Kanda Naveen Babu

Pondicherry University · Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences

Accurate assessment of aboveground biomass (AGB) in tropical forests, particularly within a biodiversity hotspot, is vital for sustainable resource management and the preservation of ecosystems. However, estimating AGB in tropical forests is complex due to the diverse and intricate nature of vegetation, necessitating the integration of data from mu...

Key message The recurrent anthropogenic disturbances, poor regeneration potential, high carbon stocks, and restricted habitat suitability warrants effective conservation and restoration of two ecologically and economically important endemic tree species. Abstract Despite a growing consensus on the application of species distribution models (SDM) i...

Supplementary: A Comparative Analysis of Machine Learning Techniques for Aboveground Biomass Estimation: A case study of the Western Ghats, India

Background A gamut of abiotic and biotic factors is related to the amount of above-ground biomass (AGB) produced in ecosystems. Some factors have direct and others indirect relationships with AGB. Detailed analyses in tropical forests are few but much needed for better understanding the potential impacts of global change drivers and for mitigating...

The present study was carried out to analyze the leaf functional traits of co-occurring evergreen and deciduous tree species in a tropical dry scrub forest. This study also intended to check whether the species with contrasting leaf habits differ in their leaf trait plasticity, responding to the canopy infestation by lianas. A total of 11 leaf func...

In ecologically sensitive areas like the Western Ghats, fire is largely considered to be the most significant management concern. Therefore, identifying and predicting the fire susceptible areas is crucial for managing protected area networks. In this study, we investigated the factors affecting forest fires and modelled the fire susceptibility in...

Biomass and carbon stock assessments in data-deficient plantations and identifying the factors influencing tree growth, distribution, and carbon stocks are extremely important for implementing sound silvicultural management and monitoring practices to achieve REDD+ goals. We conducted carbon stock assessments in five major plantation types in a reg...

Tropical rain forests are global hotspots of biodiversity and key climate change regulators. Despite the decades of conservation efforts, tropical forests are increasingly under continuous threat from human activities. Therefore, understanding the impact of anthropogenic disturbances on biodiversity is necessary for better conservation and manageme...

Tropical forests act as a great carbon reservoir covering about 30% of the global carbon content, however, structural alteration of these forests caused by forest disturbances adversely affects the carbon cycle. One such structural change happening in these tropical forests is the increasing dominance of lianas (woody climbers). Among various tropi...

Long-term studies in forest ecosystems are crucial to interpret the dynamics and are essential for conservation and management. However, characterizing long-term dynamics in relation to disturbance across dry tropics is often constrained by a dearth of data particularly from Indian tropics. In this context, a one-hectare permanent plot established...

The climbing plants in India are listed in detail in this data note. This comprehensive list of climbers was compiled using more than 100 published and unpublished sources that span more than a century. It includes a total of 2,608 species representing 585 genera and 104 spermatophyte plant families. Each species listed in the dataset is categorise...

The use of remote sensing for examining phenological variation in tropical forests is scarce. The major objectives of the study were to characterize the intra-annual variability of phenological cycle of the Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve (BRT) and the potentiality of these phenological metrices in defining species assemblages by clas...

We present the first-ever attempt to estimate the taxonomic diversity of climbing plants in India, following the recent APG IV classification. We used more than 100 published and unpublished sources spanning more than a century to compile the extensive list of climbers. Our study revealed that the climbing plants in India are phylogenetically diver...

Lianas prevail in all forest types, but they are diverse and abundant in tropical followed by sub-tropical and then temperate forests, and usually their density are high in tropical dry forests. Lianas are the most fascinating groups in tropical forests, yet, they received lesser attention in ecological studies when compared to trees. Liana ecolog...

Re-inventory of lianas were performed in two 1-ha permanent plots at a 19-year interval (2001-2020) in two tropical dry evergreen forest sites (TDEF; Oorani-OR and Puthupet-PP) of Coromandel Coast of India. Overall, 1964 lianas representing 30 species belonging to 24 genera and 18 families were recorded in this study. Liana species richness decline...

Litsea keralana Kosterm. (Lauraceae), an endemic and threatened species is newly reported from Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve (BRTTR), Karnataka state. Hitherto, this species is known from Kerala and Tamil Nadu of the southern Western Ghats. The present study confirms the range extension of the species to further north towards Karnat...

Lantana camara, one of the major invasive alien species, affects the native biodiversity directly by occupying suitable niches or indirectly by increasing the fire risk. It has been suggested that climate change may increase the likelihood of invasion via modification of species ranges and invasibility in some regions. This study aims at providing...

Documenting the biodiversity of protected areas and reserve forests is important to researchers, academicians and forest departments in their efforts to establish policies to protect regional biodiversity. Shettihalli Wildlife Sanctuary (SWS) is an important protected area located in the central Western Ghats of Karnataka state known for its divers...

Repeated and continuous monitoring of changes in a habitat provides a platform to investigate concurrent variation in the structure, species composition, and function of a forest. We assessed tree diversity and carbon stock changes in two Indian tropical dry evergreen forest (TDEF) sites namely Sendhirakillai (SK) and Palvathunnan (PT) after 10-yea...

Roadways are inevitable components in any human managed landscape across the world, with the sole objective to facilitate transportation. Reserve forests are not an exception to this situation. A roadway being a potential factor in influencing biodiversity, this study checks the possibility of relationship between the distance of tree communities f...

Sacred groves or sacred forests are natural forest patches protected by religious belief of the local people and they act as a treasure house of rare species of plants and animals (Parthasarathy et al. 2008). Traditionally, sacred groves are common property resource systems associated with culture- based mode of conservation (Chandrakanth et al. 20...

Lianas are important components of tropical forests that play a crucial role in forest dynamics. We investigated biodiversity and carbon stock of lianas in two tropical dry evergreen forest (TDEF) sites, the relatively undisturbed Sendhirakillai (SK) and disturbed Palvathunnan (PT) by establishing one-hectare plot in each site. All lianas ≥ 1cm dia...