Abstract:
Our study examined the species composition
and vegetative structure of traditional homegardens
within the context of the surrounding land use
mosaic typical of village lands in the southwest region
of Sri Lanka. We conducted interviews and spatially
mapped the land uses of a single traditional village
comprising over thirty households. After mapping the
different land uses for each household we selected ten
households and conducted a census of the vegetation
of their land use areas. Land use categories included
homegarden, patio, rubber, tea plantation, and secondary
forest and scrub. Land holdings varied in size
between 0.18 and 1.34 hectares and comprised 39%
tea land, 27% homegarden, 12% patio, 17% secondary
forest and scrub land, and 4% rubber plantation. We
identified a total of 268 plant species on the ten
properties in a total of 216 genera and 84 families
across all growth habits combined (trees, shrubs, herbs
and climbers). Our results show three times the plant
species richness in homegardens than for any similar
research on tree gardens elsewhere, but a large
proportion are exotic and almost all have some kind
of utilitarian purpose. The top three tree species are
palms in homegardens which represent over twothirds
of the stem density and half the basal area. The
conservation activities within tree gardens emphasizes
the crucial—but perhaps undervalued—role local
livelihoods and land management activities play in
retaining tree species diversity comparable but dramatically
differing in taxa as compared to the original
rain forest.
