J. Mt. Sci. (2014) 11(4): 950-958 DOI: 10.1007/s11629-013-2886-z
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Regeneration and Tree Species Diversity of Sitakund Botanical Garden and Eco-Park, Chittagong, Bangladesh
Rajasree NANDI 1*, Harald VACIK 2 1 Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences (IFES), Chittagong University, Chittagong 4331, Bangladesh 2 Department of Forest and Soil Sciences, Institute of Silviculture, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Peter Jordan Str. 82, A-1190 Vienna (Austria) *Corresponding author, e-mail:
[email protected] Citation: Nandi R, Vacik H (2014) Regeneration and tree species diversity of Sitakund Botanical Garden and Eco-park, Chittagong, Bangladesh. Journal of Mountain Science 11(4). DOI: 10.1007/s11629-013-2886-z
© Science Press and Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, CAS and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
Abstract: Anthropogenic disturbances influence plant regeneration and species diversity, which impact the conservation status of protected areas. A study was conducted in the Sitakund Botanical Garden and Eco-park (SBGE), Chittagong, Bangladesh to analyze the natural regeneration and tree species diversity in disturbed and less disturbed zones. Stratified and systematic random sampling was used to select 50 sample plots from each of the two zones. A total number of 109 plant species from 43 families were recorded in the study; of which 93 species were of natural origin while the rest were planted. From the species with natural origin 66 were tree species, 9 were shrub species and 18 were climbers. Species richness, density of regeneration and disturbance index in the height classes (0 - 0.5 m) and (dbh > 6 cm) indicated significant differences between the zones. The study analyzed how disturbances affect species diversity in the area. It was found that species richness and basal area are negatively related with disturbances. Moreover, density (N/ha) of trees was more likely to decrease with increasing tree height that reflects the huge demand of local people to harvest large trees as part of their income generating activities. The study findings have implications for future management Received: 29 September 2013 Accepted: 18 February 2014
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decisions of the SGBE. To restore these ecosystems, management should focus on both biodiversity conservation and providing benefits to local people without hampering forest ecosystems. Keywords: Human influence; Species diversity; Vegetation structure; Regeneration; Disturbance index
Introduction Bangladesh, a part of the Indo-Burma region, is considered as one of the ten global biodiversity hot-spot areas, with 7000 endemic plant species (Mittermeier et al. 1998). The country’s unique geo-physical location and characteristics made it exceptionally rich in biological diversity (Hossain 2001; Nishat et al. 2002; Barua et al. 2001). Bangladesh is also one of the most densely populated countries in the world with a total estimated forest area of 2.53 million ha that corresponds to 17.5% of the surface area of the country. However, only 0.84 million ha (about 5.8%) of the state forest land has acceptable forest vegetation (Mondal et al. 2004). An arbitrary felling of trees mainly from the hill forests have resulted in a loss of several tropical forest tree
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species causing a serious degradation of native ecosystems and reduction in forest cover in the last several decades (Misbahuzzaman 2004; Biswas et al. 2012). Bangladesh Forest Department has undertaken a reforestation programme in the degraded hill forests supported by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. However, no satisfactory results have been achieved either in respect to a successful establishment of plantation or in terms of increasing tree cover (Misbahuzaman 2004). The only positive thing is that the Government of Bangladesh has recognized the importance of its native forest ecosystems because of its concerns for biodiversity conservation and climate change issues. More concentrated efforts have recently been made in an attempt to restore the unique conditions of the native forest ecosystems. One of those initiatives was to establish eco-parks for ecological restoration of native hill forest ecosystems and for the development of eco-tourism, education as well as research on nature conservation. The first project on ecological conservation of denuded natural forest was the establishment of the Sitakund Botanical Garden and Eco-park (SBGE), in the Southeastern Chittagong hills in 2000. Unfortunately, the dependence of local people on the natural resources was ignored in the protected area establishment process that enhanced conflicts between local communities and the park authority. Prohibition on the extraction of forest products from the park, and restriction on use of park roads to enter adjacent forests make the livelihoods of surrounding villagers vulnerable (Nath and Alauddin 2005). As there is a lack of other alternative means to sustain livelihoods, local people near this park are involved in many illegal activities such as logging timber, cutting natural regeneration, collecting non-wood timber products (e.g. bark peeling, litter collection), firing and agro-forestry practices. Local people sometimes even take the risk of grazing their cattle inside the reserve boundaries as they have no other alternative. Moreover, they have cultivated fruit trees like jackfruit, mango, guava, lemon, and other fruit tree orchards on moderately hill slopes inside the park. Such anthropogenic disturbances threaten the restoration and conservation efforts of the protected area
