Species Composition and Stand Structure of Primary and Secondary Moist Evergreen Forests in the Tanintharyi Nature Reserve (TNR) Buffer Zone, Myanmar

The habitat structure and floristic composition examined for this study are of great importance, providing a scientific baseline of information for developing a biodiversity database and in supporting crucial information for the management decision-making process of the buffer zones. The primary objective of this study was to examine the current status of species composition and stand structure of moist evergreen forests distributed in the TNR buffer zone. Forest inventory was conducted in the primary moist evergreen forest (~1 ha) and secondary moist evergreen forest (~1 ha). In the TNR buffer zone, 83 species belonging to 31 families in the primary moist evergreen forest and 86 species belonging to 32 families in the secondary moist evergreen forest were found. The most dominant families in the primary moist evergreen forest were Dipterocarpaceae, Sapindaceae, Meliaceae, Myrtaceae, and Myristicaceae;at species level;this forest was composed of Nephelium lappaceum, Myristica malabarica, Nephelium laurium, Aglaia andamanica, and Diospyros peregrine. The most dominant families in the secondary moist evergreen forest were Myrtaceae, Sapindaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Myristicaceae, and Lauraceae, while Nephelium lappaceum, Syzygium claviflorum, Syzygium sp-1, Eugenia oblate, and Myristica angustifolia were the most dominant at the species level. The results of S?rensen’s similarity index based on common species (Ks) and the similarity index based on species dominance (Kd) were observed at about 55% and 75% between the primary and secondary moist evergreen forests. The basal area (51.39 m2.ha-1) of the primary moist evergreen forest was higher than that (44.50 m2.ha-1) of the secondary moist evergreen forest. Between these two forest types, the Shannon-Wiener, the Simpson and the Evenness indices were not significantly different at (p < 0.05). The total number of trees per hectare (n/ha) of the primary and secondary moist evergreen forests were 910 (±184) and 991 (±183). ?