Dynamics and Characterization of Herbaceous Vegetation in Three Forest Communities in a Subtropical Dry Deciduous Forest in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir

The investigations on the herbaceous vegetation in terms of its composition and diversity were conducted in three different forest communities in a sub-tropical forest of Jammu Siwaliks. These included Northern dry mixed deciduous forests (5B/C2), Himalayan subtropical scrub (9/C1/DSI) and Himalayan subtropical Pine forest (9/C1a) in an altitudinal range of 300 m asl to 990 m asl. The community analysis was performed using stratified random sampling involving 0.01 % of the total area for each community.750 quadrats of 1 m2 each were laid for various phytosociological parameters and diversity indices to reveal the community structure, species richness, diversity and evenness for the terrestrial herbs in different forest types. A total of 266 species belonging to 201 genera and 64 families were recorded from the forest. The vegetation analysis revealed the dominance of Cynodon dactylon Pers (SIV = 12.75, 4.25 %), Ageratum conyzoides L. (18.03, 6.01 %) and Cynodon dactylon Pers. (23.07, 7.69 %) as herbaceous elements in northern dry mixed deciduous forests, Himalayan subtropical scrub and Himalayan subtropical Pine forest respectively. The northern dry mixed deciduous forest occupying 27.3 % of the study area revealed maximum herb species richness and diversity as indicated by the higher values obtained for Shannon-Wienners index, Margalefs index and Simpsons index of dominance.