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Community Ecology and Spatial Distribution of Trees in a Tropical Wet Evergreen Forest in Kaptai National Park in Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh

S. M. Feroz
Forestry and Wood Technology Discipline, Khulna Universtity, Khulna-9208, Bangladesh.

Md Rabiul Alam
Forestry and Wood Technology Discipline, Khulna Universtity, Khulna-9208, Bangladesh.

Prokash Das
Forestry and Wood Technology Discipline, Khulna Universtity, Khulna-9208, Bangladesh.

Abdullah Al Mamun
Forestry and Wood Technology Discipline, Khulna Universtity, Khulna-9208, Bangladesh.

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

We investigated the floristic composition, woody species diversity and spatial distribution of trees in a tropical wet evergreen forest in Kaptai national park in Chittagong Hill Tracks, Bangladesh. We recorded 25 families, 37 genera, 40 species and 1771 woody individuals in a 0.09 ha plot. Euphorbiaceaeand Moraceae were the most species-rich families, and Castanopsis, Ficus and Terminalia were the most species-rich genera. Bursera serrata Wall. ex Colebr. was the dominant species in terms of highest importance value (13%). Trema orientalis (L.) Blwas typically a light demanding species as it appeared in the top canopy with only one individual having the seventh highest IV, but had no regeneration. The expected maximum number of species (Smax) was 140, indicating that many species may invade the forest as the Smax is greater than the recorded total number of species. The nature of the disappearance and appearance of species in the present forest reflects instability of floristic composition. The values of Shannon’s index H′and Pielou’s index J′ (evenness) were 3.36 bit and 0.63, respectively. These values show moderately high species diversity as compared to other subtropical forests in the tropics. In addition, a sample area of 200 m2 in this forest would be sufficient for measuring the diversity indices H′ and J′, whereas the trend of J′may indicate the rate of equality of individuals among the different species decreased with increasing area. The distribution pattern for the total stand was completely random. However, the dominant species showed aggregate distribution for small areas, but random distribution for large areas. The spatial association between species showed that the strongest positive interspecific association occurred between Streblus asper Lour. and Castanea indica Roxb. (ω = 0.51). As a whole, most species were weakly associated with each other, of which 58% species associations were completely negative. The result The online version is available at http://link.springer.comS. M. Feroz (), Md Rabiul Alam, Prokash Das, Abdullah Al Mamun Forestry and Wood Technology Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna-9208, Bangladesh. E-mail: ferozsm@yahoo.com Corresponding editor: Hu Yanbo of cluster analysis showed that species pairs were spatially independent at all or most small clusters; stands of species from all clusters are mosaics of complete habitat and pioneer habitat. All patches in this forest community have similar habitat and regeneration niches, which could be a phenomenon for a young growth forest. Thus, the existence of habitat and regeneration niches may be an important factor in the maintenance of diversity in this forest.

Keywords: Chittagong Hill Tracts, Floristic composition, Spatial distri-bution of trees, Tropical wet evergreen forest, Woody species diversity

Location: Kaptai national park in Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh

Start Date:

End Date:

Program Area: Conservation and Biodiversity

Commodity: Plant

Objectives:

The objectives of our study were (1) to elucidate the woody floristic composition and species diversity of tropical wet evergreen forest in Kaptai national park of CHT, and (2) to quantify spatial distribution and association of trees.

Methodology:

Study site and sampling plot The study was conducted on a tropical wet evergreen forest, located at Rampahar (mountain), Kaptai national park (22°29.991′ N and 92°10.722′ E) in the Chittagong hill tracts of Bangladesh. This mountain is about 500 m high from the sea level (Uddin and Hassan 2012) and was declared as a first re-serve forest within the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHTs) in 1875 (Anonymous 1960). The top part of the mountain is like a mossy forest with high humidity. However, the middle part of the mountain is really the tropical wet evergreen forest.In this part, subsoil is yellowish brown. Loamy soil developed on consolidated or semi-consolidated siltstone, sandstone, and clayey soil on shale. Soil on the high hill is excessively drained and less than 1 m depth. The soil pH ranges from 4.5 to 6.0. The mean monthly minimum temperature and the mean monthly maximum temperature are respectively 24°C in December and 35°C in May. Mean annual temperature was 29.6°C. The mean annual rainfall is 2,540 mm. The maximum wind velocity recorded is 96.54 km/h. A sampling plot was less than 400 m2 on the Yaeyama Islands, Japan for the vegetation survey (Niiro et al. 1974; Suzuki 1979; Niiro 1981; Miyawaki 1989), and was 400 m2 on Iriomote Island, Japan for the forest stratification study (Hozumi 1975). There-fore, our sampling plot was established in the middle portion of the mountain as a representative of the forest and had an area of 900 m2 (30 m × 30 m) that was divided into 36 quadrats (5 m × 5 m). The plot, which faced south with a slope of 31.2°, was 77.11 m above sea level. All woody plants were numbered and identified to species according to the nomenclature of Das and Alam (2001). The measurements obtained for the area were: tree height (H) and stem diameter at a height of 10% H/10 of trees height (D0.1H). Data analysis Species dominance Dominance of a species was defined by the importance value IV(%) which was calculated from the equation proposed by Feroz et al. (2008). Dendrogram The dendrogram for analyzing the degree of spatial association of species was constructed following Mountford’s (1962) method, or unweighted paired-group method using arithmetic aver-ages (Sneath and sokal 1973).

Source of Information: Journal of Forestry Research (2014) 25(2): 311?318

Article Link (Online Journal): DOI 10.1007/s11676-013-0423-0

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

The above results suggest that the pre-sent forest is lowly populated with a little high value for basal area, whereas the subtropical evergreen broadleaf forest in Guangzhou, South China is highly populated with low value for basal area. On the other hand, the subtropical evergreen broad-leaf forest in Okinawa is well populated with a high value for basal area.

Knowledge Management: Journal