Selective logging intensity alters the population stand structure of cullenia-mesua-palaquium dominated tropical wet evergreen forest of the western ghats, South India

Abstract

The present study was conducted in a population structure of selectively logged tropical wet evergreen forest, Cullenia-Mesua-Palaquium (CMP) forest series in the tropical wet evergreen forests of the Nelliampathy Hills, Western Ghats. The study was aimed to focus on how selectively logged treatment influences the density and basal area of CMP forest series stand structure. We sampled the number of individual trees (≥ 1 cm dbh, diameter at breast height) of CMP at 30 sites (20 × 50 m quadrat size), covering an area of 30.8 hectare (ha) in total. A total of 5936 tree individuals sampled had a mean density of 246 ha-1 and basal area of 20.73 metre square (m2) ha-1 from an area of 0.1 to 2.5 ha. Tree density per hectare and basal area differed significantly among plots with different logging treatments. Tree density and basal area were significantly lower in highly logged plots as compared to moderately logged and unlogged plots. The density of smaller trees was significantly higher in moderately logged plots. We suggest that heavy logging treatments might be a serious threat to the CMP forest series and may possibly alter its population structure and that the moderately logged treatments showed positive impacts on CMP stand structure and regeneration.