The implication of Fire on Patterns of Plant Species diversity in Northwest uluguru Nature Forest reserve, Tanzania.

Abstract

This study examines the implication of fire on tree species diversity in northwest Uluguru Nature ForestReserve (UNFR). The study compared tree species diversity between burned and unburned areas, anddetermined whether burned and unburned areas depicted any variation in stages of succession. Treespecies samples were drawn from eighteen stands, and tree species data were ordinate using NonmetricMultidimensional Scaling (NMS or NMDS) (PC-ORD version 5.10) to describe relationships (similarityand dissimilarities) between tree species, forest succession, and the effect of fire on tree species. Speciesrichness did not vary significantly between burned and unburned plots. However, species compositionwas high in burned stands, which contributed to a high basal area in burned stands. Unburned standshad low species composition and low basal area. Fire intolerant tree species dominated unburned areaswhile species in the burned areas were fire adapted. A few species existed in burned and unburnedstands. Trees in burned areas are still at a young succession stage while in unburned stands vegetationdevelopment has reached a succession stage that the vegetation is stable with hardwood forest formation.A sustainable management plan for the UNFR must base on empirical data on fire regime variation overspace and time.