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Regeneration Potential of Forest Vegetation of Churdhar Wildlife Sanctuary of India: Implication for Forest Management

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Abstract

In the recent decades, regeneration patterns of forest species have played an important role in mitigating future climate impacts. This study analysed impact of disturbances due to grazing on the regeneration status of temperate reserve forest species in Churdhar Wildlife Sanctuary, Himachal Pradesh, located in Western Himalaya of India spanning a wide range of altitudes. For analysis of vegetation, quadrat method was used to assess regeneration status and level of disturbance (grazing intensity). We found that seedling and sapling density and species richness decreased with increasing altitude. Overall, a fairly good regeneration potential was observed for tree species, and few of them reported poor regeneration exclusively due to grazing disturbances at higher altitudes. The forest growing at lower altitudes showed better regeneration than the forests growing at higher altitudes. Majority of dominant and co-dominant tree species showed a reverse j-shaped curve, but Quercus semecarpifolia and Rhododendron arboreum showed an inverse j-shaped curve. The study concluded that poor regeneration of species at higher altitude could be attributed to grazing and harsh environmental factors and, therefore, recommends adoption of suitable management measures at different phases of forest reproduction for successful forest establishment.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are thankful to the Head of Department of Botany, HNB Garhwal University, for providing logistic support during the field visits.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, H.N.B Garhwal University (A Central University), Garhwal, Uttarakhand, Srinagar, 249161, India

    Usha Thakur & N. S. Bisth

  2. School of Hydrology and Water Resources, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Amit Kumar

  3. Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, H.N.B Garhwal University (A Central University), Garhwal, Uttarakhand, 249161, Srinagar, India

    Munesh Kumar

  4. Department of Forestry, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram, 796004, India

    Uttam Kumar Sahoo

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UT and NSB: Conceptualization of the work, designing the study, data collection, and drafting the manuscript.

MK, AK, and UKS: Review, editing, and improving the manuscript by adding new contents.

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Correspondence to Amit Kumar or Munesh Kumar.

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Thakur, U., Bisth, N.S., Kumar, A. et al. Regeneration Potential of Forest Vegetation of Churdhar Wildlife Sanctuary of India: Implication for Forest Management. Water Air Soil Pollut 232, 373 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-021-05315-9

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