ecosystems (Nath and Alauddin 2005). According to Rahman and Vacik (2009) and Rahman et al. (2009), anthropogenic disturbances (e.g. illegal cutting, logging, firing, litter collection, bark peeling, grazing, tourism etc) influence regeneration and tree species diversity to a certain level. For this reason, it is of high importance to observe how anthropogenic measures are influencing the regeneration of plant species and tree species diversity in those forests managed for biodiversity conservation. There is no research on regeneration status and tree species diversity done in SBGE based on anthropogenic disturbances so far. Even though Misbahuzzaman and Alam (2006) conducted a study to examine whether regeneration comes from root suckers, coppice or seedlings at SBGE, they did not find out the regeneration based on disturbances. Therefore, a study was conducted to investigate the regeneration status and tree species diversity in the disturbed and less disturbed zones of SBGE. This research quantifies the influence of increasing level of disturbances on plant species richness, density and basal area that might have implications for future management decisions.
1
Materials and Methods
1.1 Study area The study area of the Sitakund Botanical Garden and Eco-park (SBGE) is situated on the southeast part of Bangladesh which is at the northwestern part of Chittagong district, between 22°36' and 22° 39' N latitude and 91°40' and 91°42' E longitude (Figure 1). The total area of the park is 1996 acres (808.1 ha), of which 1000 acres (404.86 ha) is designated as Botanical garden and 996 acres (403.24 ha) as eco-park. The area is under the Southern “Sitakunda Reserved Forest” of Chittagong Forest Division. The area is covered with natural evergreen forest and possesses high diversity in plant and animal composition.The study area is composed of a number of low and high hills with peak slopes and streams covered with thorny bush, climbers and coppice and root suckers that occur in a scattered manner. These hills are made of Sandstones and shales. The heights of the lower hills are 15.24 m to 76.2 m (50
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- 250 ft), the range of medium high hills is between 76.2 m and 152.4 m (250 - 500 ft) and for the high hills between 152.4 m and 365.76 m. The height of the Chandranath hill is about 381 m (Source: Daily Star, 22 February 2012). The soils are mostly deep and probably the oldest ones in the area. Top soils are dark grayish brown to dark brown; sandy loamto-loam, moderately granular or crumby, neutral to
strongly acidic when moist, and medium to very strongly acidic when dry. Sub soils are yellowish brown to yellowish red, sandy loam to silty clay loam, moderate to strong blocky structure, strongly to very strongly acidic. Some soil contains a hard concretionary or indurate lateratic layer at variable depths. Substratum is often weakly to strongly mottled grey; brown to red which may contain
Figure 1 Map of Bangladesh and location of study area. Source: http://images.google.com/imgres & http://mychittagong.net (2nd July, 2013)
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some quartztic gravel. The climate is tropical, and the maximum rainfall occurs during June and September. The area remains dry for 4 to 5 months. From December to February it remains cool. In the winter morning and in the late afternoon the whole park and Botanical garden become hazy. The mean annual temperature in the area is 26.6 ºC. The average temperature in the area is 27.45 º C. The highest temperature is in May. Normal rainfall occurs during May to September. The maximum rainfall occurs in July and the average amount is 689.2 mm. The humidity is less in the month of February (72.7%) and maximum during June-July (85%).
measurement. Data for herb coverage percentage was taken from the 4 m × 4 m plots on both sides. The tree and shrub species were identified directly in the field. Local people working in the field and forest officials helped in identifying some species. A minority of species could not be referred to a given scientific name they had been identified by their local name only. In case of herb, the species were not identified, only the percentage of coverage was taken. The Shannon-Wiener index (Nath et al. 2000), Evenness index (Magurran 1988) and Simpson’s index (Simpson 1949) were used as diversity indices.
