Past and present management strategies of varying intensities
have caused decrease in the natural forests and species diversity in
tropical Asia and elsewhere (Naughton-Treves et al., 2005; Paillet
et al., 2010). About 15e47% of the natural forests in tropical Asia,
exist in highly degraded state because of over-exploitation and
poor management (Bhat et al., 2001). Plant species diversity is
critical to the ecosystem processes and functioning (Loreau et al.,
2001), and of all the efforts that prioritize conservation, cessation
of forest management by proscription is considered the principal