Natural vs. reclaimed forests - a case study of successional change, reclamation technique and phytodiversity

The present study accounts for the successional changes that took place in vegetation structure and composition over a time span of 25years at reclaimed manganese mine site. Adjoining natural forest site was also studied for comparison of floral composition. The results corroborate the fact that as the age of succession increases, the reclaimed area gets invaded by higher successional species leading to an ecologically sound self-sustaining restructured system. This is an indication of the efficacy of the restoration programme. Plant species diversity of reclaimed site was 3.34, 2.81 and 2.12 for herbs, shrubs and trees, respectively, whereas in the adjoining natural forest site (Pench national park, reserved forest), it was 2.74, 1.88 and 2.13 for herbs, shrubs and trees, respectively. Phytodiversity assessments at both sites led to the conclusion that higher values of importance value index (IVI) were obtained for shrubs and herbs at the reclaimed site when compared to the adjoining natural forest site. However, higher values of tree diversity and IVI were associated with the natural forest site than the 25-year-old reclaimed site. This paper compares the composition of flora, species diversity and rapid succession of phytodiversity of a 25-year-old reclaimed site with nearby natural reserved forest site. Plant species richness of reclaimed site was 141, 38 and 18 for herbs, shrubs and trees, respectively, as compared to reserved forest site values of 55, 11 and 20 for herbs, shrubs and trees, respectively. Also, this paper evaluates the total and available nutrient, and microbial diversity in both the newly formed ecosystem and the adjacent natural forest site.