Evaluating the potential role of Eucalyptus plantations in the regeneration of native trees in southern Western Ghats, India.

The potential role of Eucalyptus plantations in recovering the native tree species regeneration was evaluated in south-western Ghats by comparing 25 year-old (25-EP) and 40 year-old Eucalyptus plantations (40-EP) and cleared evergreen forests (CF). Forty noncontiguous quadrats of 10 x 10 m size, totaling 0.4 ha each were randomly established in the 25-EP, 40-EP and the CF to enumerate all the native tree species in adult stage (� 10 cm dbh size) and sapling stage (� 1 < 10 cm dbh size). Sub-quadrats of 1 x 1 m size at the four corners of 10 x 10 m quadrat were sampled for tree seedlings. The CF had maximum number of native tree species at three states of regeneration (adult, sapling and seedling). Among the Eucalyptus plantations, 25-EP had adult species richness little lower than 40-EP, while the tree sapling and seedling diversity in 25-EP were higher than 40-EP. Of the 45 endemic tree species, the CF harbored more endemics (42%) than 25-EP (38%) and 40-EP (39%). Majority of the endemics were climax species (64%) which were dispersed by birds (40%) or mammals (29%). Unlike earlier belief, the Eucalyptus plantations in the study area seemed to play a significant role in promoting regeneration of the native tree species and facilitated natural forest succession.