LIANA SPECIES INVENTORY IN A TROPICAL DRY FOREST OF SRI LANKAMALLA WILDLIFE SANCTUARY, ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA

Lianas are woody climbers that are rooted on the ground and rely on other plants to reach the light rich environment of the upper forest canopy. An inventory of lianas was carried out in two plots of a tropical dry forest in Sri Lankamalla wildlife sanctuary of Kadapa region, Andhra Pradesh, India. The sampling was carried out in 50 quadrats of 20x20m size, 25 each in flat forests and hill slope forests consisting of varied degree of disturbance levels. All lianas ≥1.5 cm dbh were invented in these 50 quadrates (2 ha). A total of 38 woody species belonging to 18 families, 34 genera were recorded. Asclepiadaceae followed by Fabaceae, Apocynaceae and Capparaceae formed the dominant families. Stem twining formed the most frequent climbing mode and anemochory was observed as dominant dispersal mode. Combretum albidum formed the dominant liana and the top ten dominant lianas accounted for 54% of total liana abundance. Habitat specificity was also observed in liana distribution. Liana species such as Acacia caesia, Calycopteris floribunda, Combretum albidum, Jasminum angustifolium were found to be restricted to foot hills of hill slope forests. While Loeseneria obtusifolia, Hiptage benghalensis, Bauhinia vahlii were found near the sandy tracts of the water course. Gymnema sylvestre, Secamone emetica, Derris scandens, Hugonia mystax and species like Ziziphus oenoplia, Pterolobium hexapetalum and Acacia caesia were observed in the interior and edge areas of flat forest regions respectively. Thus the liana species and their abundance distribution in these forests indicate that although human disturbance forms the underlying factor in their occurrence along this gradient habitat availability and liana biological and ecological features also formed a major factor in their distribution.`