PJB-2024-476
SOIL NUTRIENTS CONTROL THE BIOLOGICAL SPECTRUM AND FLORAL DIVERSITY OF THE RIPARIAN VEGETATION ALONG THE RIVER PANJKORA, KHYBER-PAKHTUNKHWA PAKISTAN
SHAKIL AHMAD ZEB
Abstract
Evaluation of the biological spectrum and phenological behaviors of an area play important role in the analysis of vegetation and its climate. The main core of this research is to describe the floral variety, biological spectrum, and phenological behavior of the River Panjkora riparian vegetation. Field surveys were conducted along the bank of River Panjkora from April 2019 to August 2020. Data were collected through Quadrates quantitative ecological techniques. Quadrats of various sizes i.e, 1m2, 5 m2 and 10 m2 were taken for herbs, shrubs and trees, respectively. A total of 163 genera and 215 species were recorded. Herb was the dominant class with 178(82%species) followed by shrub 14 (7%species) and tree 24(11% species). Asteraceae was the dominant botanical family comprised of 27 species. The cumulative count shows that 51% species found on the left bank, 25% species on right bank while the 24% species founded on both sided. The life form spectra revealed that therophyte was the dominant class containing 114 species out 215. Nanophylls was the dominant leaf spectra containing 91 species. The relationship of various environmental variables such as EC, pH, TDS, K, Na, Ca, Mg and Fe were determined through multivariate analysis such as CCA & DCA. We have observed that with the increases in the concentration EC, pH, TDS, K, Na, Ca, Mg and Fe increases the number of Therophytes, Cheamophytes, Hemicryptophytes and geophytes. The study region is rich in herb diversity, followed by tree and shrub richness, with a substantial mid domain impact reported for species and family richness. The observations on leaf size and biological spectrum reflect the characteristics of a temperate environment that is widely spread. As a result, we infer that there is a direct link between riparian vegetation and soil nutrients, which is clearly associated with the species' genetic process and natural selection. Other drivers of riparian vegetation richness and variety must be included in future research.
Keywords; Floral diversity, Riparian, Nanophylls, Geophytes, Detrended Correspondence Analyses
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