Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON COMMUNITY STRUCTURE AND REGENERATION STATUS OF TREE SPECIES IN URBAN FORESTS OF DELHI, INDIA

Khushboo Randhawa and Tuisem Shimrah

Abstract

‘New Delhi’ capital of India is under immense pressure to sustain increasing population and to cope up with urbanization. It has urban forests or ridges, which aids the Delhi’s healthy lifestyle by balancing ecosystem. To assess the forest health the species composition, density, basal area, IVI, diversity indices, regeneration status of tree species were evaluated. Three sites namely Kamla Nehru Ridge (KR), Central Ridge (CR) and Southern Ridge (SR) were selected. A total of 51 tree species belonging to 21 families were reported. Species richness varied for trees (20-37), saplings (5-20) and seedlings (5-11). Densities ranged between (517-1043 Individuals/ha) for trees, saplings (133-470 Individuals/ha) and seedlings (53-273 Individuals/ha) respectively. Species diversity ranged between for trees (2.3-3.3), saplings (1.4-2.2) and seedlings (1.5-2.1). Total basal area varied from 4.87 to 22.94 m2/ha (trees), 0.26 to 0.49 m2/ha (saplings) and 0.17 to 0.02 m2/ha (seedlings). Maximum species (20-70%) showed ‘no’ regeneration whereas, (30- 50%) showed ‘poor’ regeneration and only Acacia leucocephala showed ‘fair’ regeneration in SR. It was observed that Prosopis juliflora was the dominant species in all three sites; it is an exotic species which hinders the understory growth. All over regeneration status of Delhi’s urban forest was found ‘poor’, which is a matter of concern. For balance environment and for proper inflow of ecosystem services provided by urban forest to sustain healthy lifestyle in city, it is necessary to implement proper strategies for conservation and maintenance of these forests.