Small Scale Altitudinal Variation in Gap Vegetation in Temperate Forest: A Case Study in Mukhshpuri, Ayubia National Park, Pakistan

Abstract

The current knowledge of the relationship between vegetation and environment in Himalayan conifer forests of Pakistan is based on subjective descriptions of ecological conditions from field experience and interpretation. Wet temperate forests of Pakistan are interesting because at suitable elevations it merges downward with the tropical forests and upward with the alpine meadows. Vegetation from 57 stands (10 x 10 m) established between 2500 - 2800 m (a.s.l.) along an elevation transect were sampled in the study area under consideration. Soil was analyzed for their chemical properties. The presence absence data of all the species from each sampling stand were clustered with hierarchical method of classification. The stands were also be subjected to Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) using the DECORANA package. The relationships between soil characters, altitude and other unmeasured environmental factors were determined using Spearman’s rank correlation. It is concluded that elevation play an important role in species distribution and richness and other soil parameters also show variation along altitude. As altitude increases organic matter, electrical conductivity, calcium, potassium, magnesium, chloride, carbonates and bicarbonates decreases and show adverse effect on species diversity and richness.