Browsing by Subject "Species richness"
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Item Distribution and Abundance of Small Mammals in Chandragiri, Hill Kathmandu(Department of Zoology, 2019) Shakya, ShrutiAvailable with full textItem Diversity and Conservation Status of Birds in Betana Wetland Area Belbari, Morang, Nepal(Department of Zoology, 2015) Pokharel, UmeshThis study was carried out to understand the Seasonal Diversity and conservation status of birds in Betana wetland and its associated area. In order to accomplish these objectives, entire habitats were categorized into three types as forest, corridor and settlement areas. Bird surveys were conducted in two different seasons of a single year from January to July of 2014. For the survey, three line transects were set in three different habitat of covering a length of 7.5 km. Transect were taken as reference line for the plot setup. The plot was set in each 300m intervals on opposite sides of transect. The area of each Plot was of 50 m radius and 100m inside from the main reference line. Bird survey was done using direct count and call count method using a camera, binocular, reference book and a sound recorder. Species richness of the birds was calculated by using SPSS- software. Relation between species richness, habitat types and seasons were calculated using Kuskal- Wallis rank sum test. Altogether 55 bird species belonging to 10 orders and 24 families were observed in the study area. Among them 44 bird species were resident, 5 species winter migrants and 6 species summer migrants. The highest number of species (18) was represented by the order Passeriformes while the lowest number of species was represented by the order Psittaciformes and Galliformes. A significant difference in species richness of birds between different habitats (P-value = 0.016, df =2, χ2=8). The species richness was found higher in corridor followed by forest and cultivated area. Availability of food and disturbances, elevation, and edge effect were the important factor for occurrence and distribution of birds in the study area. Human creating activities such as Habitat disturbances (picnic and boating), forest fire, poaching and grazing were the major threats to the avian community.Item Diversity and Distribution of Invasive Alien Plant Species Along Road Network in Central Nepal(Department of Botany, 2015) Paudel, NirmalaInvasive alien plant species are spreading rapidly in Nepal and can have irreversible environmental and economic problem if not managed in time. For the proper management of IAPS detail information regarding their diversity and distribution is needed. In this study a detail survey of IAPS distribution was carried out during June- July in 2013 along road networks in Central Nepal. The study also dealt with the variation in species richness pattern across land use types and along elevation gradient. IAPS distribution was assessed through systematic location of sample plots at an interval of 10km in plain areas and 5km in hilly areas. At every specified distance, a 10 × 10 m x 2 plot was defined along the sides of the road. At each plot, IAPS encountered within the plot, their phenophases, presence of biocontrol agents and three most dominant IAPS in terms of cover were recorded. The cover was estimated visually and the frequency of individual IAPS was calculated. The geographical distribution map of each IAPS and overall species richness distribution pattern map was prepared using Arc GIS. A total of 340 plots were sampled covering 2075km of road network. Among the 18 species of invasive alien plants recorded from roadside vegetation, Bidens pilosa had the highest frequency whereas Eichhornia crassipes had the lowest. And Ageratina adenophora was the first dominant species in 30% of the sample plots. IAPS richness showed unimodal pattern of distribution along the elevation gradient. There was significant difference in species richness across land use types. Grazing and fallow land was more vulnerable to invasion, as reflected by the highest species richness in comparison to other land use types (Agricultural land>Shrubland>Forest>Wetland). A negative linear relationship was obtained between frequency (%) and year of record of the IAPS. There was no significant relationship between elevational limit and minimum residence time of IAPS. Most of the IAPS were concentrated to the tropical and sub-tropical region. Middle mountains had greater IAPS richness in comparison to other physiographic regions.This study concludes that IAPS have been spreading rapidly along road networks in Central Nepal. The road networks are acting as dispersal corridors and source areas for plant invasion. Therefore, comprehensive study of IAPS distribution and their impacts has to be carried out at national level which may be useful to develop management strategies for controlling biological invasion. Keywords: Biological invasion, Invasive alien plant species, Species richness, Elevation gradient, Disturbance, Road network, Frequency, Residence time, Distribution maps.Item Diversity and Distribution of Lizards in Benighat Rorang Municipality, Dhading, Nepal(Department of Zoology, 2023) Shrestha, GarimaAvailable with full textItem