Impact of forest Fragmentation and Species Loss on Nutrient Cycling in the Tropical Dry Deciduous forests of West Bengal

Matha Protected Forest (MPF) of Purulia district in West Bengal is a tropical dry deciduous forest. It is fragmented into two plots A and B. The occurrence of fragmentation is due to the advent of urbanization and rapid increase of human population. Sal (Shorea robusta Roxb.) is a dominant species in MPF with predominant plant species of piyal (Buchanania latifolia Roxb.), sidha (Lagerstroemia parviflora Roxb.) and tendu (Diospyros melanoxylon Roxb.). Present study revealed that species diversity is more in larger Plot A in comparison to smaller Plot B. Consequently improper nutrient cycling is observed mainly for smaller fragmented Plot B. It is found that P use efficiency is enhanced than K and N for Shorea robusta Roxb., while K use efficiency is higher than N and P in piyal (Buchanania latifolia Roxb.), sidha (Lagerstroemia parviflora Roxb.) and tendu (Diospyros melanoxylon Roxb.). There was site-dependent and between-species differences in nutrient content and nutrient remobilization. Plot A shows decreased nutrient use efficiency (NUE) and nutrient retranslocation efficiency (NRE) than plot B which in turn depicts nutrient (mainly P and K) limitation at plot B.