Investigating Tropical Forest Cover Change In Nepals Terai Forests

Author : Ramesh Prasad Sapkota
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780438633964
Total Pages : 173 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (339 download)

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Download or read book Diversity, Disturbance and Restoration of Forests in Terai and Siwalik of Central Nepal written by Ramesh Prasad Sapkota and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forests are sources of livelihood for millions of people across the globe. Though the status of overall forest cover in some countries is increasing, degradation is still occurring when viewed over smaller spatial scales in both developing and developed countries. In this dissertation, we investigated the changes in structural attributes of woody species as a result of interaction between anthropogenic disturbances and management practices, and assessed effectiveness of passive restoration in the Terai and Siwalik forests of Central Nepal. Anthropogenic disturbances (primarily associated with human subsistence uses) are the common issues observed in Nepalese forest ecosystems. With realization of impacts of disturbances, management activities for improving the ecological situations are also ongoing in these forests. Forest management committees, however, cannot totally restrict local people from extraction of forest resources. Local people enter forests for collection of their daily subsistence needs such as fodder, grass, fuelwood, litter, timber etc. To observe this complex scenario of management and disturbance interaction and how the interaction has affected structural attributes of the forests (Chapter II), a 2 km transect was laid down in each sampled forest to characterize the disturbance gradient from edge to interior. Forest management is focused near human settlements or the most degraded sites, so we hypothesized there must be changes in structural attributes of forest ecosystems in this complex interplay. Sampling included six, 1 ha. plots at intervals of 300 m starting at a distance of 150 m from the settlement areas. The study was conducted in three Buffer Zone Community Forests (BZCFs), viz. Radha Krishna BZCF, Musharni Mai BZCF and Janajagaran BZCF, including one control forest inside Parsa Wildlife Reserve (currently designated as Parsa National Park). We did not observe a linear relationship of increase or decrease in total stem density of woody species moving from edge to interior, but species diversity (Shannon-Wiener and 1-Simpson’s indices) of the woody plants decreased when examined from edge towards interior of the forests. When we segregate dominant tree species Shorea robusta and other species, there was a linear trend of increase in density, basal area and importance value index (IVI) of species other than S. robusta while moving towards interior from forest edges. This suggests management practices ongoing in the forests are mostly focused on protecting S. robusta in the edges with less consideration for other species. Multivariate analysis showed comparatively higher dissimilarity between edge forest sites and interior forest sites in BZCFs, but less dissimilarity was observed within sites of control forest. To determine shift in diameter distribution of woody species with respect to disturbance gradients (Chapter III), we categorized each BZCF sites up to 600 m, 600 to 1200 m and > 1200 m as highly disturbed, moderately disturbed and undisturbed sites, respectively. Other (proxy) indicators of subsistence dependence and anthropogenic disturbances were also used for categorizing the treatments. A significant decrease in observed richness of woody plant species (overall: p