In this project, we collect and study the floral diversity of the acacia plantations of the area and compare it with the restored forest land taking floral diversity of the native forest of the area as a reference. The objective is to understand the conditions imparted by acacia plantation to its environment and to analyze the effectiveness of its restoration by comparing it with an adjacent native forest. The project carried out by collecting floral diversity data from the selected sites and subjecting it to various parameters for diversity assessment such as diversity indices, Dominance index, Species richness, Species evenness, abundance, percentage frequency, abundance/frequency ratio (A/F). From research it has been scientifically identified that the acacia plantations impart damaging behaviors to the ecosystem and these properties have been improved on restoration with native species. This can be recognized from various calculated factors such as the following; improved taxonomic diversity of restored forests (20, 33, 14 & 14) from the acacia plantation (16, 12, 13 & 10) which is similar to that of native forest. The calculated dominance index of acacia plantation is 0.1951and of restored forest is 0.1092. This indicates the high dominance of acacia species in the plantation sites which has been regulated on restoration. Simpson's index represents the improved diversity of restored sites (0.8908) from plantation (0.8049). Chao-1 represents the improved species richness in the restored sites (72.75) from plantation sites (15.0825). Calculation of species evenness also indicates the reduced evenness in the plantation (1.7639) and its improvement on restoration (2.0296). Abundance & A/F ratio indicates low diversity of the plantation due to degradation. Research shows that on restoration, floral diversity has been successfully improved that it has the potential to turnout into a healthy, self-sustaining forest similar to the natural forest studied.
Type of Publication
Research Paper
Full Text