Tree diversity and community composition in six sacred forests (SF) of Meghalaya were compared with those of six adjacent community forests (CF) to understand how protection provided to sacred forests by the communities impacts their diversity and community characteristics. The SFs harboured a greater number of tree species (187) compared to the CFs (56). Tree density in the SFs ranged from 750 trees ha⁻¹ (MKSF) to 1470 trees ha⁻¹ (MTSF) while in CFs, it was 875 trees ha⁻¹ (ILCF) to 1236 trees ha¹ (NBCF). Among the SFs, the highest basal area was recorded in MNSF (56.89 m² ha⁻¹) and least in NBSF (40.75 m² ha⁻¹), while among the CFs tree basal area ranged from 23.7 m² ha⁻¹ in MKCF to 36.0 m² ha⁻¹ in MNCF. The canopy cover in SFs ranged from 73.3 to 86.2% while in CFs it ranged from 54.3 to 70.8%. Species rank abundance distribution (RAD) curve or dominance-diversity curve showed high equitability and low dominance in all the six SFs while the RAD curve showed high dominance and low equitability in all the six CFs. The dominance-diversity curve in the SFs followed a log-normal distribution whereas the CFs exhibited a broken stick distribution pattern. Among the CFs, Pinus kesiya was the dominant tree species in five out of six study sites. The dominant species were different for different SFs, which were Microtropis discolour (ILSF), Citrus latipes (MNSF), Castanopsis tribuloides (MTSF), Castanopsis armata (NBSF), Myrica esculenta (NKSF) and Taxus wallichiana (MKSF). SFs were characterized by high diversity and low dominance as seen in old-growth forests. Shannon’s diversity index (H′) in the SFs ranged from 2.06 to 4.28 indicating high tree diversity, while in CFs it was 0.76–2.61 reflecting relatively lower diversity. Simpson’s dominance index for trees was higher in CFs (0.09–0.73) than the SFs (0.02–0.26).

中文翻译：

---

在以人为本的梅加拉亚邦景观中，神圣森林中的树木多样性和社区组成优于其他社区森林

比较了梅加拉亚邦的六个神圣森林（SF）与附近六个社区森林（CF）的树木多样性和社区组成，以了解社区对神圣森林的保护如何影响其多样性和社区特征。与CF（56）相比，SF拥有更多的树种（187）。SF中的树木密度介于750树木ha ^-1（MKSF）至1470树木ha ^-1（MTSF），而在CF中，则为875树木ha ^-1（ILCF）至1236树木ha ¹（NBCF）。在SFs中，记录的最大基础面积为MNSF（56.89 m ²  ha ^-1），最少的为NBSF（40.75 m ²  ha ^-1）），而CFs树的基础面积从MKCF中的23.7 m ²  ha ^-1到MNCF中的36.0 m ²  ha ^-1不等。SF中的冠层覆盖率为73.3％至86.2％，而CF中的冠层覆盖率为54.3％至70.8％。物种等级丰度分布（RAD）曲线或优势度-多样性曲线在所有六个SF中均显示出较高的均等性和较低的优势度，而RAD曲线在所有六个CF中均显示出较高的均等性和较低的均等性。SF中的优势-多样性曲线遵循对数正态分布，而CF则显示出破碎的棒状分布模式。在CFs中，在6个研究地点中的5个中，克山松是主要的树种。对于不同的SF，优势种是不同的，它们是假卫变色（ILSF），柑桔鳉（MNSF），栲tribuloides（MTSF），栲ARMATA（NBSF），毛杨梅（NKSF）和云南红豆杉（MKSF）。SFs的特点是，在老龄森林中具有较高的多样性和较低的主导地位。SF中的香农多样性指数（H'）在2.06至4.28之间，表明树的多样性较高，而在CF中，香农的多样性指数为0.76-2.61，反映了较低的多样性。辛普森树的优势指数在CFs（0.09–0.73）中高于SFs（0.02–0.26）。