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Pak. J. Bot., 45(S1): 561-570, 2013.

Assessing potential habitats of Kashmir Markhor in Chitral Gol National Park, Khyber PakhtUnkhwa, Pakistan

MASOOD ARSHAD^1*, RIFFAT NASEEM MALIK² AND ZAFEER SAQIB³

Abstract: Since the recognition of Chitral Gol as a National Park, there has been no vegetation assessment of the area, particularly in context of the habitat of Kashmir markhor (Capra falconeri cashmiriensis). Therefore, the present study is a first ever attempt to elaborate the vegetation of Park as habitat of Kashmir markhor using multivariate statistical methods.  The vegetation abundance data was systematically collected from the park area on a grid with 200m vertical and 400m horizontal spacing, resulting in 252 nested sampled plots for each of the tree (10mx10m), shrub (4mx4m) and herbaceous layers (1mx1m).  The data were analyzed for possible natural grouping using TWINSPAN classification analysis that resulted in 4 vegetation communities viz., (i) Prangos pabularia – Hypericum perforatum – Rosa macrophylla community, (ii) Cedrus deodara – Pinus gerardiana – Rosa macrophylla community, (iii) Quercus baloot – Sophora mollis – Artemisia fragrans community and (iv) Artemisia fragrans – Agrostis canina – Iris hookeriana community.  The ordination using Detrended correspondence analysis and regressing its scores with primary topographic attributes revealed that the altitude, (p<0.0001), aspect (p<0.05) and slope (p<0.05) have strong impact on the distribution of vegetation distribution in the park.  These communities possess a diverse range of plant species and are variously utilized by Kashmir markhor as summer habitat (i), lambing season (ii) and winter habitat (iii, iv).

¹WWF-Pakistan, Ferozpur Road, P O Box 5180, Lahore, 54600, Pakistan

²Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad

³Department of Environmental Sciences, International Islamic University, Islamabad

^*Corresponding author’s e-mail: marshad@wwf.org.pk; Phone: 0092-42-35862360; Fax: 0092-42-35862358