The Biobrio 13(1 & 2), 2026

A Quadrat-Based Assessment of Plant Diversity Across Three Land-Use Gradients in Ranchi, Jharkhand, India

Priya Kullu, Sapna Patel, Deoraj Patel, Anjali Srivastava, Anchal Kumari, Isha Kumari, Sanskriti, Ayush Sharma, Md. Sohel Alam, Sandeep Prasad, Rashmi Mishra, Alice Bably Khalko, Meenakshi Kumari & Prasanjit Mukherjee

ABSTRACT:

Vegetation structure and species diversity were assessed at three land-use monitoring sites in Ranchi District, Jharkhand - Horhap Forest (a relatively undisturbed sal-dominated stand), Lali Village (a mixed forest-edge community bordering settlement), and Ruka Forest / Getalsud Dam (a reservoir-margin forest with high anthropogenic disturbance) - using the standard nested-quadrat method (10 m × 10 m for trees, 5 m × 5 m for shrubs, 1 m × 1 m for herbs; six replicate quadrats per stratum per site). Species were identified in the field, enumerated, and analysed using density, relative density, the Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H’), and Pielou's evenness index (J). Tree-layer diversity ranged from very low at Ruka (H’ = 0.27; two species, 92% dominance by Litsea monopetala) to moderately high at Lali (H’ = 1.55, J = 0.963), reflecting a gradient of disturbance and canopy dominance. Shrub- and herb-layer diversity were consistently higher than tree-layer diversity at all sites, with Ruka herbs recording the highest overall diversity in the study (H’ = 2.43, S = 15). Horhap Forest's tree layer was strongly dominated by Shorea robusta (66.7% relative density), consistent with the sal-forest climax association typical of the Chota Nagpur plateau. One planned dataset (Lali Village herb layer) was excluded from analysis after a data-integrity check identified that the recorded values duplicated an adjacent site's shrub data; this is disclosed as a limitation rather than substituted with unverified figures. The results indicate an inverse relationship between canopy dominance and understorey diversity and support the use of stratified quadrat sampling as a rapid, low cost baseline tool for vegetation monitoring in peri-urban forest fragments of the Chota Nagpur plateau.

Keywords:    

phytosociology, quadrat method, Shannon-Wiener index, Pielou's evenness, species richness, Chota Nagpur platea, Ranchi, vegetation monitoring

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