Species Diversity and Regeneration Status of Community-Managed Hill Sal (Shorea robusta) Forest in Central Nepal

This study assessed the species composition, community structure and regeneration status of hill sal forest of Baglung district, Central Nepal after about two decades of community management. We also compared the species composition, community structure and regeneration status of two sites of the forest having different disturbance intensities prior to management. The purposive sampling method was applied for data collection, where we divided the community forest into five vertical transects and in each transect six 20 m × 20 m plots were established. All tree and shrub species were recorded for each sample plot and their height and diameter at breast height (for tree) or basal circumference area (for shrub) were measured. The nested quadrat method was used for assessing the regeneration status at three life stages, viz. seedlings, saplings and trees. Twenty-seven species belonging to 21 families were recorded, where sal was the dominant species and Dipterocarpaceae was the dominant family. Size-class distribution curve showed that the studied forest was not sustainable and viable but regeneration count depicted that it had good regeneration status with a sufficient number of seedlings and saplings to replace the adults after their mortality. Similarly, the number of species, as well as the density of seedlings, saplings and trees, were found higher in the disturbed site than in the relatively undisturbed site of the forest. Thus, our study indicated that there are considerable differences between the disturbed site and relatively undisturbed site prior to management in terms of diversity, species composition, stand structure and regeneration pattern.