Analysis of vegetation on the roadside of roads with several years’ age (Case study: Nav-e-Asalem forests in west of Guilan province

Document Type : Complete scientific research article

Authors

1 university of Guilan

2 forestry Department, faculty of natural resources, the university of Guilan, Sowmeh Sara, 1144, Guilan, Iran

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Indicator species are one of the important components in vegetation classification, and studying and determining them on the roadside of old roads is very important for maintaining the habitat for rare and endangered plant species. Awareness of the road age can be effective in preserving and developing the plant communities, as the road effect can be helpful in optimal management of vegetation when constructing or maintaining new roads. The purpose of this study was ecological classification as well as identification of indicator species in roadside of forest roads with different ages in Nav-e-Asalem area, west of Guilan province.

Materials and Methods: Data were collected by random sampling, as in the seven forest areas of Nav-e-Aslam, Guilan, a number of 28 transects (150 m in length) perpendicular to the road from roadside to the inside of the forest using line transect method, linear transect method was used and 28 transects (150 m in length) perpendicular to the road were taken. The distance between the transects was 100 m, Five sample plots (30 × 5 m) were taken for sampling trees and shrubs with a distance of 30 m from each other. In 4 m2 sample plots herbaceous species were identified using vegetation flora and vegetation percentage was recorded in different strata (tree, shrubs and herbaceous) using Braun-Blanquet scale. Also, indicator species analysis was performed using ecological group sample in PC-ORD for Win. Ver 5 software.

Results: The results of indicator species analysis showed that 146 species were found in the roadside of roads with several years’ age. The presence of tree and regeneration species was higher on old roads compared to new ones. In this research, newly constructed roads (10 years) occurred in two groups of second and fourth ecological species, roads with medium ages (10-20 years) in the third ecological group and older roads (>20 years) in the first ecological species group. By using two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN), vegetation cover was classified into two groups: Viola alba Besser, Carpinus betulus L. and Brachypodium sylvaticum, Carex divulsa Stokes. In this research, the presence of Alnus subcordata CAMey and Acer velutinum Boiss species was higher in the sample plots near the road compared to inside forest. The diversity of these tree species and their relative frequency decreased by increasing the distance from the roadside and moving to inside forest. In this research, Carex divulsa Stokes was identified as a rare species and Fagus orientalis Lipsky as a species with high frequency.

Conclusion: The results of this research emphasize the importance of road age not only in determining the ecological species group, but also in identifying the indicator species in the area as well as in improving the classification results of tree, herbaceous and regeneration species in roadside area. Determination of the indicator species is effective not only in determining the extent of the ecological groups classified on the roadside, but also in improving the classification results of plant groups as well as identifying the factors affecting ecological groups seems to be useful for proper management and sustainable exploitation of forest ecosystems.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

