Floristic composition and structure of urban landscapes of Agartala, Tripura

Urban parks, gardens and natural landscapes are better known for their non-market or intangible benefits than market or tangible benefits. An urban forest assessment is essential for developing a baseline from which to measure changes and trends. Urban open green spaces play an important role in offering town-dwellers a more stress free environment, irrespective of sex, age or socio-economic background. This paper assesses the perennial land use type, their floristic composition and structure of the urban forests of Agartala, Tripura. Multi-Stage Sampling was used to access the species composition, number, crown characteristics and tree characters. The results showed that the maximum land use type in the urban ecosystem belongs to the open spaces followed by housing area. A total, 111 species belonging to 92 genera and 48 families were reported. Three endangered and two vulnerable species were also reported. The maximum volume, frequency, abundance and density were observed for Careya arborea (2.25), Artocarpus heterophyllus (39.29), Hevea brassiliensis (12.50) and Caryota mitis (2.46), respectively. It was visualized that species occurring on landscapes used by various households had most of the species which contributed directly to their multifarious uses and similar was true with other land use practices.