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Pak. J. Bot., 48(1): 105-113, 2016. |
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Updated: 29-02-16 | ||||
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MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF SOME PINE FORESTED AREAS OF AZAD KASHMIR-PAKISTAN
TASVEER ZAHRA BOKHARI1,2, YU LIU1, MOINUDDIN AHMED3, MUHAMMAD FAHEEM SIDDIQUI4, QIANG LI1, ZAHEER UDDIN KHAN5 AND SAEED AHMED MALIK2
Abstracts: Floristic composition and communities in Azad Kashmir area of Pakistan were studied by using multivariate analysis. Quantitative sampling from thirty one sites was carried out in different coniferous forests of Azad Kashmir in order to analyze the effects of past earthquakes and landslides on vegetation of these areas. Though coniferous forests were highly disturbed either naturally or anthropogenic activities, therefore sampling was preferred to those forests which were near fault line. Trees were sampled using Point Centered Quarter (PCQ) method. Results of cluster analysis (using Ward’s method) yielded six groups dominated by different conifer species. Group I and V were dominated by Pinus wallichiana while this species was co-dominant in group III. Other groups showed the dominance of different conifer species i.e. Cedrus deodara, Pinus roxburghii, Picea smithiana and Abies pindrow. Both the cluster analysis and ordination techniques (by two dimensional non-metric multidimensional scaling) classify and ordinate the structure of various groups indicating interrelationship among different species. The groups of trees were readily be superimposed on NMS ordination axes; they were well classified and well separated out in ordination. The present research revealed that these forests had diverse and asymmetric structure due to natural anthropogenic disturbances and overgrazing, which were key factors in addition to natural disturbances. However, some of the forests showed considerably stable structure due to less human interference.
Key words: Multivariate analysis, NMS ordination, Ward’s cluster analysis, Pine forests, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan
1State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an 710075, China 2Institute of Pure and Applied Biology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan-Pakistan 3Department of Botany, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karachi- Pakistan 4Department of Botany, University of Karachi, Karachi 75270, Pakistan 5Department of Botany, Government College University, Lahore-Pakistan *Corresponding author’s email: tzd_5@hotmail.com; mfsiddiqui@uok.edu.pk |
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