1.Alexander, J.M.C., Kueffer, C.C., Daehler, P.J., Edwards, A., Pauchard, T., and Consortium, M. 2011. Assembly of nonnative floras along elevational gradients explained by directional ecological filtering. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences., USA, Pp: 656-661.
2.Asadi, H., Hosseini, S., and Esmailzadeh, O. 2011. Introduction of Khybus plant communities and their relation to physiographical. J. Wood For. Sci. Technol. 4: 2. 1-20. (In Persian)
3.Asadi. H., Esmailzadeh, O., Hosseini, S.M.,Asri, A., and Zare, H. 2016. Application of Cocktail method in vegetation classification. J. Taxon. Biosytem. 28: 8. 2-1-38. (In Persian)
4.Bazyari, M., Jalilvand, H., Kooch, Y.,and Hosseini, S.A. 2015. Ecological effects of forest roads on biodiversity
and floristic composition (Case study; leeresar, galanderood, makarood). J. Plant Res. 27: 1. 1-11. (In Persian)
5.Berengi Tehrani, F., Majnonyan, B., Abdi, A., and Amiri, Gh. 2014. Effects of forest roads on the diversity of plant species. Organic matter and organic carbon content (Case study: Forest Kheiroud). J. Sust. Develop. 1: 2. 102-112. (In Persian)
6.Braun-Blanquet, J. 1964. Plant Sociology, The study of Plant Communities (translated by Fuller, G.D. and Conard, H.S., 1983). Mc Graw-Hill Book, Company, Inc., New York, Pp: 402-453.
7.Decáceres, M., Legendre, P., and Moretti, M. 2010. Improving indicator species analysis by combining groups of sites. Oikos, 119: 1674-1684.
8.Deljouei, A., Abdi, E., Majnounian, B., and Sohrabi, H. 2013. Do forest roads have significant effect on tree regeneration? Case study: Hyrcanian Forest, Iran. Scientific conference on: Biosphere Reserves, The way to Sustainability, Pp: 120-130. (In Persian)
9.Deljouei, A., Abdi, E., Hasanvand, M., and Kaybondori, S. 2018. Zone effect of secondary forest roads on flora, life forms and chorology of plants, Forest Research, 3: 1. 77-89.
10.Douda, J., Boublik, K., Slezak,M., Biurrun, I., Nociar, J., and Chytry, M. 2016. Vegetation classification and biogeography of European floodplain forests and alder cars, Applied Vegetation Science, 19: 1. 147-163.
11.El-Sheikh, M.A., Abbadi, A., and Bianco, M. 2010. Vegetation ecology of photogenic hillocks (nabkhas) in coastal habitats of Jal Az-Zor national park Kuwait. Role of patches and edaphic factors. J. Flora. 8: 12-30.
12.Enoki, T., Kusumoto, B., Igarashi, S., and Tsuji, K. 2014. Stand structure and plant species occurrence in forest edge habitat along different aged roads on Okinawa Island, southwestern Japan.J. For. Res. 19: 97-104.
13.Esmailzadeh, O., Hosseini, S.M., Tabari, M., and Asadi, H. 2011. Classification system analysis in classification of forest plant communities (Case study: Darkola's beech forest). J. Plant Biol.7: 11-28. (In Persian)
14.Esmailzadeh, O., and Asadi, H. 2014. Total Phi Fidelity Index (TPFIM) as a New Algorithm in Plant Communities Analysis. Iran. J. For. 6: 2. 215-232.(In Persian)
15.Fahimi Pour, A., Chahoki, A., and Tavili, N. 2010. Evaluation of some indicator species of environmental factors (Study of pastures Taleghan).Water. Manage. Res. J. (Pajouhesh and Sazandegi), 87: 32-41. (In Persian)
16.Hill, M.O. 1979. TWINSPAN a program for arranging multivariate data in an ordered two-way table by classification of the individuals and attributes. Section of Ecology and Systematics. Cornell University, New York, Pp: 320-335.
17.Kalwij, J.M. 2012. Review of the plant list a working list of all plant species.J. Veg. Sci. 23: 998-1002.‏
18.Kusbach, A., Long, J.N., Van Miegroet, H., and Shultz, L.M. 2012. Fidelity and diagnostic species concepts in vegetation classification in the Rocky Mountains, northern Utah, USA. Botany, 90: 678-693.
19.Landucci, F., Tichy, L., Sumberová, K., and Chytry, M. 2015. Formalize classification of species-poor vegetation: a proposal of a consistent protocolfor aquatic vegetation. J. Veg. Sci.26: 4. 791-803.
20.Li, C.F., Chytry, M., Zeleny, D.,Chen, M.Y., Chen, T.Y., Chiou, C.R., and Hsieh, C.F. 2013. Classification of Taiwan forest vegetation. Applied Vegetation Science, 16: 4. 698-719.
21.Macune, B., and Grace, J. 2003. Analysis of Ecological Communities. MJM Software Design, Glenden Beach, Oregon, Pp: 300-312.
22.Mccune, B., and Mefford, M.J. 1999. PC-ORD. Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Data, Version 4, MjM Software Design, Glenden Beach, Oregon. USA, 520p.
23.Mobayen, S. 1975-1996. Flora of Iran. Tehran University Publications, Tehran. 401p. (In Persian)
24.Mohsen Nezhad, M. 2010. Effect of soil properties and Physiographic on the distribution of plant communities (Case study: Haraz Behrestan summer pastures). J. For. Pop. 7: 275-262. (In Persian)
25.Mullerova, J., Vitkova, M., and Vitek, O. 2011. The impacts of road and walking trails upon adjacent vegetation: Effects of road building materials on species composition in a nutrient poor environment. Science of the Total Environment,409: 3839-3849.
26.Naqi Nezhad, A.S.S., Syed Akhlaghi, A., and Saeedi Mehrvarz, S.H. 2015. The relationship between ecological factors and vegetation habitats. Agh Dagh protected area Ardebil. Ecological Applications, 7: 180-200. (In Persian)
27.Picchio, R., Spina, R., Maesano, M., Carbone, F., Lo Monaco, A., and Marchi, E. 2011, Stumpage value in the short wood system for the conversion into high forest of oak coppicefor Studies China. Forest Research,13: 4. 252-262.
28.Rechinger, K.H. 2010. Flora Iranica, Akademische Druck-uVerlagsantalt. Graz, Pp: 1-178.
29.Rodriguez-Rojo, M.P., Fernandez-Gonzalez, F., Tichy, L., and Chytry, M. 2014. Vegetation diversity of mesic grasslands (Arrhenatheretalia) in the Iberian Peninsula. Applied Vegetation Science, 17: 4. 780-796.
30.Tatian, M.R., Arzani, H., Reihan, M., Bahmanyar, K., and Jalilvand, H. 2010. Effect of soil and physiographic factors on ecological plant groups in the eastern Elborz mountain rangeland of Iran. Grassland Science, 56: 77-86. (In Persian)
31.Tavankar, F., Picchio, R., and LoMonaco, A. 2014. Forest management and snag characteristics in Northern Iran lowland forests. J. For. Sci. 60: 431-441.(In Persian)
 32.Torabi, M., Najafi, A., Hosseini, S.M., and Moafi, M. 2009. Biodiversity and density of tree regeneration in the trench excavation and embankment of forest roads. Forest National Conference, Karaj, Iran, Pp: 8-26. (In Persian)
 33.Yin, S., Shen, P., Zhou, X., Zou, S.,and Wang, W. 2011. Quantifying air pollution attenuation within urban parks: An experimental approach in Shanghai, China. Environmental Pollution, 159: 9. 2155-2163.

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics