Sudhamayee Behura, Manoranjan Kar ,Veerendra Pratap Upadhyay
Two overburden dump sites were selected for vegetation study out of which one site was reclaimed one year back and other site 18 year back. Tree species were planted at these sites with mostly regular distribution. Herbaceous vegetation development on these sites were analysed along with tree layer to find out their development in term of extent of presence and distribution. The initial pattern of herb species distribution is contagious. In subsequent years of development of vegetation, the herb species found to follow random distribution. Development of tree canopy and increase in shade on ground floor may be one of the dominant factors for the herb species to develop random distribution characteristics along the course of succession. The species richness is similar at both the sites which indicate contribution by local surrounding gene pool of the natural ecosystem of Sukinda valley