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INFLUENCE OF
PLANTATION TYPE ON GROUND FLORA COMPOSITION AND DIVERSITY IN GATWALA
ARTIFICIAL FOREST PLANTATION
MANSOOR HAMEED*,
RAMLA KHAN, MUHAMMAD ASHRAF1, TAHIRA NAWAZ, MUHAMMAD SAJID AQEEL
AHMAD AND SADAF MUBARIK
Abstract: Gutwala
Artificial Forest Plantation is important due to conservation viewpoint
because many endangered species have been planted therein. A survey was
conducted to assess the species diversity and ordination as influenced
by different plantation types of both native and exotic nature. In the
plantation, 58 tree species have been planted, most of these species
being exotic. The impact of the Gutwala plantations on ground vegetation
of native flora was quite prominent, where some species had resulted in
complete elimination of ground flora. This effect may be mainly due to
dense canopy cover, resulting into poor sunlight penetration. In
addition, some other factors like allelopathic effect of the planted
species on ground vegetation as well as a large amount of leaf shedding
of the planted species, make harder ground flora to germinate or grow.
Mixed type of Eucalyptus plantation supported mainly grass
species like Cynodon dactylon and Dichanthium annulatum.
Meliaceae (Azadirachta indica, Melia azedarach and Cedrela
toona) restricted the germination and growth of several ground cover
species. Papilionaceae (Butea frondosa, Dalbergia sissoo,
Pongamia pinnata and D. latifolia) had a single dominant
grass species C. dactylon. Mimosaceae (Acacia nilotica,
A.modesta and A. sanegal) plantation had a relatively thin
ground cover as compared to that in other plantations. In
Caesalpiniaceae (Cassia fistula and Bauhinia purpurea)
plantation, C. dactylon was the major component of ground
vegetation along with two other grasses D. annulatum and
Cenchrus pennisetiformis. Dendrocalamus giganteus had slowly
decaying and enormously shedding scaly and foliar leaves, which seemed
to have inhibited the germination and growth of ground cover species. On
the whole, Cynodon dactylon was the most dominant among ground
flora, which was followed by Cenchrus pennisetiformis and
Dichanthium annulatum. Among dicots, Conyza boneriensis,
Coronopus didymus, Atriplex crassifolia, Malvastrum coromandelianum,
Sisymbrium irio and Malva parviflora were the dominant
species.
Department of
Botany, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan 38040
1Department
of Botany and Microbiology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
*Corresponding
author’s E-mail:
hameedmansoor@yahoo.com
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