various Forest Types in Hosur Forest Division, Tamil Nadu, Southern India

“…If we compare tree species richness among nearby forested area such as Bannerghatta forest with 41 tree species (Verma et al, 2009;Gopalakrishna et al, 2015), Mudumalai with 63 tree species (Condit et al, 2000), Dharmapuri FD with 51 tree species (Tiwari and Ravikumar, 2018), was noted in the present study for HFD there were 94 tree species, which is the highest number among the nearby forested area. The five most abundant families in HFD were Fabaceae (45 nos.…”

“…For the collection of data from these quadrats and analysis, standard ecological methods were followed (Domboise and Ellenberg, 1974). A species list of all the identified species was prepared with the help of flora guides and nearby area studied (Hooker, 1872(Hooker, -1897Gamble andFischer, 1915-1939;Henry et al, 1987;Henry et al, 1989;Matthew, 1981Matthew, -1984Ahmedulla and Nayar, 1987;Sanjappa, 1992;Nayar, 1996;Jagtap and Singh, 1999;Singh, 2002;Balakrishnan and Chakrabarty, 2007;Ansari, 2008;Tiwari and Ravikumar, 2018). Each sampled sites were marked with a Global Positioning System (GPS).…”

“…The present study site falls within the Eastern Ghats. Conservation of biological diversity has become a major concern, for a large part of the society and many government agencies at all levels (Kaya and Raynal, 2001;Tiwari and Ravikumar, 2018). Documenting basic patterns of biodiversity are fundamental for showing potential areas for conservation and management action (Villasenor et al, 2007).…”

“…Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Floristic diversity and threat status of plants study of Dharmapuri forest Division was done by Tiwari and Ravikumar (2018) and the present study is the extension of that work to another forest division in order to assess plant biodiversity and vegetation analysis in different forest types of Hosur Forest Division. The average elevation in this region is 500-1,000 m. Ground sinks to 300 m in the valley of the Cauvery and the highest point is the peak of Guthereyan at 1,395.11 m. Red sandy loam is the most common soil type found in this region.…”

“…and Rubiaceae (25 nos. ), while Tiwari and Ravikumar (2018) found Fabaceae and Acanthaceae to be most dominant families in Dharmapuri Forest Division, which is an adjutant forest division; Panda et al (2013) had recorded Euphorbiaceae and Moraceae to be the most dominant families in northen portion of Eastern Ghats, while the southern portion of Eastern Ghats in Bannerghatta forest is dominated by families Fabaceae, Caesalpiniaceae and Rubuaceae (Gopalkrishna et al, 2015;Puttookame et al, 2015). Mimosaceae, Rubiaceae, Apocynaceae were the most dominant families in Piranmalai Forest (Pitchairamu et al, 2008), whereas Euphorbiaceae and Rubiaceae were most dominant in Shervarayan hill (Kadavul and Parthasarthy, 1999).…”