Mostafa Naderi; Asghar Mosleh arany; Gholamhosein Moradi; Abdosalam Piri; Mehrdad Kuhzadian; Hamid Azimzadeh
Abstract
This research aimed at studying the vegetation and investigating the effects of physiographic,edaphic and geological factors upon distribution of plant communities in Manesht district in Ilamprovince. Sampling was done based on plant types and land unit map. The number of samples wasdetermined by Krebs ...
Read More
This research aimed at studying the vegetation and investigating the effects of physiographic,edaphic and geological factors upon distribution of plant communities in Manesht district in Ilamprovince. Sampling was done based on plant types and land unit map. The number of samples wasdetermined by Krebs method. In total, 125 square sampling plots of 400 2 m area were selected byrandom systematic method. To determine soil factors, two soil samples (0–30, 30-90 cm deep) werecollected from each land unit and physico-chemical parameters were measured. Using TWINSPAN,vegetation of study area was classified and then PCA and CCA were used to investigate therelationship between vegetation and environmental factors. Based on TWINSPAN, four vegetationgroups were recognized. According to TWINSPAN results, four ecological groups were identifiedthat first and second groups with 31 and 46 sample plots, respectively and by Quercus barantti,Crataegus pontica and Acer monspessulanum, as indicator species, are more calciphiles thananother groups. The first three axes of the PCA accounted for 62.83%, 23.45% and 13.72% of thetotal plant cover variability, respectively. Also based on Mont Carlo analysis, first and second axeswith 0.68 and 0.48 eigenvalue, accounted for 28% and 19% of the variability, respectively and thecorrelation coefficient of axes and species is 0.98. According to PCA and CCA, Formation, organicmatter and lime were the most important factors on establishing of ecological groups.
