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Effects of stand characteristics on tree species richness in and around a conservation area of northeast Bangladesh

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Abstract

We investigated the effect of tree cover, forest patch and disturbances on tree species richness in a highly diverse conservation area of northeast Bangladesh. A systematic sampling protocol was adopted and 80 sub-plots from twenty five 1 ha plots were used for the vegetation survey. Linear regression analysis was performed to understand the effect of patch area, disturbances and tree cover on tree species richness. Ordination using Redundancy analysis (RDA) and Non-metric Multi Dimensional Scaling (NMDS) were also performed to explore the tree species compositional similarities along the stand characteristics gradient and locations of the sample plots. Our study revealed that, forest patch size has greater influence on species richness. Areas with medium level of disturbances have shown greater species richness. In constrained ordination the selected explanatory variables regulated the richness of common species. Our findings can be useful for better forest management and restoration of landscapes of conservation needs using ecologically important species.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forestry and Environment Science, School of Agriculture and Mineral Sciences, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, 3114, Bangladesh

    Muha Abdullah Al Pavel & Mohammed A. S. Arfin Khan

  2. Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry (TeSAF), School of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, University of Padova, Viale dell’Università, 16, 35020, Legnaro, Italy

    Muha Abdullah Al Pavel & Mohammad Belal Uddin

  3. Tropical Forestry Group, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia

    Sharif A. Mukul

  4. Tropical Forests and People Research Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore DC, QLD 4558, Australia

    Sharif A. Mukul

  5. Centre for Research on Land-use Sustainability, Maijdi, Noakhali, 3800, Bangladesh

    Sharif A. Mukul

  6. Dept. of Biosphere Resources Science, Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan

    Kazuhiro Harada

Authors
  1. Muha Abdullah Al Pavel
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  2. Sharif A. Mukul
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  3. Mohammad Belal Uddin
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  4. Kazuhiro Harada
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  5. Mohammed A. S. Arfin Khan
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Correspondence to Sharif A. Mukul.

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http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0020-6186

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Pavel, M.A.A., Mukul, S.A., Uddin, M.B. et al. Effects of stand characteristics on tree species richness in and around a conservation area of northeast Bangladesh. J. Mt. Sci. 13, 1085–1095 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-015-3501-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-015-3501-2

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