Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

IS THE FOREST FIRE CAN AFFECT THE REGENERATION AND SPECIES DIVERSITY

Bhimappa Kittur, Manoj Kumar Jhariya and Chaman Lal

Abstract

The present work is aimed to study the impact of forest fire on regeneration and diversity in Achanakmar- Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve. For the study four sites were selected each of these sites pre-fire and postfire observation were taken for measuring varying degree of fire disturbances. The total density of seedlings during pre-fire season across fire zones ranged from 7200 to 11280 seedlings ha-1, while during post-fire season from 5840 to 10000 seedlings ha-1. The total change in density of seedlings ranged from 1280 to 1360 seedlings ha-1. The results pursued on regeneration that total number of spices found in high fire zone of pre-fire season was 14 and its density was 7520 seedlings ha-1. After post-fire season in high fire zone the seedlings number was 9 and its density was changed 6000 seedlings ha-1, whereas in medium fire zone seedling number was increased. The diversity pattern ranged from 2.86 to 3.30 in pre-fire season. It was highest under non-fire zone followed by medium fire zone and high fire zones. The decline of species richness in time after forest fire might be caused primarily by the elimination of some early species which were over topped and shaded out by rapidly growing fire hardy species. In high fire zones more than 44% seedling population decreased after fire season, it will adversely affect the forests stratification in future. Fires have negative impacts on native plant diversity, with varying effects on species and ecosystems, including the potential for localized extinction.