Species Diversity and Regeneration under the Scientific Forest Management Practice in Tropical Region of Nepal

Nepal’s forestry sector contributes the livelihoods of millions of households through community-based forest management. Recently there has been an effort to shift conservation-centered forest management policy towards production forestry through Scientific Forest Management (SciFM) approach in order to better fulfill the needs of the present generation without compromising those of future generations. In order to quantify the effectiveness of SciFM on tree species regeneration and plant diversity in the Terai region, this study was carried out in the Buddha Shanti Collaborative Forest (BSCF) of Nawalparasi district, Nepal. The reason behind selecting BSCF as study site was it has been adopting SciFM practice for four years before. Vegetation sampling was done using the quadrate method, based on the principle of systematic random sampling in both managed and non-managed control blocks. Altogether, thirty-one quadrates were sampled across the study area. A total of nine and fifteen tree species were recorded in the managed and non-managed blocks respectively. In the blocks where SciFM has been practiced there was a remarkable increase in the regeneration of Sal (Shorea robusta), yet a decrease in plant diversity when compared to the non-managed blocks. The abundance of regeneration of all species in the managed stands was 22,091 ha-1 and that of non-managed blocks was 7,230 ha-1. Managed blocks have a lower Simpson’s index of diversity (0.1569) than that of non-managed blocks (0.4417). Likewise, Shannon-Wiener’s indices were found less (0.4158) in managed block than the non-managed ones (1.0224). Scientific forest management practice was found to be effective at recruiting regeneration of commercially valuable species, but this comes at the expense of a less diverse forest composition.Keywords:Shorea Robusta; Plant diversity; Scientific Forest management; non-managed