Phytosociological assessment of tree vegetation in tropical moist deciduous forest of veerakkal area, Nilgiris, Western Ghats, India

A phyto-sociological study was accomplished in the Tropical moist deciduous forest of Manar beat (Veerakkal forest ecosystem), Karamadai Reserve forest, Nilgiris South Division, India during January to December 2018. Nineteen tree species belongs to 13 families were identified. The circumference ranged between 100–180 cm and height between 15 to 25 m. Pongamia pinnata and Terminalia arjuna depicted the highest important value index (IVI) which defined the dominant species. Community indices Shannon diversity (2.7877), Simpson index (0.1352), Margalef index (4.2513), Menhinick's index (0.2753) and equitability of evenness (2.1813) of the tree species the community indicate the status of biodiversity of tree species. Dalbergia latifolia and Santalum album species are comes under vulnerable category in 2019, and these species are observed in the ecological survey of sampling plots.