Fire alters diversity, composition and structure of dry tropical forests in the Eastern Ghats

Fire is known to have dramatic consequences on forest ecosystems around
the world, and on the livelihoods of forest-dependent people. While the
Eastern Ghats of India have high abundances of fire-prone dry tropical
forests, little is known about how fire influences the diversity,
composition and structure of these communities. Our study aims to fill
this knowledge gap by examining the effects of presence and absence of
recent fire on tropical dry forest communities within Kadiri watershed,
Eastern Ghats. We sampled plots with and without evidence of recent fire
in the Eswaramala Reserve Forest in 2008 and 2018. Our results indicate
that even though stem density increases in the recently burned areas,
species richness is lower because communities become dominated by a few
species with fire resistance and tolerance traits, such as thick bark and
clonal sprouting. Further, in the presence of fire, the size structure of
these fire-tolerant species shifts towards smaller-sized, resprouting
individuals. Our results demonstrate that conservation actions are needed
to prevent further degradation of forests in this region and the ecosystem
services they provide.