Species Composition and Diversity Pattern in various Grassland Communities with Respect to Different Disturbance and Light Regimes

Author: Sumit Srivastava and R. P. Shukla

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Abstract

The grassy landscape of north-eastern Uttar Pradesh showed quite high species richness and a total of 287 plant species belonging to 183 genera under 53 families were encountered within the sampled communities. We categorized each of 31 locations under 12 disturbance types under two light regimes. Their effects were observed in relation to different diversity attributes of grassland communities. In general, the number of species and genera was much greater in open condition as compared to that under partial shade condition. Approximately, >55% herbs, 55.5% shrubs and 50% climbers were common to both the light conditions. Over 31% herbs were common under open and >39.54% under partial shade condition at all the three disturbance levels. Nearly 14.28% species were common to all the disturbance level under open condition. In both, open as well as partial-shade conditions, the grassland communities were significantly different in terms of species richness, diversity, dominance and evenness

Keywords

Grassland community, Species diversity, Disturbance, Light regimes, north-eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Conclusion

The study explores the species composition and diversity pattern within various grassland communities at three levels of disturbance under two light regimes. The partially shaded communities showed much greater diversity and evenness as compared to open communities under moderate level of disturbance. The fully exposed communities, on the other hand, showed quite low species richness and diversity at high disturbance. The latter promotes changes in the microenvironment of community by modifying the availability of resources. Low disturbance also supports considerable species richness but lesser as compared to communities facing moderate disturbance. Prostrate species showing aggregation often formed compact mat and allowed minimum associates which resulted into low species richness. The erect species, on the other hand, allowed significant number of species inside their aggregates which increased the species richness of the community. The discrete severe disturbance may cause local ext

References

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How to cite this article

Sumit Srivastava and R. P. Shukla (2016). Species Composition and Diversity Pattern in various Grassland Communities with Respect to Different Disturbance and Light Regimes , Biological Forum – An International Journal 8(1): 435-446.