Architecture of Sacred Landscape in Two Soil Zones: Role of Plant Communities

Sacred groves are fragmented forest patches, traditionally protected by ethnic communities through inherent and diversified socio-religious culture and belief systems. The unique vegetational architecture of sacred groves not only provides diversified habitats for sustaining various life forms but also maintains a veritable gene pool through meta-community dynamics. In this study, sixteen sacred groves were identified in the unique landscape covering two bio-geographic zones viz. a small part of the Deccan Peninsula (eastern part of Chhotanagpur plateau) and Gangetic plain (Lower). The architecture of sacred groves was studied through vegetation profiling, tree-liana association, and calculating density, abundance, frequency (%), and Importance Value Index (IVI) of tree species. Overall, 252 vascular plant species (96 trees, 41 shrubs, 53 climbers, and 62 herbs) under 75 families were documented from the studied sacred groves. Vegetation stands structure and percentage canopy cover by climber/liana species mostly shape the architecture and control the function of these groves. Each of the two soil zones i.e., alluvial and laterite were observed to be represented by three different vegetation stand structures and four distinct canopy cover classes. The canopy of sacred groves was broadly classified into two types i.e., continuous and discontinuous canopy. Groves with continuous canopy may be narrow dome-shaped and flattened dome-shaped whereas those having discontinuous canopy represent acute multi-peak and obtuse multi-peak shapes. This architectural study of sacred groves in different soil zones would be helpful to understand the microhabitats/niche of various biological populations leading to develop management strategies towards conservation/protection/restoration of sacred groves and other similar protected areas/landscapes.