Alpine wetland flora, species life forms and chorology of the Sabalan Mountain-Iran

Paper Details

Research Paper 01/08/2014
Views (172) Download (4)
current_issue_feature_image
publication_file

Alpine wetland flora, species life forms and chorology of the Sabalan Mountain-Iran

Jaber Sharifi, Adel Jalili, Shaker Ghasem ov, Ehsan Zandi Esfahan
J. Bio. Env. Sci.5( 2), 173-180, August 2014.
Certificate: JBES 2014 [Generate Certificate]

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.

VIEWS 3

Akbarlou M, Sepehri A, Ejtehadi H, Mesdaghi M. 2009. Study on different utilizattio methods on forage production of mountain meadows, The Scientific and Research Journal of Iranian Range Management Society, p. 3. 17-28. (In Persian).

Archibold OW. 1995. Ecology of world vegetation. Champmun and Hall Inc. London.

Javanshir A. 1990. Study on vegetation cover of Sabalan Mountain, Organization Jahad Sazandegi Azarbayjan E Province, Tabriz, p. 63-152. (In Persian).

Sharifi J, Faiiz M, Rostami Kia Y. 2009. Vegetation Types of Ardebil & Astara Area. Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Tehran,409, 39-57. (in Persian).

Naqinezhad AR. 2007. Study on the ecology of wetlands of southern slopes of the Central Alborz Mountains. PhD Thesis, Tehran University, p. 173-195. (in Persian).

Assadi M, Maassoumi AA, Khatamsaz M, Mozaffarian V. 2003. Flora of Iran. Research Institute of Forests & Rangelands Publication, Tehran (in Persian).

Cantero JJ. 2003. Species richness, alien species and plant traits in central Argentine m ountain grasslands. Vegetation Science 14, 129-136.

Davis PH.(ed). 1965-1988. Flora of Turkey, Vols: 1-10. Endinburgh university Press, Endiburgh.

Komarov VL (ed.). 1934-1954. Flora of the U.S.S.R, Vols: 1-21, Izdatelstvo Akademii Nauk SSSR, Leningrad (English traslation from Russian, Israel program for Scientific Tranlations, Jeursalem, 1968-1977.

Kamrani A, Jalili A, Naqinezhad A, Attar F, Maassoum AA, Sue C, Shaw. 2011. Relationships between environmental variables and vegetation across mountain wetland sites, N. Iran. Biologia 66.1. 76-87.

Klein JC, Lacoste A. 1995. Lespozzinesa Carex orbicularis Boott subsp. kotschyana de l’Alborzcentral (Iran):groupe- ment a` la charnie`re desre´gions euro-sibe´rienne etirano- touranienne. Ecol. Medit. 12, 75-86.

Naqinezhad A, Jalili A, Attar F, Ghahreman A, Wheeler BD, Hodgson JG, Shaw SC, Maassoumi A. 2009. Floristic characteristics of the wetland sites on dry southern slopes of the Alborz Mts, N Iran: The role of altitude in floristic composition, Flora, 204, 254-269.

Rechinger KH. 1963-2005. Flora Iranica (ed.), Akademische Druk-u verlagsanstalt, Graz, 1-176.

Raunkiaer C. 1934. The life forms of plants and statistical plant geography. Charendon Press, Oxford.

Townsend CC, Guest E, Al-Rawi A.(ed.). 1966-1985. Flora of Iraq, Vols: 1-10, Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Iraq.

Takhtajan A. 1986. Floristic regions of the word, University of California Press. Berkley, Los Angeles, London, 522 p.

Wilson S D, Tilman D. 2002. Quadratic variation in old– field species richness along gradient of disturbance and nitrogen, Ecology, 83, 492-504.