Diversity of naturalized plant species across different land use types in Kailali district, western Nepal(Department of Botany, 2019) Joshi, Ganesh DattWith the increasing movement of organisms directly and indirectly by human activities across natural biogeographic barriers, the number of naturalized plant species has been increasing both in disturbed and human-modified ecosystems. Due to variation in propagule pressure of naturalized plant species, available resources, disturbance regimes and species interactions, diversity of naturalized species may vary across vegetation and land use types. Naturalized plants species richness measured in different vegetation and land use types in Kailali district by using Modified-Whittaker nested vegetation sampling method (50 m × 20 m) and five plots were sampled in each of the seven land use types so, total number of sampling plots were 35. We recorded 792 species including 22 pteridophytes, 1 gymnosperm and 769 angiosperms; among them 670 were native species, 87 naturalized species and remaining 35 species were cryptogenic. Species richness of native, naturalized and invasive species significantly (p<0.05) varied across land use types. Naturalized species richness was the highest in roadside grazing land (17.2±1.35), followed by agriculture land (11.4±2.11) and it was the lowest in Shorea-Terminalia forest (3.6±1.43). Among invasive species Ageratum houstonianum was the most frequent (41%), followed by Senna tora (33%). However, Senna tora had the highest cover (64%) followed by Ageratum houstonianum (30%). The naturalized species richness showed significant relation (p≤0.05) with grazing, native species richness, distance from river, tree canopy cover, soil pH, distance from settlement area and distance from road. Also, invasive species richness was significantly correlated with naturalized non-invasive species richness, grazing, tree canopy cover, soil pH, native species richness. Present study revealed the naturalized species were more colonized in human-modified and disturbed land use types that provide propagules for further spread to other vegetation and land use types in the region so, land use modification and disturbance factors as major governing factors for the naturalized plant species diversity. Therefore, the more modified and disturbed land use types should be regularly monitored for early detection and eradication as a part of management strategy for naturalized plant species.Item ECOLOGICAL STUDY AND DISTRIBUTION OF PTERIDOPHYTE ALONG THE ELEVATIONAL GRADIENT OF PHULCHOWKI HILL, CENTRAL NEPAL(Amrit Campus, 2023-08-14) Madhikarmi, AnitaThe present study aims to find the relationship between pteridophyte richness along the elevational gradients of Phulchowki Hill, Central Nepal. The study was carried out in three elevational zones namely lower (1500-1900 masl), middle (1900-2300 masl) and upper elevation (2300- 2700 masl), starting from 1550 masl and ending to 2698 masl of Phulchowki Hill at an interval of 100 m. Random number of quadrats having 5m × 5m sizes were laid at each elevation band. SPSS- Software and Microsoft Excel were used to perform the statistical analysis. All together 46 (39 terrestrials and 7 epiphytic) pteridophyte species belonging to 28 genera and 14 families have been documented. Among the 14 families Polypodiaceae was found to be the largest family having highest number of genera followed by Pteridiaceae. However, Pteridiaceae was found as largest family on the basis of highest number of species followed by Dryopteridaceae and Polypodiaceae. Plant community properties such as species richness, diversity, and composition vary along environmental gradients. Species richness of tree species showed asymmetric hump shaped pattern of distribution with elevational gradients. The pteridophyte species richness significantly differs along the elevational gradients within different sites. Pteridophyte species like Selaginella chrysocaulis, Dryopteris carolohopei were dominant in lower elevational zone; Polystichum squarrosum, Drynaria moliis were dominant in middle and Polypodiodes hendersonii, Drynaria moliis were observed dominant in upper elevational sites. The Spearman's correlation analysis table shows elevational gradient strongly affects the pteridophytes richnesItem Floodplain Succession Pattern in Khorsor Region of Budhi Rapti River, Barandabhar Corridor, Chitwan, Nepal(Department of Botany, 2015) Kunwar, Dhiraj ChhetriRiverine floodplain forms ecosystem that has great significance in ecosystem services. But frequent change in river course disturbed this floodplain. Budhi-Rapti River formed quite stable floodplain ecosystem nearby Khorsor zone (Barandabhar corridor). As such understanding the process of ecosystem development in the Budhi Rapti river floodplain holds great significance. This study was designed to understand plant colonizing pattern, variation in species richness and composition at the floodplain along the distance based gradient from river bank to the mature forest. Plot size of 20 × 20 m (subdivided into 4 subplots) were established along the two transect (200m apart from each other). First plot was set 200m away from the bank of river and each plot were 50 m apart. A