ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This thesis arose in part out of years of research that has been

done since 2005. By this time, I have worked with a great number of

people whose contributions to the research and the making of the thesis

in assorted ways deserve special mention. Here, it is a pleasure to convey

my gratitude and acknowledgement to them.

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and

praise to the almighty GOD, who had showered his grace in the form of

knowledge and wisdom and every other way for completing this thesis.

I would like to record my gratitude to Dr. (Mrs). S. Kalavathy,

M.Sc., Ph.D., Bishop Heber College, Tiruchirappalli for her supervision,

advice and guidance from the very early stage of this research as well as

giving me extraordinary experiences throughout the work. Above all, she

provided me with the most needed unflinching encouragement and support

in various ways. This exceptionally inspired and enriched my growth as a

researcher.

Many thanks are due to the Management of Bishop Heber College,

Tiruchirappalli, for permitting me to carry out this study through this

institution.

I express my sincere gratitude to Dr. M. Marcus Diepen

Boominathan, M.Sc., M.Phil., PGDCSA., Ph.D., Principal Bishop Heber

College, Tiruchirappalli for his support and encouragement to carry out

this study.

I would like to express my special gratitude to Associate Professor.

Alagappa Moses, M.Sc., Head, Department of Environmental Sciences and

Dr. C. Ravichandran, M.Sc., M.Phil., Ph.D., Associate Professor in

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Department of Environmental Sciences, Bishop Heber College,

Tiruchirappalli for having given me various suggestions and supports during

my research.

Many thanks to my luminaries governess from Botany Department,

Bishop Heber College, Tiruchirappalli, Dr. Samuel Christopher, M.Sc.,

M.Phil., Ph.D., Head, Dr. C. Sebastian Rajasekaran, M.Sc., B.Ed., M.Phil.,

Ph.D., and Mrs. Akkammal Joha, M.Sc., B.Ed., M.Phil., Associate

Professors, Dr. Anand Gideon, M.Sc., M.Phil., Ph.D., Assistant Professor,

who taught me the fundamentals of ecology, methods of data collection

and data interpretation.

I am also indebted to Professor D. Prabakaran, M.Sc., M.Phil.,

Joint Controller of Examination, Bishop Heber College. I could never have

embarked and started all of this, but for his teaching of the fundamental

features of taxonomy, during my graduation.

I gratefully acknowledge Dr. Justus Joshua, M.Sc., Ph.D., Manager,

Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) for his advice, field supervision

and crucial contributions of funding, moral strength and steadfast support

to my family, which made him a backbone to this research and so to this

thesis. His involvements with his originality have triggered and promote

my intellectual maturity that I will benefit from, for a long time to come.

I am grateful to him in every possible way. Availing this opportunity I

would like to dedicate this thesis to Dr. Justus and his family for the

valuable involvement in my life.

It is a pleasure to pay my tribute to Dr. A. Relton, M.A., Ph.D.,

Head, Department of Social Work, Bishop Heber College and Mrs. A.

Daisy Carolin Mary, M.Sc., M.Phil., Assistant professor, Department of

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Environmental Sciences, Bishop Heber College for their encouragement,

guidance and persistent support to me and to my family.

I would also place on record most sincerely, the advice and the

willingness of Dr. S. F. Wesely Sunderraj, M.Sc., Ph.D., Senior

Scientist, Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology (GUIDE) to share his

bright thoughts with me, which was very fruitful for shaping up my ideas,

research, as well as the thesis.

Many thanks to Dr. V. Gokula, M.Sc., M. Phil., Ph.D., Associate

Professor, Department of Zoology, National College, Tiruchirappalli but

for whom the objectives, methodologies, the editing suggestions and

precise sense of language of the final form of thesis is not possible. His

decisive and energetic supports right from the beginning upto the write-

up stage mainly cleared the paths in a solution - oriented way, towards

completion of the thesis and Mr. K. Govindaraj, M.Sc., M.Phil., Associate

Professor, P.G. and Research Department of Zoology for helping in

designing the pictures and plates.

Where would I be without my family? My parents deserve a special

mention who removed the load off my shoulders by their inseparable

support, prayers, love, dedication and persistent confidence. (Late) Mr.

T. Selvaraj, my father, in the first place is the person who laid the

foundation for my learning, showing me the joy of intellectual pursuit ever

since I was a child. Mrs. S. Meenambal my mother, is the one who

sincerely nurtured me with her care and deep love. Special thanks to S.

