ECOLOGICAL STUDIES OF TREE SPECIES OF KARIAN SHOLA IN PARAMBIKULAM WILDLIFE SANCTUARY, KERALA, SOUTH INDIA

This paper describes the phytosociological status of tree species of a post climax evergreen forest (Karian Shola) located in the rain shadow region of Parambikulam wildlife sanctuary. Phytosociological data of various type of climax vegetation such as evergreen forest, grass land and savana have been conducted plenty but post climax type forest is scanty. Stratified random sampling method was adopted for vegetation study. Quadrat size was standardized by following species area curve. Roughly about 1.7% of the study area was sampled. A total of 270 species of trees of Girth at Breast Height (GBH) above 15 cm size belonging to 61 families were recorded from the 80 sample plots studied. The total density of tree species is 842/ha and the total number of individuals is 10,772 (14/ha). The mean stand basal area of the tree species is 50.50 m2/ha and the maturity index value is 46.80. Concentration of dominance value is 0.035 and the diversity index value is 4.01. The result of the present study will be demystified the issues prevailed in the use of terminology of forest patch named ‘Karian shola’.