Impacts of forest fire frequency on structure and composition of tropical moist deciduous forest communities of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Central India

Abstract

Forest fire is one of the prominent factors especially in tropical seasonal forests that have a variety of consequences on ecosystem composition, structure and function depending upon the type of fire, fire intensity, and fire frequency. Forest fire incidences have been increasing in the last few decades especially in tropical moist forests, raising the concerns for forest restoration and management since the inhabiting plants in these forest communities largely lack adaptive strategies. The present study was carried out in tropical moist deciduous forests to (A) understand the patterns of forest fire frequency by delineating the fire affected areas and (B) evaluate the impacts of forest fire frequency on species composition, diversity and regeneration of a moist deciduous forest of Central India. A fire frequency map was prepared using Landsat satellite images from 2005 to 2021 for the study purpose. Vegetation data were collected from field surveys for each fire frequency class separately. Results of the present study showed that 25.12 % area was affected by low frequent fires, 2.92 % by moderate frequent fires and 0.099 % by high frequent fires, whereas 71.85 % area remained unaffected by fire. The diversity of the tree layer was highest in the low fire frequency class whereas, for the sapling layer, it was highest in unburned areas. Overall, the negative impact of fire frequency on species diversity was observed for the tree and sapling layers. Favorable effects of fire on young current year recruitments were observed as a result of the removal of seed dormancy. Results indicate that moderate fire frequency in moist deciduous forests helps to increase tree density. Contrary to this, unburned areas are suitable for species diversity of seedlings and saplings which consequently decides the composition of mature vegetation. Overall, a negative impact of fire frequency on density was observed for the sapling and seedling layers. Our study concludes that higher fire frequency is detrimental to both the density and diversity of tree, sapling and seedling layers, particularly in tropical moist deciduous forest communities of Central India. It is expected that fire incidences are likely to increase with the increasing temperatures as a result of climate change. In this context, the present study would be highly valuable for forest policy development as information on the impact of fire in tropical moist forests is lacking especially from Central Indian region. © 2023 The Author(s)