total of 20 plots were sampled along one transect thereby altogether 40 plots were sampled. All vascular plants occurred inside each plot was recorded (0 or 1). The species richness and composition was calculated. Richness for each plant life form i.e. herbs, shrubs and trees were also calculated. Altogether 158 plants (60 families and 136 genera) were recorded; Gramineae being richest followed by Leguminosae, Asteraceae and Cyperaceae. Succession was considered as main variable and measured indirectly through the first axis sample score value after indirect ordination i.e. NMDS. NMDS1 and NMDS2 scores were regressed against species richness as well as species composition variables. Here, total species richness was negatively correlated with the NMDS1 (temporal gradient) which showed convergent pattern of succession. However, herbs and shrubs species richness pattern were negatively correlated with NMDS1 but positive correlation was found with trees and climbers species richness. RDA analysis showed that herbs like Anisomeles indica and Cynodon dactylon as an early successional species and tree species like Ficus hispida and Bauhinia purpurea as late successional species. This study suggests that flood plain succession is convergent type.Item Floristic composition of Bryophytes and its diversity along the elevation gradient of Palpa District, Nepal(Department of Botany, 2023) Neupane, TulsiBryophytes are very important groups of land plant with a varied ecological and economic importance. These are second most diverse group after angiosperm, though least concerned group in the field of research and documentation. Various studies have suggested making an initiation to promote research on various unexplored region of Nepal so as to complete the documentation process of bryoflora. The aim of this study is to record the floristic information of the bryophytes, its species richness in relation to various environmental variables including the soil macronutrient along the tropical and sub-tropical band Palpa district where no studies are taken place till date. Systematic random sampling methods was used where the circular plots of 10 m radius was laid with 5 (1 m x 1 m) subplots each. Similar 5 sample plots were laid 50 m in each elevation band. The elevation band of the study area was from 300 m- 1500 m where the plots were laid at an interval 300± 85 m depending upon the topography. In each plot various environmental variables were recorded such as elevation, canopy cover, bareground, rock cover, other plants, herb cover, bryophytes cover, organic carbon, nitrogen content, phosphorous, potassium. In total 39 species were collected from the study area with dominancy of mosses. The regression analysis showed statistically significant linear inclining relation with elevation gradient. Declining linear relation was found for canopy cover and total species richness and also for both liverworts and mosses but the variable was insignificant for the hornworts. Declining linear relation was also shown for bare ground and the relation with other plants species, rock cover, herb cover, herb cover and various soil parameter (Organic matter, Nitrogen, Potassium, Phosphorous) was insignificant but mosses showed significant declining relationship with Potassium content though various studies showed significant relations with the soil macro-nutrients. We expected that the study will give more species as compared to previous study done in the western region in the same elevation which was not true. So, there might be soil and rock parameters which may be the reason of low richness of the species. So, further research with soil micro- nutrients and rock parameter may suggest the clear reason of the low number of species.Item Herbaceous Flora in High Altitude of Imja Valley, Sagarmatha National Park Nepal Himalaya(Department of Botany, 2009) Paudel, EkanandaThis study has been carried out in the Imja valley, north-east part of the Sagarmatha National Park. The present study starts from Phungitanga (3400m asl) to Chhukung (4,650m asl) between 27º49’58.08”N to 27º54’18.48”N and 86º30’57.06”E to 86º99’15.96”E. This research work aims to study the floristic composition, altitudespecies richness relationship and disturbance-species richness relationship of herbaceous flora. The sampling was conducted at 60 sites in varying altitudes (3600-4100m) to cover all types of forest and different aspects. Total number of species and sign of human impacts were recorded in each sampling plots. Species were observed and collected enroute as well as with in the sampling plots.The Generalized Linear Models (GLM) was used to elucidate the relationship of species richness with elevation as well as disturbance. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was also used to evaluate the effect of categorical variables like grass cutting, litter fodder collection along with altitude on species richness. Altogether 180 species of herbaceous angiosperms under 93 genera and 35 families were recorded. Asteraceae is observed as the largest family with 26 species. Similarly, Saxifraga is the largest genus comprising 9 species. 