Microbial biomass Soil respiration Total number of tree Tree species richness Soil respiration 0.86*       Total number of tree 0.21 0.26     Tree species richness 0.46 0.54 0.78*   Ground cover species richness 0.4 0.31 -0.02 0.09

*Indicates significant correlation between the two variables at p ≤ 0.05 level of significance.

Table 9: Correlation between microbial biomass, soil respiration and ecological parameters for the eroded/disturbed, stable upland and reference sites from GSR.