Phytodiversity of Ayubia National Park Pakistan: Conservation and Management issues

Paper Details

Research Paper 01/02/2016
Views (414) Download (14)
current_issue_feature_image
publication_file

Phytodiversity of Ayubia National Park Pakistan: Conservation and Management issues

Rabia Afza, Habib Ahmad, Zafeer Saqib, Niaz Ali, Jawad Khan
J. Bio. Env. Sci.8( 2), 327-336, February 2016.
Certificate: JBES 2016 [Generate Certificate]

Abstract

This paper communicates the results of the current study conducted to analyze the phytosociological attributes of Ayubia National Park (ANP) for identifying the major threats to biodiversity of the Park. We report the structure and composition of vegetation of ANP through fixed point survey techniques. Circular quadrates of 18m2 radius were used to sample trees while the understory vegetation was sampled by recording data through 15 m line transects. Sum of 250 plant species belonging to 79 plant families recorded in 32km2area of the Park. Furthermore, hierarchical clustering identified three plant communities in the park. Our results delineated important phytosociological attributes of the Park which can be used for facilitating further research on conservation of biodiversity and developing strategies for effective management of the Park.

VIEWS 21

Fonseca GA, Kent J. 2000. Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature 403, 853-858.

Afza R. 2006. Linkages between Forest Conservation and Medicinal Plants of Ayubia National Park: Prospective and Constrains. M. Phil Dissertation, Department of plant Sciences, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad.

Ahmad H, Afza R. 2014. Nesting places of Koklass and Kalij Pheasants, associated plants and habitat losses in Western Himalayas. In North America Congress for Conservation Biology (NACCB), Missoula city, USA.

AhmadSS. 2012. Species response to environmental variables in Ayubia National Park, Pakistan using multivariate analysis. Pak. J. Bot. 44(4), 1225-1228.

Anthwal S, Bhatt AB, Nautiyal BP, Anthwal A. 2008. Vegetation structure, niche width, niche overlap and types of competition in temperate grazingland of Garhwal Himalaya, India. The Environmentalist 28, 261-273.

Balete DS, Rickart EA, Rosell-Ambal RGB, Jansa S, Heaney LR. 2007. Descriptions of two new species of Rhynchomys Thomas (Rodentia:Muridae: Murinae) from Luzon Island, Philippines. Journal of Mammalogy 88, 287-301.

Borcard D, Gillet F, Legendre P. 2011. Numerical ecology with R. Springer Science & Business Media.

Braun-Blanquet J. 1932. Plant sociology. The study of plant communities. Plant sociology. The study of plant communities. First edition.

Bray JR, Curtis JT. 1957. An ordination of the upland forest communities of southern Wisconsin. Ecological Monograph 27, 325-349.

Brooks TM, Mittermeier RA, da Fonseca GA, Gerlach J, Hoffmann M, Lamoreux, JF, Mittermeier CG, Pilgrim JD, Rodrigues AS. 2006. Global biodiversity conservation priorities. Science 313, 58-61.

Calkins JA, Offield TW, Abdullah SK, Ali ST. 1975. Geology of the southern Himalaya in Hazara, Pakistan, and adjacent areas (No. 716-C). US Governament Print. Off.

Dirnböck T, Hobbs RJ, Lambeck RJ, Caccetta, PA. 2002. Vegetation distribution in relation to topographically driven processes in southwestern Australia. Applied Vegetation Sciences 5, 147-158.

Enright NJ, Miller BP, Akhter R. 2005. Desert vegetation and vegetation-environment relationships in Kirthar National Park, Sindh, Pakistan. Journal of Arid Environment 61, 397-418.

Faith DP, Minchin PR, Belbin L. 1987. Compositional dissimilarity as a robust measure of ecological distance. Vegetation 69, 57-68.

Franklin J. 1995. Predictive vegetation mapping: geographic modelling of biospatial patterns in relation to environmental gradients. Progress in physical geography 19, 474-499.

Fu C, Hua X, Li J, Chang Z, Pu Z, Chen J. 2006. Elevational patterns of frog species richness and endemic richness in the Hengduan Mountains, China: geometric constraints, area and climate effects. Ecography 29, 919-927.

Kahmen A, Perner J, Audorff V, Weisser W, Buchmann N. 2005. Effects of plant diversity, community composition and environmental parameters on productivity in montane European grasslands. Oecologia 142, 606-615.

Karr JR, Freemark KE. 1983. Habitat selection and environmental gradients: dynamics in the stable tropics. Ecology, 1481-1494.

Khan SM, Harper DM, Page S, Ahmad H. 2011. Species and community diversity of vascular flora along environmental gradient in Naran Valley: A multivariate approach through indicator species analysis. Pakistan Journal of Botany 43, 2337-2346.

Kharkwal G, Mehrotra P, Rawat YS. 2010. Biomass production of herb species in broad leaf forests in Kumaun Himalaya, Indian Journal of Forestry Resources 21, 355-360.

Kluge J, Kessler M, Dunn RR. 2006. What drives elevational patterns of diversity? A test of geometric constraints, climate and species pool effects for pteridophytes on an elevational gradient in Costa Rica.Global Ecology and Biogeography 15, 358-371.

Kruckeberg AR. 2004. Geology and plant life: the effects of landforms and rock types on plants. University of Washington Press.

Küchler AW. 1967. Vegetation mapping.

Kukshal S, Nautiyal BP, Anthwal A, Sharma A, Bhatt AB. 2009. Phytosociological investigation and life form pattern of grazing lands under pine canopy in temperate zone, Northwest Himalaya, India. Research Journal of Botany 4, 55-69.

Latif M.A. 1976. Stratigraphy and micropaleontology of the Galis Group of Hazara, Pakistan. Geol. Bull. Punjab University 13, 1-63.

McGlone M, Walker S, Hay R, Christie J. 2010. Climate change, natural systems and their conservation in New Zealand. Climate change adaptation in New Zealand: Future scenarios and some sectoral perspectives, 82-99.

Oksanen J, Kindt R, Legendre P, O’Hara B, Stevens  MH,  Oksanen  MJ,  Suggests  MASS. 2007. The vegan package. Community ecology package, 631-637.

Olson DM, Dinerstein E, Wikramanayake ED, Burgess ND, Powell GV, Underwood, EC, D’amico JA, Itoua I, Strand HE, Morrison JC, Loucks CJ. 2001. Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on Earth. A new global map of terrestrial ecoregions provides an innovative tool for conserving biodiversity. BioScience 51, 933-938.

Parmesan C, Yohe G. 2003. A globally coherent fingerprint of climate change impacts across natural systems. Nature 421, 37-42.

Rahbek C. 1997. The relationship among area, elevation, and regional species richness in Neotropical birds. The American Naturalist 149, 875-902.

Raunkiaer C. 1934. The life forms of plants and statistical plant geography; being the collected papers of C. Raunkiaer.

Saima S, Dasti A A, Hussain F, Wazir SM, Malik SA. 2009. Floristic compositions along an 18-km long transect in Ayubia National Park, district Abbottabad, Pakistan. Pakistan Journal Botany 41, 2115-2127.

Shrestha UB, Gautam S, Bawa KS. 2012. Widespread climate change in the Himalayas and associated changes in local ecosystems. PLoS One 7, 36-41.

Spadavecchia L, Williams M, Bell R, Stoy PC, Huntley B, Van Wijk MT. 2008. Topographic controls on the leaf area index and plant functional type of a tundra ecosystem. Journal of Ecology 96, 1238-1251.

Ward JH. 1963. Hierarchical Grouping to Optimize an Objective Function. Journal of American Statistical association 58, 236–244.