Ninad Raut

The objective of forest management in the tropics, in recent decades, has shifted from timber production to biodiversity conservation and maintenance of life support system. However, past forestry practices have greatly influenced the structure of plant communities, preponderance of foreign invasive species, populations of high value medicinal plants as well as other non-wood forest products. We assessed the abundance and distribution of medicinal plants in managed and undisturbed forests of Dehradun Forest Division (DFD), Uttarakhand (India). A total of 80 transects (each 1 km long) were laid in various categories of forest types in DFD. This paper deals with distribution, availability and regeneration status of five commercially important species viz., Justicia adhatoda, Aegle marmelos, Phyllanthus emblica, Terminalia bellirica and Terminalia chebula, across different forest types. The study reveals that open canopy forest patches, Lantana infested patches and Acacia catechu-Dalbe...

Western Ghats is considered to be one of the biodiversity rich areas not only in India but also in the World. It possesses great diversity of flora and fauna and also endemism (Pramod, Daniels, Joshi, & Gadgil, 1997 and Watwe & Thakur, 2006)) to get counted in biodiversity hotspots of the world (Biodiversity hotspots - Western Ghats and Shrilanka, 2007) Karnala Bird Sanctuary (KBS) lies within these stretches of Western Ghats and comprises of an area of 12.11 km 2 . Its close proximity towards city of Mumbai and on NH 17 Highway makes it a tourist attraction, not for the birds but for the fort. This situation has led to various problems including road widening issue faced by this forest. But the conservation efforts are limited due to lack of documentation and studies on this forest. This study was designed not only to document species richness of this small forest but also to find out distribution patterns of these birds along various microhabitats along the forest. Results obtaine...

Being a primary producers plants have always outnumbered faunal elements. Botanist agree that presently there are about 2,45,000 (A recent literature search reveiled that there are ca. 3,52,000 species (belonging to 406 families) of angiosperms of which 2,73,174 are accepted species names (The Plant List 2010)) species of flowering plants on earth and these have been grouped in to 430 families, depending on the authority concerned. However, a basic knowledge of angiosperms can be acquired by a study of a selected group of families.I decided to study family Acanthaceae. The reason for the selection of this family for project is the availability of several representatives in and around Mumbai. The fascinating task compelled me to take up the project. Acanthaceae includes 250 genera and 2500 species distributed all over the world (According to recent literature at Tthe Plant List 2010, 2894 accepted species names belonging to 225 genera) . Over 70 genera and over 340 species have so fa...

The objective of forest management in the tropics, in recent decades, has shifted from timber production to biodiversity conservation and maintenance of life support system. However, past forestry practices have greatly influenced the structure of plant communities, preponderance of foreign invasive species, populations of high value medicinal plants as well as other non-wood forest products. We assessed the abundance and distribution of medicinal plants in managed and undisturbed forests of Dehradun Forest Division (DFD), Uttarakhand (India). A total of 80 transects (each 1 km long) were laid in various categories of forest types in DFD. This paper deals with distribution, availability and regeneration status of five commercially important species viz., Justicia adhatoda, Aegle marmelos, Phyllanthus emblica, Terminalia bellirica and Terminalia chebula, across different forest types. The study reveals that open canopy forest patches, Lantana infested patches and Acacia catechu-Dalbergia sissoo (Khair -Shisam) woodlands in the eastern part of the DFD have excellent potential for the production and sustainable harvest of Justicia adhatoda. Areas those are less suitable for timber production viz., open hill forests, have greater potential for conservation and development of Aegle marmelos, Phyllanthus emblica and Terminalia bellirica. For the production and management of high value medicinal plants in the DFD these ecological considerations need to be kept in mind.