LIANA GROWTH, MORTALITY AND RECRUITMENT IN FOUR INLAND TROPICAL DRY EVERGREEN FOREST SITES..........

Between 2003 and 2013, four inland tropical dry evergreen forest locations on the Coromandel Coast of south India were explored for Liana diversity re-invented after a decade for analysing their growth, death, and recruitment rates. In four tropical dry evergreen forest sites - Araiyapatti (AP), Karisakkadu (KR), Maramadakki (MM), and Shanmuganathapuram - four 1-ha permanent plots (100 m × 100 m) were developed (SP). At 1.3 m above ground level, all lianas with a diameter of 1 cm at breast height (dbh) were measured. The initial inventory in 2003 gave 35 species, whereas the 2013 inventory yielded 37 species. Liana species richness increased by 4.6 percent (1 species) and 11.2 percent (3 species) in sites MM and SP, respectively, however there was no change in total number of species in sites AP and KR over a ten-year period. Liana density grew by 210, 211, 164, and 162 stems in each of the research sites throughout a ten-year period in sites AP, KR, MM, and SP, respectively. In four tropical dry evergreen forest sites, the mean growth rate of lianas ( 1 cm dbh) ranged from 0.37 cm yr-1 in site KR to 0.58 cm yr-1 in site SP. Highly disturbed sites SP and AP had death rates of 3.2 and 7.1 percent yr-1, respectively, whereas moderately disturbed sites had mortality rates of 7.5 percent yr-1 in site KR and 1.6 percent yr-1 in site MM. Less damaged sites KR (36.6 percent yr-1) and MM had high recruitment rates (24.4 percent yr-1). As a result of this finding, forest degradation has been identified, necessitating the expansion of conservation efforts with the local population.

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