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Pak. J. Bot., 46(4): 1203-1210, 2014.

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ENVIRONMENTAL DIVERSIFICATION AND SPATIAL VARIATIONS IN RIPARIAN VEGETATION: A CASE STUDY OF KORANG RIVER, ISLAMABAD

SHEIKH SAEED AHMAD^1*, RABBIA MURTAZA¹, RABIA SHABIR AND MUHAMMAD NAUMAN AHMED²    TAHIR ALI SHAH³

Abstract: The present study was conducted at Korang river, Islamabad to determine soil and vegetation associations and affiliations.  Herbaceous flora and soil samples were collected randomly by using 1×1 square meters quadrate. For each plant in quadrate visual cover estimation was noted. Twenty one species belonging to 14 families were identified. CCA (Canonical Correspondence Analysis) was applied in order to find out the strength and relation between environment and plant species. The results exhibited that pH and copper strongly affected the abundance of Cannabis sativa while profusion of Cynodon dactylon was influenced by moisture content. CCA functioned on water quality parameters indicated that sulphate and TSS were the major holding factors promoting the growth of Cannabis sativa. T-value biplots were created for each environmental parameter to assess whether the relation was positive or negative with variables. GLM was also taken into account to value the relation between response and predictors in a way that Cannabis sativa tolerated adverse environmental conditions in the current study. Partial ordination was used that gave variation partitioning of plant species against every parameter. The survey of edaphic factors and vegetation structure along Korang river was helpful for not only improving and mending the present condition of river but also for planning and conservation of plant species diversity.

¹Department of Environmental Sciences, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan

²Department of Agricultural Chemistry, University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan

³Higher Education Commission, Islamabad, Pakistan

*Corresponding author’s e-mail: drsaeed@fjwu.edu.pk, 92 321 5167726