1.2 Vegetation sampling and species diversity analysis A series of field surveys were conducted to collect relevant information regarding species composition, anthropogenic influence. Based on this, the SBGE was classified into two zones on the basis of anthropogenic disturbances: (1) a disturbed zone which is very close to the road, comprising of exotic tree species and agricultural cultivation, mainly in the southeastern part of the area; (2) a less disturbed zone which is mostly inaccessible and has no tourist paths consisting of naturally originated species, mainly in the north portion of the area. In total, 50 circular plots with an area of 314 m2 have been established in the disturbed zone and less disturbed zone. All plots were taken along a transect, whereas the start of the transect was chosen randomly. On each circular plot (10 m radius of each), square plots (1 m × 1 m , 2 m × 2 m and 4 m × 4 m) at 4 m distance from the center of the plot on both sides were demarcated (Figure 2). The distance between the centers of the two circular plots was 100 m. Within each plot, regeneration data were sampled on smaller plots fixed in the field on the basis of abundance. On the small plots (1 m × 1 m) regeneration of trees and shrubs from height range (0 – 0.5 m) was sampled, on plots with a size of 2 m × 2 m regeneration data was sampled from height range (0.5 m - 2 m) and for plots with a size of 4 m × 4 m, regeneration within a height range (h > 2 m, dbh< 6 cm) was recorded. On the whole sample plot (314 m2) trees (dbh > 6 cm) were recorded including diameter
Figure 2 Design of a sample plot.
1.3 Disturbance and statistical data analysis A disturbance index was calculated on the basis of a qualitative assessment of the intensity of different disturbance elements observed in the field by following the approach of Rahman et al. (2009). Disturbances like logging, cutting of regenerated plants, cutting of non-wood products, bark peeling, litter collection, agro forestation, firing and tourism were assessed as present disturbances. For these disturbances different weights were considered like logging (12), cutting of regeneration (10), cutting of non wood products (8), bark peeling (6), litter collection (5), agro forestation (4), firing (3), and tourism (2). The intensity of the anthropogenic measures was assessed qualitatively according to a scale from very high (100), high (80), medium (60), low (40), very low (20) to present
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(10) and absent (0). Agro-forestation considered as present or absent only. Current Disturbance Index (CDI) =
was
1 / 8∑8i =1 (Wi × S c )
where Wi is the weight of the ith (i = 1, 2, 3…8) element, Sc is the scores for elements. Data were analyzed by one way ANOVA to find out significant differences in case of species richness, density (N/ha) and Disturbance Index (DI) between the zones. Spearman’s and Pearson’s correlation were used to find out the relation between disturbance index with basal area (m2/ha) and species richness. In case of basal area (m2/ha), Spearman’s correlation was performed as the data were not normally distributed and in case of normally distributed data, Pearson’s correlation was used.
2
Results
2.1 Species composition and richness A total number of 109 plant species belonging to 43 families were identified in the SBGE. 85% of the plant species are of natural origin, 15% were planted tree species. From the species of natural origin, 66 were identified as tree species, 9 as shrub species and 18 as climbers (See Annexes 1, 2 & 3). Table 1 indicates the total number of tree and shrub species found in the SBGE. 50 trees and 8 shrubs were found in the height range (0 - 0.5) m, 43 trees and 7 shrubs in the height range (0.5 - 2 m), 35 trees and 7 shrubs in the range (h > 2 m, dbh < 6 cm) and 56 in the category of trees (dbh > 6 cm) in the less disturbed zone whereas in case of the disturbed zone, there were 39 naturally Table 1 Number of plant species disturbances Classification
Ht. range (m)
Trees & Shrubs
h=0 - 0.5 m h =0.5 - 2 m h > 2 m, dbh < 6 cm dbh >6 cm
Climbers Herbs (%)
along
with herb coverage (%) in the observed zones of
Species richness Less disturbed Disturbed Tree Shrub Tree Shrub
Common species in both zones Tree
Shrub
50 43 35 56 13 40
33 29 18 32 9 -
7 6 6 -
Note: * including exotic species, - means no values.
