Effect of protection on regeneration in some selected village forestsunder community protection in Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka, India

Hegde, GT and Murali, KS and Bhat, DM and Bhat, PR and Ravindranath, NH (2005) Effect of protection on regeneration in some selected village forestsunder community protection in Uttara Kannada district, Karnataka, India. In: Current Science, 88 (5). pp. 810-815.

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Abstract

Effect of protection on regeneration and species similarity was studied in six village forests under Joint Forest Management in Uttara Kannada district, the Western Ghats. Difference in species number, stem density, basal area of planted and natural species, and shrub density was compared between two observations in all the villages studied. All village forests experienced a decrease in the number of stems after the protection was withdrawn. The decrease in overall density of natural species was more (19.7%) than that of the exotic species (8.2%). This could be because of the utility of native species than the exotic ones.Basal area increased for stems that were planted, while it generally decreased for stems of natural species. The overall basal area,including native and planted species, had increased during the observation period indicating biomass accumulation. Shrub density increased in all villages except in Kadle, where there was no natural vegetation in the village forest. Greater similarity of species was found for planted species within the same village forests before and after protection. The number of cut stems increased significantly when the protection was removed, indicating diversion of pressure. The community did not prefer exotic species that were planted and on the other hand the native species were used to meet various biomass needs.The study indicates that the programme should develop strategies that incorporate various measures to conserve and maintain the village forests.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Current Science
Publisher:	Indian Academy of Sciences
Additional Information:	Copyright for this article belongs to Indian Academy of Sciences.
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences
Date Deposited:	17 May 2005
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 04:18
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/3195

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