Relation of Forest Structure and Soil Properties

What is it about?

Plant community structure, species diversity and soil properties of natural, rehabilitated and degraded forests were studied in order to assess relationship of different forests structure and soil properties in upper Indo-Gangetic plain of Uttar Pradesh state of India. The composition of species, population abundance and importance value of the woody species were investigated in each forest; the representative soil samples from 30 cm depth of each forest were also analyzed for the soil properties. Dominant families at the natural forest are Moraceae (21.9%) and Rubiaceae (15.6%) while at the rehabilitated forest are Moraceae (53.8%) and Fabaceae (23%). In the degraded forest, the Moraceae and Fabaceae are dominant families occupy 33% each. These among forest community structure indicate that degraded forests are less complex ecosystems than natural forest stands. The Shannon-Wiener index of general diversity ranged from 0.78 to 4.45 for degraded to natural forest respectively. Tree density (813 stem ha-1) and basal area (62.32 m2 ha-1) both were highest in natural forest and lowest in degraded forest (656 stem ha-1 and 19.27 m2 ha-1). Principal Component Analysis was applied to observe the vegetation soil interactions which reveal that soil properties (bulk density, soil organic carbon SOC, available phosphorus, pH and cations Na+, K+) having significant correlation with forest association as well as their population distribution pattern. The results indicate that each forest shows a close affiliation to variable soil properties.

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