Alpine wetland flora, species life forms and chorology of the Sabalan Mountain-Iran
Paper Details
Alpine wetland flora, species life forms and chorology of the Sabalan Mountain-Iran
Abstract
Alpine rangelands of the Sabalan Mountain, due to the exposure to Siberian cold wet, Hyrcanian and Mediterranean climate flows, have a variety of vegetation types and vegetation components. Knowledge of species life forms and vegetation components is considered as a useful guide for environmental management in the region. The results showed that totally, there are 120 plant species that belong to 73 genera and 30 families in this study area. Poaceae family in cluding 29 species and Fabaceae family cluding 12 species have the highest number of species. In the current study, species life forms were recognized by physiognomy, and conventional floristic studies were applied to determine the vegetation components. Overall, two major vegetation groups were recognized including wet meadow species, with the dominance of Alopecurus textilis Boiss., Festuca sulcata (Hack.)Beck, Festuca rubra L., Festuca ovina L., Trifolium montanum L., and peat swamp species, with the dominance of Blysmus campressus L., Eremopoa persica (Trin) Roshev., Carex strigosa L., distributed from an altitude of 2500 to 3800 m in the heights of Sabalan. According to the Raunkier’s life form, hemicryptophytes and cryptophytes including bulbous geophytes, corm geophytes, rhizome geophytes, hydrophytes and floating species were the most abundant species life forms, respectively. In addition, in terms of chorological spectrum, the vegetation components of this region belong to the European-Siberian and Iran-O-Touranian regions.
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