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originated tree species and 7 shrub species for the height range (0 - 0.5 m), 35 tree species and 6 shrubs for (0.5 - 2 m), 24 and 6 for (h > 2 m, dbh < 6 cm) and 32 in the class of trees > 6 cm dbh. The total number of climber species was 13 and 14 at the less disturbed and disturbed zones, respectively. The average herb coverage percentage was 40% in less disturbed zone and 67% in disturbed zone respectively (Table 1). Some species were found in both zones. Among them, 33 tree species were common in the range of 0-0.5 m, 29 tree species within the range of 0.5-2 m, 18 tree species in the range of h > 2 m, dbh < 6 cm, 32 tree species in the range of trees > 6 cm dbh and 9 climbers (Table 1). In case of the disturbed zone, naturally regenerating plant species were less dominant and some planted tree species were present. Within the height range (0 - 0.5 m), 33 naturally originated tree species and 7 shrub species were common to both zones whereas for the height range (0.5 - 2 m), 29 tree species and 6 shrub species were common. For height range (h > 2 m, dbh < 6 cm), 18 tree species and 6 shrub species and for trees (dbh > 6 cm), 32 tree species were common to both zones. 9 climber species were common to both zones (Table 1). From Table 2, we observed that both zones were significantly different in case of density (N/ha) in the height range classes (0 - 0.5 m) and (0.5- 2 m) at p < 0.001 whereas the density (N/ha) for trees dbh > 6 cm range was not significantly different between the two zones at P > 0.01. For the height range (h > 2 m, dbh < 6 cm) data did not fulfill the condition of Levine’s test of homogeneity and ANOVA test could not be performed. For the disturbance index, both zones showed significant differences at p < 0.05. The average basal areas (m2/ha) in the disturbed and less disturbed zone were 3.29 and 6.80 respectively.
8 7 7 -
39 39(35+4*) 37(24+13*) 47(32+15*) 14 67
7 6 6 -
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Table 2 Significant differences for density (N/ha) of trees and shrubs and disturbance index between zones Tree parameter
Ht. range
Less disturbed zone
Disturbed zone
Density (N/ha)
h=0 - 0.5m h=0.5 - 2 m h >2 m, dbh < 6 cm dbh > 6 cm
2411 ± 638 376 ±105 2770 ± 883 26 ± 5.1 1.66 ± 0.29
6125 ± 1260 659 ± 158 1640 ± 581 21± 6.7 95 ± 44.1
Disturbance index
F
ANOVA P
189.13 57.6
0.000 0.000
7.5 134.4
0.009 0.000
Table 4 Relation between disturbance index with species richness and basal area (m2 / ha) in both zones (N = 50) Coefficients
Relationship
r value rsvalue
Disturbance and Species richness Disturbance and Basal area
0 – 0.5
0.5 – 2
- 0.39** -
- 0.01ns -
Height range (m) h >2 m, dbh < 6 cm
- 0.48** -
dbh > 6 cm
-0.62** -0.69**
Notes: ** (p < 0.01), ns (non significant); r = Pearson’s value, rs = Spearman’s value; - means no values.