20 species are added as with new locality in Eastern Nepal and 43 species with different altitudinal ranges than recorded in Press et al. (2000). Monotonic decrease in herbaceous species richness with increasing altitude is found between 3600-4100m and with generating a high-elevation plateau between 3600-4000m as observed by Grytnes and Vetaas (2002). Only grass cutting and litter/fodder collection are found to be significant to the species richness supporting the “Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis-IDH”.Item Incense Plants, Their Uses and Diversity in Upper Manang, Central Nepal(Department of Botany, 2013) Karki, SitaThis study aims to document the incense plants, their uses in other purposes and diversity along different elevation gradients in Upper Manang. The study area is very rich in terms of incense plants. The local people are highly knowledgeable and totally dependent on incense plants. Forty different household were surveyed from which a total of 31 plants were found to be used as incense. These incense plants were also found to be used in other purpose like medicine, fodder, fuel wood etc. Therefore, ethnobotanical study of incense plants was done. The ecological sampling was done an altitudinal gradient of 3200 to 4300 m asl and total of 66 plots (10m×10m) was taken. Latitude, longitude, altitude, aspects and grazing intensity were recorded in each plot. Total 24 incense plant species out of 31 species were recorded from different 66 plots among them 13 were herbaceous and 11 woody species. DCA was used to assess gradient in species composition. Incense species composition was heterogeneous which was reflected by longer gradient length. A Generalized linear model was used to elucidate the pattern of species richness. A quasi-Poison error distribution with F-test was used where the data showed the over dispersion. The incense plants with their life forms were also regressed against the altitude, RRI, and grazing. Incense species showed a unimodel pattern with altitude whereas woody incense species showed a linear pattern but other life form did not show any significant relationship with altitude. Incense species did not show any relation with RRI but its life form showed linear relationship. A linear pattern of grazing was also observed with incense plants and its different life. Environmental variables play a dominant role to explain the pattern of richness at the local scale. KEY WORDS: Incense plants, Ethnobotany, Species richness, DCA, GLMItem Lichen Richness and Composition Patterns along Altitudinal gradients and Land use types in the Manaslu Conservation Area, Central Nepal(Department of Botany, 2014) Sankhi, LaxmiLichens, the mutualistic association betweenan alga (green and/or blue green) and a fungus are the most successful symbiotic organisms in nature. Nepal is rich in biodiversity. In comparison to higher plants, research work on lichen is very scanty. In the present study selected Manaslu Conservation Area. Though the Manaslu Conservation Area (MCA) is rich in biodiversity butis less explored. My study focused on species richness and composition of lichens in differentl and use types, altitudinal gradients and aspects. Four land use types selected areCroplandland, Meadow, Disturbed forest and Natural forest at five altitudinal gradients 2200 m, 2600m,3000m, 3400m and 3800m respectively.A total of 40 transect of 25 × 2.5 m each were laiddown in the study site. R-software was used to perform all the statistical analyses. Altogether 250species of lichens under 86 genera and 38 families have been reported by this study.I found significant difference in lichens species richness within different land use types(p≤0.00, df = 3) that may due to effect of habitat heterogeneity. Higher species richness of lichens has been recorded at natural forest, followed by meadows, exploited forest and cropland.Post hoc analysis (TukeyHSD) reveals that there was a significant difference in species richness of lichens between crop land land and meadow,cropland land and exploited forest,cropland land and natural forest whereas there is no significant difference observed among other land use types .Thus the main variation for the species richness of lichens indifferent land use type is mainly due to major difference in cropland with other three land use types that is meadow, exploited forest and natural forest. Different life forms of lichen showed significant difference with different land-use types. All four forms of lichens (crustose, foliose,fruti cose and leprose) were dominant in natural forests followed by meadows, exploited forests and cropland.There was no significant difference in species richness of lichens along altitudinal gradients(p≥0.05, df = 3) and aspects. It might be due to less number of altitudinal gradients and almost similar habitat types respectively.The DCA diagram for species composition showed a good dispersion among species along first two axes.Permutation result showed that altitude, natural forest and crop land land were important environmental variables to structure the composition of lichens. Key words: Altitude, Species richness, Land use types, DCAItem Plant diversity and free carbon stock in Swyambhu and Dakshinkali........