PJB-2022-8
Quantitative description and environmental relations of pine communities of Shangla district of KP, Pakistan
Javed Iqbal, Nasiruddin Shaikh, Moinuddin Ahmed, Sahar Zaidi, Afsheen Khan, Zoya Baig and Waqar Ahmed
Abstract
The study was carried out in forty stands of conifer dominating forests in Shangla District to evaluate the quantitative vegetation composition and community structure. Sampling was carried out by Point Centered Quadrate (PCQ) method. Five conifer species were dominating the forest namely, Pinus wallichiana, Abies pindrow, Picea smithiana, Cedrus deodara, and Pinus roxburghii. On the basis of importance value five communities were identified i.e. Abies pindrow - Picea smithiana Community, Pinus wallichiana – Abies pindrow community, Pinus wallichiana - Quercus baloot community, Cedrus deodara, and Pinus wallichiana community, Picea smithiana - Pinus wallichiana. Four monospecific stands of Pinus wallichiana, Abies pindrow, Cedrus deodara, and Pinus roxberghii, were also recognized. Among these, Pinus wallichiana exhibited the highest mean density 296 ha-1 with 80 m2 ha-1 mean basal area occurring in 32 stands followed by Abies pindrow which was recorded in 9 stands with mean density of 223 ha-1 and about 85 m2 ha-1 basal area, exhibiting the second highest importance value. Picea smithiana attained low quantitative values recorded from 3 sites. By studying the current forest structure, it can be concluded that the population of young stands exhibited higher density while the population of old trees is at risk of elimination. Therefore it is necessary that proper attention should be needed to these ecologically important forests zone that contributes a diverse range of biodiversity with a number of conifers that are seemingly close to elimination. Hence, proper conservation approaches should be applied to retain forests in the future
To Cite this article:
Iqbal, J., N. Shaikh, M. Ahmed, S. Zaidi, A. Khan, Z. Baig and W. Ahmed. 2023. Quantitative description and environmental relations of pine communities of Shangla district of KP, Pakistan. Pak. J. Bot., 55(5): DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30848/PJB2023-5(30)
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