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Forests are one of the main components of the terrestrial ecosystems and documenting their diversity is a necessary tool for forest conservation and land-use planning. Hence, this study was conducted to investigate the floristic composition and population structure of the Nandi Hill Forest ecosystem. Vegetation analysis was conducted by laying 0.1-hectare plots randomly. A total of 28 species from 17 families belonging to 16 orders of woody plants were recorded from the study area. A Shannon-Weinner index value of 1.507 was obtained suggesting a moderate diversity of species in the Nandi Hill Forest. Concentration of dominance value of 0.46 and the evenness index value of 0.45 suggests that the study area is dominated by a few species and the distribution of trees is uneven. The density and basal area for the whole forest was 120.71 ± 15 stems ha-1 and 62.46 m²ha-1 respectively. Eucalyptus tereticornis Sm. was the most frequently occurring with the highest density and the largest contributor to the overall basal area. The DBH class distribution showed an inverse-J pattern with most individuals in the lower DBH classes, suggesting active regeneration and recruitment of new individuals. The height class distribution showed that 32.54 per cent of the individuals had a height between 15-21m. Based on the importance value index the Eucalyptus tereticornis Sm. was found to be the most ecologically significant tree species in the Nandi Hill Forest ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study on floristic composition and diversity of flora in the heritage site of UAS, GKVK, Bengaluru revealed that the study site contains a total of 149 plant species belonging to 55 families which include 75 tree, 13 shrub, 59 herb and 2 climber species. The Shannon-Wiener Index (H') and Simpson's diversity index (1-D) was found to be 3.53 and 0.95, respectively which shows that the study site is a species diverse system. Majority of the trees (51.59%) were in the girth class range of 30 cm to 60 cm and shows a reverse J shaped growth curve which indicates that the forests of the study site has good regeneration. Majority (28.43%) of the trees were found in the height range of 12 m to 15 m. Abundance to frequency ratio analyzed in the heritage site shows that all the woody species were contiguously distributed. Importance value index (IVI) analyzed show's that Eucalyptus tereticornis Sm. (58.01) and Acacia auriculiformis A. Cunn. ex Benth (38.64) were the dominant tree species. Lantana camara L. (8.15) - and Ziziphus oenopolia (L.) Mill. (7.34) were the major shrub species. Panicum maximum Jacq. (26.254), Chromolaena odorata (L.) R.M. King & H. Rob.(18.28) and Mimosa pudica L. (15.94) were the dominant herb species found in the study site. The study revealed that the biodiversity heritage site of GKVK campus is rich in species composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]