Plant diversity and conservation status of the kanneliya forest reserve, sri lanka

Kanneliya Forest Reserve is a low land tropical rain forest located in the Galle District, Sri Lanka. The plant diversity of Kanneliya is considered richer, even compared to the Sinharaja World Heritage Rainforest. The Ceylon Plywood Corporation had been involved in the logging of the complex from 1968 until the logging was suspended in 1988. A research was conducted to measure the diversity of plants at the Kanneliya Forest Reserve as well as to determine the recovery of the forest after logging was suspended. The fixed area method was used for sampling (trees: 500 m2/horizontal radius 12.6 m, saplings: 25 m2/horizontal radius 2.83 m and seedlings: 1 m2/horizontal radius 56.4 cm). The plant species and the number of individuals of each species within the radius of the circle were recorded. According to the observations 1802 trees were recorded belonging to 125 species, 326 saplings were recorded belonging to 63 species and 180 seedlings were recorded belonging to 43 species. In total, approximately 154 species were recorded in an area of 7500 m2covered. For the Simpson’s Index and Shannon Diversity Index 0.9763/4.125, 0.9638/3.662 and 0.9482/3.325 were obtained for trees, saplings and seedlings respectively. The most common plants encountered within 15 plots sampled were Diospyros insignis, Symplocos cochinchinensisand Fahrenheitia zeylanicawhere 118, 79 and 77 trees were encountered with relative abundances of 6.55%, 4.38% and 4.27% respectively. The species density and tree density were 0.075 individuals/m2and0.240 individuals/m2respectively.The results from the Alpha Diversity Indices shows that the diversity of disturbed but a well-managed forest such as Kanaeliya Forest Reserve supports a higher plant diversity than an un-disturbed or a disturbed forests. Furthermore, the increase in the species density and the tree density shows that there is a rapid regeneration in the forest after the suspension of logging. Therefore, this study concludes that there is a high diversity plants at Kanneliya and the diversity of a forest which is disturbed and well-managed is high. The presence of strong conservation priorities had helped to protect the Forest Reserve.