Biophysical quantification of biodiversity and ecosystems services of forest ecosystems in the Western Ghats: a case study of Uttara Kannada District, India

Biodiversity and ecosystem services play key roles in future economic strategies seeking to promote development and prosperity. This study assesses the status of biodiversity and flow of ecosystem services from selected forest types in the Western Ghats. At the sampling sites, the number of tree spe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of forestry research 2018-05, Vol.29 (3), p.735-748
Main Authors: Joshi, Priya P., Murthy, Indu K., Hegde, Gurunath T., Sathyanarayan, Vani, Bhat, Savithri, Patil, Vishal, Esteves, Tashina, Ravindranath, N. H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Biodiversity
Biological diversity
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Case studies
Deciduous forests
Deciduous trees
Dry forests
Ecosystem services
Ecosystems
Fodder
Forest ecosystems
Forest resources
Forestry
Forests
Life Sciences
Local communities
Original Paper
Plant species
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Summary:Biodiversity and ecosystem services play key roles in future economic strategies seeking to promote development and prosperity. This study assesses the status of biodiversity and flow of ecosystem services from selected forest types in the Western Ghats. At the sampling sites, the number of tree species ranged from 16 to 79 per hectare depending on the forest type. The estimates for Shannon–Wiener index for trees in the evergreen, moist deciduous and dry deciduous forest plots were 3.02, 2.9 and 1.54, respectively. The total biomass carbon stocks in evergreen, moist deciduous and dry deciduous forests in the study area was 229, 221 and 189 t C/ha, respectively. Analysis of dependency patterns of local communities on forest resources indicated a high dependency on provisional services such as fuelwood, manure and fodder. The study records the highest dependency rates for fuelwood, ranging between 72 and 100% for the three forest types and indicates that forest ecosystems underpin the well-being of the population dependent directly and indirectly on them.
ISSN:1007-662X
1993-0607
DOI:10.1007/s11676-017-0488-2