Plant species diversity and the role of soil nutrients in the semiarid area of District Bannu, KPK, Pakistan
Paper Details
Plant species diversity and the role of soil nutrients in the semiarid area of District Bannu, KPK, Pakistan
Abstract
Communities are the result of species interactions for the resources. Plant species compete for the resources above and below the soil and ameliorate the environment for neighboring species. In this way superior competitor eliminate the inferior competitive species and affect the diversity of an area. As a result those species sustain which are well adapted to the prevailing environmental conditions. Therefore, considering the relative influence of species interactions and an environment on the diversity, we expected changes in the diversity of plant species along the edaphic gradients. We investigated eastern, western and northern sites in the semi-arid zone of District Bannu, KPK, Pakistan, to know the plant species diversity and its relation with the variation in the selected edaphic variables. We analyzed the soil samples of the three sites for the micro and macro-elements. We used quadrate method to collect the quantitative data of the plant species. We calculated shanoon`s diversity index and similarities among the sites of the plant species and analyzed the correlation between the diversity and the edaphic variables. We observed high importance value index for tree species as compared to shrubs and herbs and less diversity among the three sites in which western and northern sites have more similarities. We did not find the significant relation of the edaphic variables for the macro-elements. However few micro-elements have shown strong correlation with the diversity. We argued that less diversity may be the result of environmental filtering and anthropogenic activities prevailing in the area.
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Ihsan Ullah, Siraj ud Din, Sultan Mehmood Wazir, Saad Ullah Khan, Samiullah Khan, Zulqarnain (2019), Plant species diversity and the role of soil nutrients in the semiarid area of District Bannu, KPK, Pakistan; JBES, V14, N5, May, P124-134
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