Assessment and Conservation of Forest Biodiversity in the Western Ghats of Karnataka, India. 2. Assessment of Tree Biodiversity, Logging Impact and General Discussion.

B.R. Ramesh (1) , M.H. Swaminath (2) , Santhoshagouda Patil (1) , Soupramanien Aravajy (1) , Claire Elouard (1)

1 IFP - Institut Français de Pondichéry
2 Forest Research Institute

PPE volumes 6 and 7 are parts of a project report published in 1999 in collaboration with the Karnataka Forest Department on the assessment and conservation of forest biodiversity in the Western Ghats of Karnataka. Project objectives and study area are introduced in the first volume (PPE 6). The present volume reports i) an assessment of forest biodiversity and its relationships with regional bioclimate and anthopogenic pressure from a network of 96 1-ha sampling plots, and ii) an in-depth study of impact of selective logging on the low elevation wet evergreen forest, which revealed that 30-40 years between successive harvests is the minimum period to allow the forest to recover. Conservation values maps and recommendations for forest management are then discussed from results of the whole project.

Mots clés: tropical forests; Biodiversity; Karnataka; India; logging impact; Western Ghats

Domaines: Biodiversité et Ecologie

B.R. Ramesh, M.H. Swaminath, Santhoshagouda Patil, Soupramanien Aravajy, Claire Elouard. Assessment and Conservation of Forest Biodiversity in the Western Ghats of Karnataka, India. 2. Assessment of Tree Biodiversity, Logging Impact and General Discussion.. Institut Français de Pondichéry, pp. 65-121, 2009, Pondy Papers in Ecology no. 7, Head of Ecology Department, Institut Français de Pondichéry, e-mail: [e-mail]. ⟨hal-00408305⟩