2.2 Species diversity and disturbances Diversity index was calculated only for species with natural origin as disturbed zone had some planted species as well (Table 3). The plant vegetation was more diverse for the height range (0 – 0.5 m) than for the other height ranges in the less disturbed zone. The Shannon-Wiener index was highest (3.78) for the height range (0 - 0.5 m). Whereas in the disturbed zone, for the (0 - 0.5) m and (0.5 - 2) m range, the vegetation was more diverse at the regeneration stage. However, for the height range (h > 2 m, dbh < 6 cm) and trees (dbh > 6 cm), the diversity index value was less (Table 3). Table 3 Shannon-Wiener index of tree diversity, index of dominance and evenness index in two zones Index
DI-1
DI-2
EI
Ht. range (m)
Less disturbed
Disturbed
h=0 - 0.5 m h=0.5 - 2 m h>2m, dbh6 cm h=0 - 0.5 h=0.5 – 2 h>2m, dbh6 cm h=0 - 0.5 h=0.5 – 2 h>2m, dbh6 cm
3.78 3.35 3.70 3.72 0.018 0.028 0.025 0.021 0.93 0.85 0.99 0.92
3.70 3.68 3.37 3.44 0.027 0.026 0.035 0.037 0.96 0.99 0.99 0.99
Note: DI-1 = Diversity index; DI-2 = Dominance index; EI = Evenness index.
In the less disturbed zone, dominance index was lowest in (0 - 0.5 m) range compared to other
height ranges, whereas in the disturbed zone, the species richness of plants at regeneration stage was higher, as the value of the dominance index was lowest from (0 - 0.5) m. Evenness index indicates that the total number of individuals was distributed more evenly among all possible species in the disturbed zone at all ranges (Table 3). In the less disturbed zone, the species were more evenly distributed at all height ranges except for the (0.5 2) m range (Table 3). There was relatively weak negative relationship between the disturbance index and species richness for trees of all ranges except (0.5 2) m range which showed no significant relationship (Table 4). Using Spearman’s (rs) correlation, basal area (m2/ha) of trees (dbh > 6 cm) was found to be negatively correlated with disturbance index (Table 4). The site conditions of the different sample plots might have an impact on the occurrence of certain species, but limited number of plots did not allow us to identify a significant trend. This possible source of variation should be further studied.
3
Discussion
3.1 Species richness and diversity The species richness found in the study area on the 50 sample plots in both zones of the SBGE is 109 among which 66 were identified as tree species. These findings are comparable to other studies
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conducted in the area. Misbahuzzaman and Alam (2006) reported 63 naturally regenerating tree species close to the study area. Both natural and anthropogenic disturbances reduce observed species richness and diversity (Brown and Gurevitch 2004). In this study the species richness was higher in the less disturbed zone compared to the disturbed zone. Hossain et al. (2004) found 64 regenerating tree species from natural forest and 40 regenerating tree species from the enrichment plantation in the Baraitali Forest of Chittagong (South) Forest Division, Bangladesh. Kadavul and Parthasarathy (1999) reported 50 tree species on 1 ha area of less disturbed plots which had poor accessibility in the semi-evergreen forest of Shervarayan hills of Eastern Ghats, India whereas in the disturbed plots, it was less than that. 3.2 Disturbances influencing herb and shrub coverage In general, not much research was done in the past to identify the percentage of herb coverage and shrub species richness in the study area, which makes it hard to compare the results of this study with other findings. Herb coverage percentage was low in the less disturbed zone which is supported by the results of Kumar and Ram (2005), who stated that herb density (N/ha) was less in the low disturbed forest compared to the highly and moderately disturbed forests. Nath et al. (2005) found that herbaceous species were denser in the highly disturbed stands compared to moderately disturbed and undisturbed stands. The low coverage of herbs in the less disturbed zone is due to the less solar radiation on the forest floor caused by the closed canopy cover. The coverage is higher in the disturbed zone due to the sunlight falling on the broken canopy on the forest floor (Bhatnagar 1966). Rahman et al. (2009) found similar results in the Madhupur Sal forest of Bangladesh where herb coverage percentage was low in the low disturbed forest. 3.3 Species richness and disturbances This study observed that species richness was less at the disturbed zone. Rahman et al. (2009) also found a negative relationship between disturbance index and species richness. 956
