Journal of Forest and Environmental Science

Institute of Forest Science, kangwon National University (강원대학교 산림과학연구소)
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Tree Diversity, Population Structure, Regeneration and Conservation Status in Sacred Groves of Jhargram District, South-West Bengal, India

  • Sen, Uday Kumar (Ecology and Taxonomy Laboratory, Department of Botany and Forestry, Vidyasagar University) ;
  • Bhakat, Ram Kumar (Ecology and Taxonomy Laboratory, Department of Botany and Forestry, Vidyasagar University)
  • Received : 2021.03.21
  • Accepted : 2021.06.03
  • Published : 2021.09.30
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Abstract

Sacred groves are large areas of virgin or human-modified landscape with a diverse range of species that have been protected by local people for centuries due to cultural, religious beliefs, and taboo that the deities live in them and protect the villagers from various calamities. The present study was carried out for quantitative analysis of diversity, population structure, regeneration and conservation status of tree species in the four 36.86 ha sacred groves of Jhargram district in West Bengal. Tree species composition, population structure and regeneration status were analyzed by randomly establishing of 1 ha subplots within the sacred groves. Density, frequency, basal area, abundance, evenness, and other diversity indices were calculated for adult trees with girth at breast height (GBH) >31 cm. A total of 146 tree species belonging to 116 genera distributed in 44 families from 21 orders were recorded. Pterospermum suberifolium, family Malvaceae showed the highest Species Importance Value Index (SIVI, 21.33) and Fabaceae showed the highest Family Importance Value Index (FIVI, 35.59) values respectively. Individuals are categorised into three groups, seedling, sapling and adult based on girth classes. The majority of tree species exhibited good (52.74%) regeneration followed by fairly (24.66%), poor (15.75%) and no regeneration (6.85%) respectively. With the healthy existence of the sacred grove, the overall population structure of tree species showed a strong regeneration potential. The current data will be useful in determining the current status of tree species and will be used by the forest department, politicians, and conservationists to establish management plans for the conservation of priority species in the region. Since the study areas were sacred groves, tribal members were keen to preserve them due to their religious significance.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

Special thanks to all informants who generously shared their knowledge about the identification and traditional uses of plants. We are grateful for the proper field identification of plant species by Dr. G. G. Maity, ex-Professor of Kalyani University and S. Ghosh, Teacher of Digri Sanatorium High School, for manuscript preparation. We thank two anonymous reviewers for extremely useful comments.

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