New Delhi, Oct. 7 -- Since August, one question has puzzled several ecologists across the country: How dense is a rainforest?
The question emerged when the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation Limited (ANIIDCO) began the process for selection of contractors for "enumeration, felling, logging, and transportation" of trees as part of the Great Nicobar development project.
According to existing research, a rainforest can have trees ranging between 500 to 800 per hectare of land, an ecologist said.
"It is anywhere in the range of 500 to 800 trees per ha of land, of at least 30cm girth size or larger. Rainforests are so dense that at times it's difficult to see the open sky through the canopy," the ecologist said req...