Dr. G.S. RAWAT & Dr. K. SANKAR WILDLIFE INSTITUTE OF INDIA, DEHRA DUN The global experiment on Savanna tree seedlings. Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, India (Dry site)

GEST Sariska Tiger Reserve (STR) is the third largest protected area among the 93 protected areas in India’s semi arid region situated in the semi arid bio-geographic zone of India (Rodgers and Panwar 1988). The total area of Tiger reserve is 881km 2

GEST Annual rain fall – 600 to 700 mm Temperature 0 to 47 o C Heavy anthropogenic pressure – 32 villages. Wood cutting, lopping, over grazing Wild ungulates – abundant population Domestic cattle, buffaloes, goats, sheep 5000 buffaloes, 10,000 goats Heavy weed infection – Cassia tora, Adathoda vasica, Achyranthus aspera – Allelopatheic effect?

GEST Regeneration of major tree and shrub species is a major concern Whether the major tree species have reached climax stage? We do not know Man made fire occurs in summer and destroy ground layer and also trees Perennial grasses are replaced by annual ones – over grazing effects Syncrus setigerus replaced by Chloris barbata near our experimental site 10 years ago!

GEST The vegetation of Sariska correspond to (1) Northern tropical dry deciduous forests (subgroups 5B; 5/E1 and 5/E2) and Northern Tropical Thorn forest (subgroup 6B) (Champion and Seth 1986). Anogeissus pendula is the dominant tree species covering over 40 per cent area of the forest.

GEST Parmar (1985) and Rodgers (1985) have classified vegetation of Sariska as follows: Anogeissus pendula forest Boswellia serrata forest Acacia catechu forest and Miscellaneous forest, which can be further sub-divided into three categories viz. Butea monosperma forest Forest along nallas and Scrub land

GEST Wild ungulates found in Sariska are chital (Axis axis), sambar (Cervus unicolor), nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus), and wild pig (Sus scorfa). Carnivore found are tiger, leopard (Panthera pardus), striped hyaena (Hyaena hyaena). Small carnivores are caracal (Felis caracal), jackal (Canis aureus), jungle cat (Felis chaus), common mongoose (Herpestes edwardse), small Indian mongoose (H. auropunctatus), palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) small Indian civet (Viverricula indica) and Ratel (Mellivora camensis). Rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) and common langur (Presbytis entellus) are the two primates found here. Procupine (Hystrix indica), Rufous tailed hare (Lepus nigricollis ruficaudatus) also occur in Sariska.

GEST Vegetation and land cover classes in Sariska Tiger Reserve Anogeissus dominated forest % Scrubland % Boswellia dominated forest % Agriculture/Habitation - 9.3% Butea dominated forest - 7.9% Zizyphus mixed forest - 5.9% Acacia mixed forest - 4.0% Barren land - 2.6% Water body - 0.2%

GEST Tree species selected for experiment 1. Acacia nilotica 2. Balanites aegiptiaca 3. Zizyphus mauritiana 4. Butea monosperma 5. Acacia leucophloea

GEST Grass species selected for experiment 1. Chloris dolichostachya 2. Heteropogon contortus

Gest Work progress Seed collection completed Enclosure made Ground layer cleared including trees Govt. clearance and National Biodiversity Authority clearance are awaited for sending seeds to Netherlands