18 Journal of Bioresources 5(1): 18-27 (2018) ISSN 2394-4315 Original Research Article Role of Fragmented Forests in Conservation of Biota: A Study in Balipara Reserve Forest, Sonitpur District, Assam(India) Diana Ethel Amonge and Awadhesh Kumar* Department of Forestry, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (Deemed University), Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh- 791109, India *Corresponding author : tpileatus@gmail.com Received: December 12, 2017; revised: April 01, 2018; accepted: April 07, 2018 Abstract: With the occurrence of rapid industrialization and urbanization at an inevitable rate much alternation is witnessed in forest ecosystems. The formation of fragmented forest patches surrounded by agricultural landscapes and human settlements is a crucial change that have been noticed. Because of this, fragmented landscapes are now becoming one of the most ubiquitous features of all forest ecosystems for the conservation of the species at a local landscape level. In fact, the importance of these fragmented forest stands of varying sizes have been emphasized by various authors worldwide. For accounting the same, a 5.6 ha of fragmented forest stand located within the Balipara Reserve Forest (BRF) of Sonitpur district, Assam was selected to conduct a survey on small mammalian’s diversity and their habitat towards signifying the conservation value of such stands for wildlife survivorship. Both invasive (direct) and non-invasive (indirect) methods were used to record the mammalian richness and plant diversity. Our study revealed a total of 9 mammalian species belonging to 8 families and 129 plant species belonging to 49 families. This study suggests that fragmented forest stands beside harbouring high floral diversity, also have the potential to conserve and manage several threatened wildlife species that are thriving within it particularly small mammals in the present scenario. Therefore, it has become an urgent necessity to examine the value of small fragmented or isolated forest stands of the region so that they are not implicitly considered worthless and removed or converted to other land use practices. Key words: Conservation, Fragmented forest stand, Plant diversity, Small mammals Introduction Forest fragmentation is the process in which division of large, continuous forest canopy results into smaller isolated habitat fragments; thereby causing habitat loss (Ranta et al., 1998; Franklin et al., 2002). With industrialization and urbanization taking place at an inevitable rate; persistent alternations on forest ecosystems (Harris, 1984; Hunter, 1990; Terborgh, 1992; Myers, 1996) have resulted conversion of pristine forest covers into fragmented patches (Skole and Tucker, 1993; Andern, 1994). These forest stands are surrounded by agricultural landscapes, tea gardens and human settlements. As a result, fragmented landscapes have become one of the most ubiquitous features of all forest ecosystems (Laurance and Bierregaard, 1997). In fact, it has become a central issue in conservation biology (Meffe and Carroll, 1997). Several studies carried out in fragmented forest patches of varied sizes worldwide have thus emphasized on its significance in relation to species thriving within them (as reviewed in Turner and Corlett, 1996). So, areas highly affected by fragmentation (comprising numerous fragmented forest patches) should be given special priority in its management and conservation (McLellan et al., 1986). Chiarello (2000) has reported fragmented forest stands in San Paulo, Brazil as refugee site for the preservation of native