Comparison of community composition and species diversity of understorey and overstorey tree species in a dry tropical forest of northern India

The study focuses Oil Understorey-overstorey plant community dynamics in it dry tropical forest to facilitate appropriate management decisions. We compare community composition and species diversity of the understorey vegetation among five dry tropical forest sites in northern India. A total or 1500 quadrats distributed over 15 one-ha permanent plots ill five sites differing in the degree of disturbance. were Used to enumerate the understorey tree species and the results were compared with overstorey tree layer. The non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMS) ordination revealed that human disturbance intensity, as well its the overall disturbance regimes, and soil water holding capacity controlled the organisation of dry tropical forest understorey composition through,1011 effects Oil soil organic matter. The alpha-diversity and its components decreased with increasing human disturbance intensity, reflecting utilisation pressure and decreased soil fertility, as also revealed by the analysis of overstorey tree layer. There was I significant positive relationship between overstorey and understorey diversity. Results Suggest that in the future, the existing understorey tree communities may replace the Current dry tropical forest communities Under prevailing environmental conditions. The study also asserts that the rate of species accumalation will be greater in more disturbed sites its well Lis at small spatial scale within each disturbance level. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.