Performance of seedlings of various life forms on landslide-damaged forest sites in Central Himalaya

Abstract

1. Growth performance of six plant species of early successional communities was studied on three landslide-damaged sites of varying ages (3-, 6- and 8-year-old), in the Central Himalaya. 2. The six species were equally divided among trees, shrubs and herbs. Of these, two species were nodule forming (Alnus nepalensis, a tree species, and Desmodium tilaefolium, a shrub species). 3. The results indicated that suitable species mixture around A. nepalensis can be developed to hasten the revegetation process on bare sites. 4. A. nepalensis is suggested as the principal species for revegetation, not only because its seedlings have maximum dry mass and maximum litterfall nutrients, but also because it can nurse other species by providing nitrogen from the root nodules, an important contribution both to natural successions and to artificial revegetation. 5. Location of safe and suitable microsites on the damaged sites would hasten the process of revegetation.