A study conducted in Savanadurga State Forest in Karnataka indicates that the spatial variation of trees
was high and similarity among the species in the adjacent
plots was low, suggesting that the spatial heterogeneity
is influencing the pattern of diversity of tree species. The degraded forest, which is considered as shrub and tree savanna of the Anogeissus–Chloroxylon–Acacia series is highly diverse, recording over 59 tree and 119 shrub species. Tree species similarity index among quadrats in the forest is less than 0.02, indicating high diversity in tree species within a limited area of the sample. Conversely, the shrub species are far more similar than the tree species when the two plots are compared. The number of stems > 1 cm DBH observed in the sampled plot (7844/ha) is high, further reinforcing that the area is rich in species and stems. Correlation between species diversity of mean and standard deviations of adjacent plots of the focal plot was high, indicating that the species-rich patches in the forests are likely to associate with other speciesrich patches. The study is based on 30 quadrats of 25 m ´ 25 m laid at 1 km interval over the state forest
