Assessment of natural regeneration status: the case of Durgapur hill forest, Netrokona, Bangladesh

Abstract

Enumeration of regeneration status is an authentic tool to know the actual condition of forest ecosystem. The study was conducted to assess the regeneration status of Durgapur hill forest following stratified random sampling method (2 m × 2 m quadrate) from October 2017 to May 2018. A total of 27 species under 18 families were recorded from the study area. The study revealed maximum (37.78) family importance value (FIV) index was recorded for Euphorbiaceae followed by Moraceae (16.09). Importance value index (IVI) of Grewia nervosa was maximum (23.97 out of 300) followed by Shorea robusta (21.02), and Aporosa wallichii (20.19). Conservation status showed highest (77.78%) plant species were in least concerned (LC) where only one species (Dillenia pentagyna) was found as data deficient (DD) category. Seedlings of different height classes showed maximum (33.2%) seedling were within the height range of 50–<100 cm. However, different biological diversity indices, i.e., Shannon–Winner index (H) (4.27), species evenness index (E) (1.30), Simpson index (D) (0.15), and Margalef’s species richness index (4.24) were enumerated to know the complete diversity condition of the forest area. Hierarchical cluster of the recorded species also showed that Grewia nervosa is the most dominant species in that area.

Keywords

• biodiversity indices
• conservation status
• family importance value (fiv)
• importance value index (ivi)
• hierarchical cluster