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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOIL CHARACTERISTICS AND HALOPHYTIC VEGETATION IN COASTAL REGION OF NORTH CHINA

WEI-QIANG LI¹, LIU XIAO-JING¹*, M. AJMAL KHAN² AND BILQUEES GUL³

Abstract: Plant-soil relationship of saline coastal plain of north China was studied. Principle component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis were used to generate a hypothesis that the distribution pattern of halophytic vegetation was influenced by the variation in soil properties. The hypothesis was tested by canonical correlation analysis (CCA). PCA results showed that salinity, pH, moisture and available nitrogen were the major soil factors responsible for variations in the pattern of vegetation. For vegetation, primarily richness, cover, plant height, and biomass, were the main factors. The results of cluster analysis were consistent with field investigation, and CCA showed results similar to PCA. Canonical correlation coefficient between soil parameters and vegetation factors was 0.731. The relationship of soil salinity with vegetation biomass, and that of soil salinity with available nitrogen were both negative. Biomass was the main vegetation factor in indicating soil salinity.

¹Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Science, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050021. P.R. China, Email: wqli@ms.sjziam.ac.cn

²Institute of Sustainable Halophyte Utilization, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan E-mail: majmalk@uok.edu.pk

³Department of Botany, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan E-mail: ishu_gul@yahoo.com

Corresponding author E-mail: xjliu@ms.sjziam.ac.cn