Parthasarathy (1999) stated more species in the undisturbed site compared to sites with selected felling and frequently disturbed sites in the Kalakad National Park, Western Ghats, South India. However, Kumar and Ram (2005) observed a different relationship in their study. They found that tree and shrub species diversity was relatively higher in the moderately and highly disturbed forests which might be an effect caused by lopping, grazing, litter removal or fire in the study area. In their observation disturbances decreased the dominance of single species and increased the plant biodiversity by mixing species of different succession status. Practices by local people like agro-forestry, litter collection, cutting of regeneration and nonwoody plants might impact species richness. There is a low variation in climber and shrub species richness between zones. Most of the time, when local people collect fuel wood, they cut climbers and use it to bind the fuel wood together. This could be the reason of a low climber density in the area. On the other hand, poor accessibility of the less disturbed zone causes low management in general; here it was observed that climbers were often related to the occurrence of trees which hampered their growth. 3.4 Effect of disturbances on density Both zones showed significant differences in the density (N/ha) of regeneration in the height ranges from (0 - 0.5 m) and (0.5-2 m).Whereas the density (N/ha) for trees with dbh > 6 cm was insignificantly different between the two zones. The mean density (N/ha) of trees (dbh > 6 cm) was higher in the less disturbed zone compared to disturbed zone. Due to the poor accessibility in the less disturbed zone, resource extraction was minimal. The disturbed zone was located near to the main road where local people can enter easily and engage in illegal logging. This result is comparable with the findings of Kadavul and Parthasarathy (1999) where it was reported that due to poor accessibility and location of less disturbed plots, density (N/ha) of woody species was higher on it than on the disturbed plots. On the contrary, density (N/ha) of regenerated plants from height range (0 - 0.5 m) and (0.5 - 2 m) was higher in the disturbed zone compared to less
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disturbed zone. Poor seedling population in the less disturbed zone might be a result of the lack of light for photosynthesis and the thick litter layer which is likely to act as mechanical barrier for seedling emergence (Grime 1979).
4
Conclusions
Human-induced forest degradation resulted in the reduction of species diversity (Bazzaz 1991). Species richness was found high in less disturbed zone in most of the height ranges at the study area compared to the disturbed zone. Local people are dependent on forest products for their daily livelihood at the study area. If this trend of intensive extraction continues in future, it will influence the regeneration success of the less disturbed zone and many rare species will become extinct. Filling the existing gaps with indigenous species in the disturbed zone could reduce the risk for rare tree species of becoming extinct. Forest management efforts should consider communitybased forestry programs by involving local people in forest management activities. The participation of the local people in forest management activities can support the general idea of the ex- situ conservation strategies by increasing the level of acceptance for unpopular measures. Native forest ecosystems of the eco-park could be restored to a significant extent if regular cultural practices - such as removal of non woody vegetation like climbers or weeds are implemented. However, anthropogenic disturbances should be reduced to facilitate regeneration. Also the participation of local people in afforestation programs can play animportant role. A good cooperation between
forest departments and forest communities can effectively protect forestlands allowing them to regenerate successfully and thus create a reformation of a dense natural forest (Feyera et al. 2002). For improving the participation, views and interests of farmers (e.g. in species selection, land uses) should be considered in decision-making processes, which would create co-operation between farmers and the park authority. The local people would be more satisfied and willing to support the idea of conservation management when they have opportunities to increase their livelihood (Bajracharya et al. 2007).
Acknowledgement This research was supported by the ÖOG (Österreichische Orient-Gesellschaft HammerPurgstall) Vienna, Austria. We would like to express thanks to Mr. Md. Zaid Hussain Bhuiyan, Ex-Project Director, Sitakund Botanical Garden and Eco-park, Sitakund, Chittagong, Bangladesh for his valuable support during the field work in Bangladesh. Moreover, we would like to express gratitude to M.A. Khaleque Khan, Divisional Forest Officer, Coastal Forest Division, Chittagong, Bangladesh for providing valuable information and materials. Special thanks to all the staff of Sitakund Botanical Garden and Eco-park who helped continuously in the field level. Electronic supplementary materials: Supplementary material (Annexes 1, 2 & 3) is available in the online version of this article at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11629-013-2886-z.
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