Population structure and Ecology of Red sanders

Pterocarpus santalinus commonly refered as Red sanders occurs restrictively on the dry hill slopes of Kadapa hill ranges with an altitude range in 160–800 m. The timber is high in demand, especially in Japan and China for its exquisite color to prepare luxury furniture, carvings and for its superior acoustic qualities in preparing musical instruments. This situation created demand on supply side and illegal harvesting is being carried out by new modus operands to meet the surplus demand. Owing to its high demand, the trees are logged for the heartwood and billets of cleaned heartwood are smuggled from even interior inaccessible forest areas. Any kind of such overexploitation of a single species may alter its population structure, seed output and regeneration potential. A total of 20 (1–ha) plots were laid across the across Kadapa hill ranges with natural distribution of Red sanders (140 36’ 42.6” N 790 08’ 24.5” to 130 48’ 43” N and 79011’ 25.8” E), comprising of ten (10 X 100m) belt transects with at least 50 - 100m inter-distance between each transect were laid across the Kadapa hill ranges. Seedlings represented the most dominant growth stage.