Floristic diversity in urban forest area of NEERI Campus, Nagpur, Maharashtra (India).

This study has been carried out to assess the diverse floristic wealth in urban forest area of NEERI campus at Nagpur, Maharashtra (India). This urban forest is ecologically important to maintain the atmospheric temperature around 2 degrees C below and higher relative humidity as compared to other urban areas. The water table is also observed to be shallower in this area as compared to other areas. Therefore, the biological diversity of this urban forest was studied, as it is directly related to ecology of the area. Floristic survey of NEERI premises recorded 135 vascular plants including 16 monocots and 119 dicots, belonging to 115 genera and 53 families. The taxa included 4 types of grasses, 55 herbs, 30 shrubs and 46 trees. The large number of species within very small area (43 ha) indicates rich biodiversity in this forest area. It is also observed that this forest patch has tall trees, with good density and rich cover of shrubs and herbs on forest floor indicating well knit plant community. These characteristics have given immense ecological importance to this urban forest area. Detailed vegetation study revealed that positive co-operation in the plant communities can significantly maintain species diversity in the environment.