Species Richness and Community Composition along Glaciated Alpine Lake, Pakistan

Abstract

The study area is comprised of catchment area of glaciated lake locally called lake Saif-ul-Malook. The vegetation was studied along the altitudinal gradient located between 2500 m a.s.l to 3500 m a.s.l. and represent the mountain ranges of Western Himalaya. Overall vegetation may be classified as grass-scrub distributed along the rim of a glaciated lake (Saif-ul-Malook). From the study area a total of 91 plant species belonging to 75 genera and 37 families were recorded. Angiosperms contributed a major share in the study area. Among the Angiosperms, 36 families comprised of 90 species were recorded. Among these species dicotyledonous species had the largest share (94.5%) followed by monocotyledonous species which contributed very minor share (4.4%) to the floristic riches of the area. Data were analyzed by multivariate statistics including Cluster Analysis, Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) and spearman correlation coefficient to detect the relations between altitudinal and environmental factors with the composition and structure of plant communities. DCA axes 1 and 2 were used for data interpretation. The three groups produced by cluster analysis were plotted on the first two axes as scattered diagram. There were significant differences in the floral composition as well as the edaphic factors along the altitudinal gradient. The present research work showed an integrated effort to analyze and discuss ecological community attributes, as well as their correlation with environmental variables, using multivariate analyses.