Floristic Analysis of Sal Forests within Different Watersheds of Ranchi Jharkhand Eastern India

Abstract

The present study aimed to study the floristic composition of Sal forests within different newlinewatersheds of Ranchi, Jharkhand, Eastern India along with the physico-chemical properties newlineof soil of selected Sal forests ecosystem and also tried to classify, quantify, and mapping newlineof Sal forests within different watersheds of Ranchi, Jharkhand, Eastern India using newlineGeoinformatics. The present study aimed to evaluate the floristic structure and composition newlineof Sal forests to get an overview of their present status, and rate of degradation in terms of newlineedaphic conditions so that proper management strategies can be formulated to conserve newlinethose species which are on the verge of extinction. The study was conducted in Sal forests newlinewithin the micro watersheds of Ranchi, Jharkhand, Eastern India located between 23.13° newlineto 23.21°N latitude, and 85.51° to 85.54°E longitude where altitude varies from 400 to 700 newlinem above mean sea level (MSL). A total of 29734 individual of vascular plants of 186 plant newlinespecies belonging to 58 families were recorded in 92 studied transects, of which 23682 newlineindividuals (79.64 %) of trees (gt10 cm GBH) of 103 species (55.38%), 2468 individuals newline(8.30 %) of shrubs (including saplings of trees) of 38 species (20.43 %), and 3584 newlineindividuals (12.05 %) of herbs (including seedlings of shrubs, and trees) of 45 species newline(24.19 %). Per transect species richness (including herbs, shrubs, and trees) in newlinestudied Sal forests ranged from 10 to 47 (mean: 26 ± 7.68), and the highest species recorded newlinein Hulsi (JH067), and the lowest in Brambe (JH035).