Tree communities and human influence in the Western Ghats, India

Abstract

We studied distribution of 17,220 trees belonging to 424 species along 247 transects each measuring 0.12 ha. These represent 8 natural and man-made vegetation types from 20 localities along the Western Ghats, below 1200 m. Humanini1uence appears to result in loss of biomass, reduction in species diversity and loss of rare species. Particularly, it enhances spatial heterogeneity in structure and species composition. Human influence also seems to favour more distinctiveset of species.