Variations in Vegetation and Nutrient Composition in Sal and Eucalyptus Stands: A Case Study of Bhagabatichak Forest Area, West Bengal, India

The study was conducted on two type of stands one was coppice sal (Shorea robusta Gaertn. F.) stand (CSS) managed by Forest Protection Committee (FPC) along with the State Forest Department and other was coppice eucalyptus (Eucalyptus tereticornis Sm.) stand (CES) solely managed by the State Forest Department. These two stands are in the Bhagabatichak forest area under Midnapore East Forest Division, West Bengal, India. In this study Importance Value Index (IVI), biomass, species diversity index (H/), concentration of dominance(Cd), species richness index(d), beta diversity(βd), index of similarity (IS), nutrient composition and soil pH of the two stands were measured. The study reveals that the highest numbers of species were available during monsoon period in both the stands; these were 71 and 43 respectively in CSS and CES. The result also shows that the highest IVI was occupied by sal in CSS and eucalyptus in CES in all the seasons. Other major species were Clerodendrum viscosum Vent, Lantana camara L., Combretum roxburghii Spreng. Highest diversity index (H/) was in CSS during monsoon (1.983) and minimum in CES during pre-monsoon (1.274). So, the species richness index (d) was higher in CSS during monsoon (28.259) and lower in CES during pre-monsoon (12.112).Cd shows the opposite trend, it was higher in CES during pre-monsoon (0.125) and lower in CSS during monsoon (0.042). β diversity reflects the rate of species change, which was highest in CSS during post-monsoon (1.300). The similarity index (IS) between the two stands was 64.91%. The total annual above ground biomass (agb) were 87008.043 kg ha-1 yr-1 in CSS and 86309.837 kg ha-1 yr-1 in CES. Among them major contributors were sal (82357.946 kg ha-1 yr-1) in CSS and eucalyptus (84246.358 kg ha-1 yr-1) in CES. In both the stands higher amount of nutrients were available in Combretum roxburghii. In CSS available NPK were 1.272%, 0.527% and 1.867% respectively in Combretum roxburghii. In CES the values were 0.864%, 0.513% and 1.724% respectively for the same species. Soil pH of CSS were 5.53 in top soil and 5.79 in subsoil, in CES soil pH were 4.88 and 5.02 in top soil and subsoil respectively. It was observed that sal stand was better than eucalyptus stand with respect to ecology and biodiversity.

Spatiotemporal movement pattern of Asian Elephants Elephas maximus Linnaeus, 1758 in Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra, India

The extension of the Asian Elephant’s Elephas maximus range in the northern Western Ghats (Sahyadri) was observed since 2002. This colonization was marked by elephant crop raiding events in the newly colonized Sindhudurg District, where the local community had no experience of living with elephants. The present study was conducted to understand the spatiotemporal patterns of crop depredation (raiding) and to prioritize areas to inform future interventions on managing this ecological phenomenon turned conflict. Data on crop raiding between 2002 and 2015 was obtained from compensation records with the state forest department, and mapped at village scale. Subsequently, we used three indices of crop raiding, viz., Crop Raiding Frequency (CRF), Relative Crop Raiding Intensity (RCRI), and Crop Raiding Vulnerability Index (CRVI). Results show a gradual northern movement of elephants and of the crop raiding zone over the period of 2002–2015. The rankings provided by CRVI, identified villages in a narrow strip of foothills of the Sahyadri mountains as severely vulnerable. With sufficient long term data, CRVI would be a highly useful index for prioritization of villages for resolving human-elephant negative interactions; and other cases of human-wildlife interactions too.

