Role of anthropogenic drivers in altering the forest community structure in a prime tiger habitat in central India

Tropical forests are complex systems with heterogeneous community assemblages often threatened under anthropogenic disturbances and grazing. We studied the change in plant community composition and structure under a disturbance gradient in the tropical dry deciduous forest of the corridor area between Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary and Navegaon National Park of central India. We tested the hypothesis that the plant community will change along the gradient of proximity to human settlements depending on the anthropogenic stress. We sampled 183 nested quadrat plots to collect data on species abundance and various disturbance parameters. Density, diversity, and importance value index were calculated, and multivariate analysis was performed to assess the changes in species assemblage along the disturbance gradients. We found 76% overall dissimilarity between the plant communities in the three distance classes perpetrated by the difference in mean abundance of species like Tectona grandis, Terminalia sp., and Largerstroemia parviflora. The anthropogenic factors influence the density and diversity of tree species and regeneration classes. We found the abundance of regeneration class increased along the distance from the villages. The study intensifies the need for proper management and conservative approach to preserve the diversity of the forest patches for their structural and functional contiguity as a corridor in central India's highly susceptible and intricate corridor framework.