(Amrit Campus, 2022-08-29) Budhathoki, SamritaSpecies diversity is the combination of species evenness and species richness. Sacred groves play significant role in conservation of rare and endemic species due to taboos and prohibitions. Nepal has centuries old traditions of establishing sacred groves of various size devoted to a particular deity. The relationship of tree diversity and carbon stock, an important concern of climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation has been less studied in sacred groves of Nepal. This study aimed to assess the plant diversity and carbon stock in Swayambhu sacred grove (SSG) and Dakshinkali sacred grove (DSG) of Kathmandu district. To study diversity, IVI, regeneration, tree and soil carbon stock, altogether 77 plots were sampled in 9 parallel transects in SSG (30 plots) and 10 parallel transects in DSG (47 plots) by using systematic random sampling method. Circular plot of 10 m radius was laid for trees and within it, one concentric plot of 5 m radii for shrubs and 3 subplots of 1 m radius for herbs was laid. Soil samples were collected from surface upto 15 cm depth using core sampler (volume 356.5179 cm3 ) from the plot centre for estimation of bulk density and composite soil sample (one in the plot centre while other four in N, E, W and S directions) for estimation of soil organic carbon. Regeneration was assessed by using Density-Diameter (D-D) curve and calculating density of each tree species in seedling, sapling and tree phases. Tree biomass was calculated using allometric equation developed for moist forest and later converted into carbon stock using default factor. Altogether 115 species belonging to 57 families and 104 genera were recorded in the SSG and in DSG total 184 species belonging to 77 families and 159 genera were recorded. Shannon-Weiner diversity index (H) of plant species was found to be higher in DSG (H = 3.975) than in SSG (H = 3.213). The D-D curve showed reverse J shaped size class distribution in DSG. Density of seedling, sapling and tree was higher in DSG than that of SSG. Tree carbon stock (113.76 t/ha) and soil carbon stock (18.31 t/ha) of SSG (113.76 t/ha) was found higher than tree carbon stock (79.87 t/ha) and soil carbon stock (17.93 t/ha) of DSG. Tree carbon stock showed non-signicant weak positive correlation with species richness (r = 0.290, p = 0.120) and diversity index (r = 0.219, p = 0.246) in SSG but it showed non-significant weak negative correlation with species richness (r = - 0.077, p = 0.607) and diversity index (r = - 0.201, p = 0.177) in DSG. The findings of this study will be helpful to direct implication for the management and policies related to sacred groves for climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation.Item Plant Diversity of Phulchoki Area, Central Nepal(Department of Botany, 2015) Gaire, BijayThe present study aims to find out the relationship between species richness along elevational gradient and forest types. The study was carried out in Phulchoki hill of Lalitpur district. In the study three types of forest have been categorized viz. Castanopsis Broadleaved forest,Mixed Broadleaved forest and Quercus semecarpifolia forest. The sampling plots wereconductedfrom lower altitude at 1600 m to the upper elevation at 2650 m. Fourquadrats of the size 10m×10 m was laid horizontally at interval of 100 meachon elevational band of 100m. Plant species were collected from July to August 2013. From the study a total of 230 plant species belonging to 185 genera and 84 families were recorded. Among 84 families Asteraceae was found to be the largest having 14 genera and 16 species each.From the total life forms of plants the angiospermic species richness isnearly equals in Mixed Broadleaved forest and Quercus semecarpifolia forest. From the overall IVI of tree species Quercussemecarpifolia was the dominant tree species with the highest importance value index(51.53), followed by Castanopsis tribuloides (34.38).The cause of the changes of species richness in different forest types may be due to changes in environmental factors. But there isincreasing trend of species richness along elevation. The Detrended correspondence analysis(DCA) diagram showed complete turnover of the species i.e., the axis length 4.05 SD units along environmental variables which showed that species is highly heterogenous and rich in beta diversity.On the basis of recorded species,it can be concluded that the study a rearich in plant diversity. Keywords: Species richness, forest types, elevational gradient, importance value index,detrended correspondence analysisItem Plant Species Composition and Soil Seedbank in Parthenium Hysterophorus L. Invaded Grassland of Hetaunda, Central Nepal(Department of Botany, 2012) K.C., JyotiImpact of Parthenium hysterophorus L. invasion on the herbaceous plant species richness and composition of a grassland and its abundance in the total germinable soil seedbank were monitored for two years in Hetaunda Municipality of Makawanpur district, Central Nepal. The study also dealt with the impacts of defoliation caused by the leaf feeding beetle Zygogramma bicolorata on the germinable soil seedbank density of Parthenium. Field samplings were done in two steps; vegetation sampling and soil sampling. The vegetation