Floristic Composition, Diversity and Stand Structure of Tropical Forests in Popa Mountain Park

Safeguarding biodiversity is an important component of the REDD+ scheme of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Information on tree species and their distribution is therefore needed for successful implementation of forestry carbon projects. Forest inventory data were collected in four natural forests located in Popa Mountain Park, Myanmar. Based on the data from 4-ha sample plots, average stem density ranges from 1293 trees ha-1 in dry dipterocarp forest to 804 tree ha-1 in dry evergreen forest. According to the Jackknife estimator for species richness (trees with DBH ≥ 5 cm), the highest number of species was recorded in dry mixed deciduous forest—74 species ha-1, and the lowest number of species recorded in dry forest—40 species ha-1. Dry mixed deciduous forest occupied the highest value on the Shannon-Wiener index and Simpson diversity index while the lowest was in dry forest, indicating that dry mixed deciduous forest is the most complex whereas dry forest is the simplest community. Not only does this study provide useful information on the current status of vegetation type but the information is important for designing forestry management systems that could result in biodiversity conservation and carbon emission reductions.