Kanjana, J. Mahalakshmi, MS. Gopinanth and G. Jothi Mani my family

members for being supportive and caring.

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 My special gratitude to Dr. (Miss) Himani K. P. Kala, Senior

Project officer, Foundation for Ecological Security, Udaipur, Rajasthan

for her support during the earlier stage of my research, especially

teaching the local language, translating, documenting the reference

materials and domicile support during my thesis writing.

I place on record, my special thanks to Dr. Pankaj N. Joshi, Junior

Scientist, Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology, Bhuj, Kachchh, for his

priceless involvement in my research, in the earlier stages, mainly for

helping me with the field methodology, plant identification techniques,

field data collection and data analyses.

I am also indebted to the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES),

Anand, Gujarat. Special thanks are due to Mr. Jagdeesh Rao, Executive

Director, Mr. Dinesh Reddy, Deputy Director, Mr. Subrat Kumar Singh,

Manager, for their encouragement during my thesis write up. My special

thanks are due to Mr. Ravindranath for his help in the analysis of data in

GIS and preparation of the final maps.

I am very grateful to the Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology

(GUIDE), Bhuj, Kachchh for the years spent with them and the

developmental support, software and library facilities and synchronization

during my field work.

Collective and Individual acknowledgments are also owed to my dear

friends Mr. P. Ragunathan, Mr. Pravendra Singh Rawat, Mr. Vipul

Saurav Khalkho, Mr. Anamol Haque, FES Udaipur - Spearhead team,

FES Aravalli Cell and my PG classmates Mr. G. Sachithanandhan, Mrs.

N. Bhuwaneswari, Mrs. J. Madhumathi, Mr. K. Mophin Kani, Mr. K.

Babu, Mr. A.B. David Durai, and Mrs. N. Tamil Selvi.

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 I gratefully acknowledge Miss. K. Deepa Nair, and Miss. Jisha

Kurien, for their indispensable help during the research period.

I acknowledge Miss. Jayalakshmi, Mr. A. Shanmugasundaram,

Mr. T. Rakesh Sharma, Research Scholars, Bishop Heber College for the

indispensable help in the form of official communications with the

university and the course work and Mr. J. Ramkumar, Tiruchirappalli, for

providing his internet facilities.

I convey my special gratitude to Dr. N. K Patel, Lecturer, Mr. R.

Seliya Abbasbhai and Mr. N. Parmar Digvijay Research Scholars,

Department of Biology, Sheth M. N. Science Collage, Paten, Gujarat. They

assisted me during my literature survey in Hemchandracharya North

Gujarat University sharing their reference resources.

I was benefited innumerably by the support of Mr. Manikandan,

Mr. D. Sreenivasan, Mr. S. Mahalingam, Mr. R. Selvakumar, non-

teaching staff Botany and Environmental Sciences departments, Bishop

Heber College, who were invaluably involved in arranging the doctoral

committees, synopsis presentation and other official meetings.

Furthermore, I would like to thank Dr. Saini, Soil Scientist, V. B.

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Badgaon, Udaipur for providing functional facilities

during soil analysis, sharing his priceless research papers. I am thankfull

to Dr. Sathesh Kumar Sharma, Range Forest Officer (RFO), Udaipur,

for sharing his wide field knowledge and helping in identifying plant

species. Collectively, I express my special thank to Bordia and Dhingra

family, Udaipur, for the obligatory lending hand at home, Further, I also

thank Arjun Ameta, Sundar Lal Suthar and Rajender Singh for their

voluntary aid and support during my thesis writing.

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 Last but not least, I thankfully remember the local help in Ambaji

(Field station in NGR) and help from Mr. Ramesh Prajapati, Manager,

Prajapati Bhavan, Mr. Ajay Singh, Mr. Bharat Singh and Mr. Shakti

Singh of Adhya-Shakti Photo Studio, Ambaji, jeep diver Mr. Ramesh

Thakur and his family members, but for whom this thesis would not have

been completed successfully.

Many thanks to my field assistants Mr. Devabhai Vansia, Mr.

Rajubhai Garsia, Mr. Kumbha, Mr. Wakta, Mr. Virma, Mr. Uma, Mr.

Satish Prajapati and Mr. Vanaram Devasi. They supported me both the

field work and at field station. Without their support the thesis would not

have reached this stage. My deepest and sincere thanks to them.

Finally, I would like to apologize and thank those who were important

for the successful realization of thesis, but have not been mentioned

personally by name.

S. RAJENDRA KUMAR

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