2006-07 - Kerala Forest Research Institute

Kerala Forest Research InstituteAnnual report 2006-07sites. The vegetation analysis and regenerationevaluation were done by conventional ecologicalmethods. The microclimate was monitoredusing thermo-hygrographs at variousplaces for one year. Regeneration data weregathered for unestablished and establishedseedlings, saplings and poles of the area. It isinteresting that species, which are highlyaggregated, are still present in low numbers asrare species in the same sites. The presence ofPodocarpus in some parts of Moozh-iyar Reserve(near Urani) indicates that even a species, whichis no more than a competitive equal in someareas and at a distinct advantage elsewhere, canpersist in the forest for very long periods beforegoing locally extinct. Clumping of species isyet another interesting feature noted in the area.The sparse sub-populations do self-sustain orsimply represent accidental establishment ofrare individuals, because of favorable sitefactors....................................................................................................................................................................................Illustrated manual on tree flora of Keralasupplemented with computer-aided identification.KFRI Research Report No. 282.(Sasidharan, N., 2006)Identification of trees at sight is often requiredfor biologists, ecologists and foresters. ThisFlowering and fruiting in Syzygium palghatensecannot be achieved with conventional floras,where identification keys are invariably basedon floral and fruit characters. Therefore, acomputer-aided identification program(TreeID) was developed exclusively on easilyobservable field and vegetative characters. TheTreeID is a menu driven multi-entry key and allcharacters are of equal value and one need notfollow the sequence or order followed in thecase of dichotomous keys. Pictures of all keycharacters used in the identification programare provided for easy selection and comparison.Photographs depicting diagnostic featuresof trees such as bark, blaze, leafy twigs withflowers and fruit are provided for easy comparisonwith the matching characters. Therefore,the chance of misidentification the treesincluded in the TreeID is minimized. Searchfacility is provided to find out family, generaand species. There is also provision to find treesbased on local/trade names. A help menu isprovided in the CD on how to use the TreeIDThe manual and the computer-aided identificationpackage deal with 650 trees of over4 m height with a clear bole. The 650 treesinclude 72 common exotics, introduced asagricultural, forestry or ornamental/avenuetrees. There are 115 trees belonging to the Red13