Tree Species Composition in Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary, Northern Western Ghats of India

We established belt transects of 1000 m &3#215; 5 m in Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary at 12 different localities, to study tree species diversity. A total of 4296 individuals of girth at breast height (GBH) ≥15 cm were enumer-ated belonging to 108 species. A subtype of Memecylon-Syzygium-Olea was identified based on dominance from the area previously ascribed to Memecylon-Syzygium-Actinodaphne floristic series. Out of 41 fam-ilies, Melastomataceae, Myrtaceae and Moraceae were found to be dominant families according to the Family Importance Value. Shannon index (H') ranged from 1.5 to 3.03. Taxonomic diversity measured for each sampled locality using normalized simple Avalanche index showed variation between 0.104 and 1.00 and positive correlation with H'. Rarity score for identify-ing unique tree species composition correlated posi-tively with simple avalanche index. Evergreen forest of Navja and Ozarade together showed highest popula-tion of IUCN-listed tree species. This study shall pave the way for the subsequent ecological research in this area which has recently been declared as a World Natural Heritage Site by UNESCO.