How Van Panchayat Rule Systems and Resource Use Influence People’s Participation in Forest Commons in the Indian Himalayas

Van Panchayats (VPs) are self-initiated forest management groups institutionalized since 1931 in the Himalayan Uttarakhand state of North India. VPs are considered to be successful case of Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) despite an observed decline in VP practice around the 1990s. This study clarifies CBFM in the context of local rules, forest resource use and people’s participation. It reveals the possible factors behind better resource management of forest commons use from four VPs in Uttarakhand. A multi-dimensional research approach was followed comprising a literature review of the state forest department data, forest inventory, interviews with village leaders as snowball samplings in several villages, and semi-structured interviews with villagers/house-holders. Results showed that local rules are different depending on the villages expect for prohibited timber logging. The most useful tree species for local people was Banji oak (Quercus leucotrichophora) and every village had an oak forest which was utilized for fuelwood and fodder for daily livelihoods. VP forest size and the basal area of trees also influenced people’s participation in forest management. Much larger size of the VP forest land is declining due to the people’s de-motivation for forest management. Furthermore, a higher education of the householder increased the level of participation. Transparency of Management Committee (MC) for the VP members is an important aspect. To summarize, availability and utilization of the valuable forest resources and its management by villagers following local rules and the VP system was considered to influence people’s participation in the forest commons.

An Overview of Forest Offences in Himachal Pradesh from 1965-66 to 2009-10: Trends in Detection and Manner of Disposal

An exercise undertaken in this article has unravelled the status of forest offences in Himachal Pradesh from 1965-66 to 2009-10. It brought out that a total of 10,39,172 no. of forest offences (average 23093 annually) were taken cognizance of in the State from 1965-66 to 2009-10. The highest no.of offences ( 43901 no.) were detected in 1975-76 and the lowest (11869 no.) in the year 2006-07. Illegal felling & grazing related offences together constituted nearly 57%, forest fire related offences were less than 2% whereas the miscellaneous offences were nearly 40% of the total. The period from 1971 to 1985 experienced sharp increase in the number. of forest offences, though the offences taken cognizance of were disposed off quite efficiently. The rate of disposal ranged from 71.88% to 80.13% during various time periods from 1965-66 to 2009-10 with overall disposal rate of 77.52 % Of the total no. of offences disposed off 9.3% of the cases were taken to Courts/ authorised officers and 78.4%. were disposed off by way of compounding, 13.23% remained untraced/filed. Periodic trend (5 year blocks i.e. P1 to P9) revealed 50% decline in forest offences during P-9 (2005-2009) compared to what existed during P-1(1966-70). Ironically the downturn was despite tremendous increase in human and domestic animal population in the State during same time. The success rate of the offences decided by Courts/ Authorised officers ranged from 76.92% during-P-1(1965-69) to 98.9% during P-9(2005-09) as per data published by State Forest Department. On the other hand, cases registered with Police from 1988 to 2015 secured conviction rate of 12.99%.

Assessment of Pteridophyte Diversity and their Status in Gujarat State, Western India

An intensive field survey was carried out from the hilly regions, plains of different climatic regimes and agricultural land of Gujarat state. About 23 species were collected from Gujarat state, from which eight species viz., Actiniopteris radiata (Sw.) Link, Adiantum caudatum L., A. incisum Forssk., Lygodium flexuosum (L.) Sw., Pteris vittata L., Selaginella ciliaris (Retz.) Spring, S. delicatula (Desv. ex Poir.) Alston, and S. repanda (Desv. ex Poir.) Spring. were added as new distributional record for the Gujarat state. Increasing anthropogenic pressure, destruction of forest ecosystem and development of infrastructure facilities including road widening and rainwater harvesting program by deepening of the natural ponds are additional reasons for declining terrestrial and aquatic pteridophyte diversity respectively. Our survey concludes that E. debile is regionally extinct in the wild while Isoetes coromandeliana, will be lost from its natural habitat in short time if not conserved properly. Therefore, there is an urgent need of in situ conservation by developing action plans in collaboration with the state forest department.

Estimation of biomass density and carbon storage in the forests of Andhra Pradesh, India, with emphasis on their deforestation and degradation conditions

The current study evaluates the growing stock, biomass and carbon content of Andhra Pradesh state’s forest (India) along with its current status of forest degradation and loss. For this purpose, the study used the growing stock data collected by state forest department in 2010 for the calculation of biomass and carbon storage using the standard conversion and expansion factors given by IPCC. The analysis shows low biomass and carbon values for the state’s forest in comparison to the mean values recorded in different studies made for Andhra Pradesh. It is also observed to be lower when compared with the average carbon and biomass for Indian forests. Overall, the analysis showed degradation and loss of forest in the state, coupled with reduction in biomass and carbon sink.