Relationships between environmental variables and vegetation across mountain wetland sites,N. Iran |
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Authors: | Asghar Kamrani Adel Jalili Alireza Naqinezhad Farideh Attar Ali Asghar Maassoumi Sue C Shaw |
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Institution: | 1.Department of Biology, Faculty of Basic Science,Shahed University,Tehran,Iran;2.Department of Botany, School of Biology, University College of Sciences,University of Tehran,Tehran,Iran;3.Department of Botany,Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands,Tehran,Iran;4.Department of Biology, Faculty of Basic Science,University of Mazandaran,Babolsar, Mazandaran,Iran;5.Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, Alfred Denny Building,University of Sheffield,Sheffield,UK |
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Abstract: | The mountain wetlands studied represent a unique habitat on the southern slopes of the Alborz mountain range, the second largest
range in Iran. In comparison with other parts of this range the western section is ecologically and botanically unknown. Floristic
and vegetation variation were assessed using diverse environmental variables along a broad altitudinal span (350 m to 3200
m a.s.l.). Using both statistical and ordination analyses floristic variation was assessed on three defined altitudinal belts
which were delimited based on Alborz macro-climatic boundaries. The distribution of individual wetland plant species, of phytogeographic
elements and of life-forms all differ among altitudinal belts. This result is also shown in both direct and indirect analyses
of ordinations. The proportion of geophytes significantly increases with altitude and geophytes are very well represented
in the upper altitudinal belt. The number of species of a narrow phytogeographical distribution (e.g. endemics) increases
with altitude, soil pH and EC declined with altitude. The first axis of DCA ordination with passively projected environmental
variables indicates that, organic matter and concentration of Fe2+ are increased toward higher altitude. The second axis of ordination is related to both soil texture and slope inclination.
The distribution of species in the CCA species plot is also close to the distribution of those in the DCA ordination. This
study indicates that altitude and slope together with other dependent environmental variables (pH, EC, Ca2+ and soil texture) are the main ecological factors controlling species distribution across the Western Alborz wetland sites. |
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