Fig 1.
Study area—Eastern Ghats of Southern India.
Table 1.
Methods for soil physico-chemical and microbiological analysis.
Fig 2.
Forest cover density of the Eastern Ghats.
Table 2.
Forest cover density of the Eastern Ghats.
Table 3.
Soil physico-chemical and biological characteristics of the hills of the Eastern Ghats.
Table 4.
Soil parameters incorporated in the principal component analysis.
Fig 3.
Forest soil quality index of the Eastern Ghats.
Table 5.
Status of the forest soil quality index (FSQI) and areas of different forest types in the hills of the Eastern Ghats.
Fig 4.
Matrix analysis between the forest cover density and forest soil quality index.
Table 6.
Matrix analysis between the forest cover density and forest soil quality index.
Table 7.
Matrix-based species composition in degraded and non-degraded forests located in the lower, middle, and upper slopes, as verified through ground truth surveys.