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Tree Community Assemblage and Abiotic Variables in Tropical Moist Deciduous Forest of Himalayan Terai Eco-Region

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Abstract

The Himalayan foothills in northern India form one of the distinct eco-climatic regions of the world which affect plant communities. This study aims to analyse tree community assemblage along with associated abiotic variables in the tropical moist deciduous forests of Dudhwa National Park (DNP) in the Terai region. The cluster and non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) analyses grouped the forests of DNP into five major forest types: Sal miscellaneous forest (SMF), Sal-Asna miscellaneous forest (SAMF), low-land miscellaneous forest (LMF), teak plantation (TP) and eucalyptus plantation (EP). Each forest type has its specific species composition and dominance. A sum of 23 site-specific tree species have been found to grow in the study area, with the maximum 14 site-specific species from the SMF followed by LMF and TP with seven and two species, respectively. The nMDS and Pearson’s correlation reveal that the different forest communities in Dudhwa National Park are characterized by the variations in abiotic variables (i.e. total organic nitrogen, TON; electrical conductivity, EC; soil bulk density, BD; soil porosity, SP; available phosphorous, P; potassium ion, K; and water holding capacity, WHC; air temperature, AT; and absolute air humidity, AAH). The study also reported 23 site-specific species, which require proper conservation measures due to their low ecological amplitude and narrow range of distribution.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Head, Department of Environmental Science, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow; the Director, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, and the Head, Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, for providing necessary facilities, as well as SERB, DST, Govt. of India, for financial support. Thanks are also due to the PCCF (Wildlife), Government of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow and the Director, Dudhwa National Park, Lakhimpur Kehri, Uttar Pradesh, for granting permission and all forest staffs for extending logistic support throughout this study. The authors are also very thankful to the editors and reviewers for their valuable suggestions.

Funding

Funding was provided by Science and Engineering Research Board (Grant No. PDF/2016/002185).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Vidya Vihar, Raebareli Road, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, 226025, India

    Omesh Bajpai & Venkatesh Dutta

  2. Centre of Advanced Study in Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, 221 005, India

    Rachna Singh & Jitendra Pandey

  3. Plant Diversity, Systematics and Herbarium Division, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, 226001, India

    L. B. Chaudhary

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  1. Omesh Bajpai
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  2. Venkatesh Dutta
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  3. Rachna Singh
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  4. L. B. Chaudhary
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  5. Jitendra Pandey
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Correspondence to Omesh Bajpai.

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Significance Statement

Himalayan Terai is characterized by a distinct eco-climatic region of the world which potentially affects the tree community attributes. This study analyses the role of abiotic (edaphic and climatic) variables in tree community assemblage in Dudhwa National Park. The result reveals that the tree community assemblage is significantly affected by the different abiotic variables such as total organic nitrogen (TON), electrical conductivity (EC), soil bulk density (BD), soil porosity (SP), available phosphorus (P), potassium ion (K), water holding capacity (WHC), and air temperature (AT), and absolute air humidity (AAH) and CO2.

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Bajpai, O., Dutta, V., Singh, R. et al. Tree Community Assemblage and Abiotic Variables in Tropical Moist Deciduous Forest of Himalayan Terai Eco-Region. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., India, Sect. B Biol. Sci. 90, 873–883 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40011-019-01161-2

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