Abstract

A study was carried out on soil in typical grassy mosaics and Arundinella puseata, Eulalia phaeothrix and Tripogon bromoides dominant grassland mosases in the grasslands of Eravikulam National Park in the Western Ghats, Kerala. Soil samples were collected from 0-20, 20-40 and 40-60cm layers of pits and analysed for soil texture, pH, organic carbon, exchangeable bases, total N, available K, Ca and Mg. The gravel contents were also determined. The study revealed that there was significant difference in gravel, organic carbon and exchangeable bases contents between vegetal mosaics. The characterisation and identification of individual grassland mosaic was found to be difficult based on one or few of the soil properties alone. It was also observed that many properties didn't remain discrete without any overlap across the different mosases