Status Study of Vegetation at Zabarwan Forests of Kashmir

Mehraj Ud Din Shah; Rayees Afzal Mir; Ahjaz Ahmad Qureshi

Volume : VIII, Issue : II, February - 2019

Status Study of Vegetation at Zabarwan Forests of Kashmir

Mehraj Ud Din Shah, Rayees Afzal Mir, Ahjaz Ahmad Qureshi

Abstract :

The present study was conducted from the year 2016 to 2018 in Cheshmashahi area of Zabarwan forests of Kashmir valley. The main objective was to present the scenario of vegetational status of forest ecosystem with respect to the species importance value index (IVI) and to list the forest flora. Analysis of cumulative data revealed that this area hosts 43 families (40 Angiosperms and 3 Gymnosperms), 74 Genera (70 Angiosperms and 4 Gymnosperms) and 88 species (80 Angiosperms and 8 Gymnosperms) out of which 58 were herbs, 12 were shrubs and 18 were trees. Dicotyledons contribute about 92% of the total angiosperms observed at study site. The study site Zabarwan forests was dominated by Fabaceae family followed by Rosaceae and Poaceae. Herb species at different aspects/elevations revealed that Sorghum helepense revealed the most dominant species all along the altitudinal gradients. Among the shrub species Paratiopsis jacquemontiana revealed the highest IVI and was the most dominant species on all the altitudinal gradients/aspects. While tree species viz. Cedrus deodara and Pinus roxburgii is currently recruiting its species on the Zabarwan forests than other conifers at faster rate and may constitute a dominant climax species in future.