samplings were done in September and the soil samplings in October for the two successive years 2009 and 2010 representing 1 vii st and 2 nd year of defoliation by Zygogramma, respectively. A total of 30 transects, 10 on each of the three study sites, selected subjectively were sampled. On each transect, 3 quadrats of 1m 1m were sampled in such a way that they represented >90%, >40≤60% and 0-10% Parthenium coverage, indicating High, Medium and Low levels of Parthenium infestation, respectively. Altogether 90 quadrats (3 on each of the 30 transect) were sampled. In each quadrat, vascular plant species richness, Parthenium density, its coverage, maximum height and the coverage of other species were recorded. For the estimation of germinable soil seedbank density, soil samples were collected from the plots having high Parthenium infestations at two different depths (0-5 cm and 5-10 cm) by using soil core sampler, and thus collected soil samples were kept for germination in the greenhouse for eight months and soil seedbank was analyzed by counting germinating seedlings. There were no significant differences in the herbaceous plant species richness at different levels of Parthenium infestation but we found change in the species composition. Parthenium had the highest abundance on the germinable soil seedbank measured up to 10 cm soil depth and comprised about 4/5 th of the total soil seedbank. We did not find significant change in the germinable soil seedbank density measured for 2009 and 2010. The study suggests that Parthenium invasion is affecting the species composition of grassland Defoliation caused by the Zygogramma has not been so effective in reducing the soil seedbank density owing to the recent event and persistent nature of its germinable soil seedbank. Thus, for effective control of Parthenium, defoliation has to be continued for some more years associated with other long-term management programs. Keywords: Biocontrol, germinable soil seedbank, Species richness, Zygogramma bicolorata.Item Species Richness Patterns and Morphological variations in Anurans Along an Elevational Gradient of Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal(Department of Zoology, 2023) Thapa, MamataAnurans are a group of amphibians widely distributed worldwide. Body size and extremities of amphibians along an elevational gradient have always been a subject of curiosity. To study the species richness and morphological variation of anurans live samples were measured. An intensive field survey was conducted in August 2022, from Phedi (1150 m) to Mardi (4000 m) following the trekking trail. The amphibian survey was done by using the nocturnal time-constrained visual encounter method along the transects (100m × 4m). The survey was conducted between 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. Different morphological variables were measured by vernier caliper and environmental variables such as elevation were measured by using GPS. However, QGIS extracted slope, aspect, and TRI from DEM and NDVI from satellite images. Linear regression showed the decline of species richness as elevation increases. Similarly, linear regression showed that the body size of anurans increases as elevation increases i.e., it follows Bergmann’s rule. However, multiple linear regression showed that the length of the metatarsus of the family Bufonidae decreases as elevation increases i.e., it follows Allen’s rule but extremities of family Dicroglossidae does not follow. Hierarchical partitioning showed that temperature and NDVI were the predictors that influence species richness, body size and extremities of anurans.Item Taxonomy, Species Diversity and Distribution Patterns of Ants of Nepal(Faculty of Zoology, 2022) Subedi, Indra PrasadAvailable with full textItem Vegetation Composition and Regeneration of Shorea Robusta Gaertn. in Community Managed and Protected Forests of Surkhet District(Department of Botany, 2009) Shrestha, TulsiVegetation composition and regeneration of Shorea robusta (sal) was studied in community managed forest (Neware Community Forest) and protected forest (Kankrebihar Protected Forest) in Surkhet district. Systematic random sampling was used for vegetation sampling. Fifty quadrats of 10m×10m were sampled in each forest for vegetation study. Soil was collected from each quadrat and it was analyzed for pH, Nitrogen and Carbon. For regeneration study, seedling and saplings were counted and size class diagram was analyzed. There were 68 and 80 vascular plant species in the Neware community forest and Kankrebihar protected forest respectively. There was significant (p 0.01) difference in tree species richness, total species richness and total tree basal area between the studied forests. Soil pH was significantly higher (p 0.05) in the community forest than in protected forest. Tree species diversity was higher in Neware Community Forest than in Kankrebihar Protected Forest. Regeneration of Sal was high in both forests. In community forest priority has been given for the conservation of Sal in expense of low quality and non-timber plants during thinning process. Both the forests were found to be monodominant Sal forest since the IVI of Sal constituted more than 70%.