Abstract:
Chundikulam sanctuary is a reserve which is located in the Northern Province, in
Jaffna peninsula. This reserve is situated in the dry zone of Sri Lanka and the area
consists of mangroves along the shores and scrub lands in the sandy areas. The Jaffna
peninsula, including Chundikulam, faced an ecological destruction due to the Sri
Lankan civil war which prevailed for almost three decades. Therefore, due to the
paucity of data of this arid vegetation, this current study was carried out as the first
investigation after war. According to the surveys, Chundikulam covers an area of
19,000 hectares in vegetation. A systematic study on the vegetation of this dry arid
zone forest was carried out using randomly selected representative sampling sites to
document the vegetative diversity of the region, through a field survey conducted in
the peripheral areas of this reserve in March 2016. Five quadrates (10m×10m) per
site were placed totaling to 25 random sample collections. Eighteen different plant
species were collected during the study and herbarium specimens were prepared and
submitted to the Department of Botany herbarium, University of Kelaniya, Sri
Lanka. The plant species sampled were trees (8 species), shrubs (4 species) and
creepers (6 Species). Among them Carissa spinarum, Borassus flabellifer, Drypetes
sepiaria, Stereosperum colais, Prosopis juliflora. Dillenia sp., Pterocarpus sp. were
tree species and Atalantia ceylanica,and Memwcylon umbellatum were recorded as
shrubs and Euphorbia antiquorum, Jasminum officinale, Hardenbergia sp. were
identified as creepers. The dominant plant species of the vegetation was Drypetes
sepiaria (Putranjivaceae) while Borassus flabellifer (Arecaceae) was the most
abundant.The total vegetation cover was estimated by the mean number of
individuals (30.4%). The plant communities that have been recognized in this study
within the arid and dry forest in Chundikulam forest reserve will provide preliminary
scientific data for a systematic review of the changes in their vegetation after the war
which prevailed for almost three decades.
