Mini Forest - An experiment to evaluate the adaptability of Western Ghats species for afforestation

Sankara Rao, K and Bhat, Harish R and Kulkarni, Varsha A and Ramachandra, TV (2011) Mini Forest - An experiment to evaluate the adaptability of Western Ghats species for afforestation. In: Environment Conservation Journal, 12 (1&2). pp. 79-83.

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Abstract

Saplings of forty nine species of trees from Western Ghats forests were planted on a 1.5 hectare tract of Deccan plateau (in the campus of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore) and their performance monitored for 23 years. The objective was to evaluate their adaptability to a habitat and conditions apparently alien to these species. The study was also meant to understand the linkages of these trees with the surrounding environment. Contrary to the belief that tree species are very sensitive to change of location and conditions, the introduced trees have grown as good as they would do in their native habitat and maintained their phenology. Further, they have grown in perfect harmony with trees native to the location. The results show that the introduced species are opportunistic and readily acclimatized and grew well overcoming the need for the edaphic and other factors that are believed to be responsible for their endemicity. Besides ex situ conservation, the creation of miniforest has other accrued ecosystem benefits. For instance, the ground water level has risen and the ambient temperature has come down by two degrees.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Environment Conservation Journal
Publisher:	ASEA
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to ASEA.
Keywords:	Western Ghats;Ecological Services;Mini forest
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences
Date Deposited:	31 Jan 2012 09:56
Last Modified:	31 Jan 2012 10:02
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/43252

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