Jamal Imani; Ali Tavili; Esaa Bandak; Bahram Gholinejad
Volume 17, Issue 3 , October 2010, , Pages 393-401
Abstract
Analysis of vegetation is one of the important factors in appropriate management of rangelands. The current research was conducted to evaluate canopy cover percentage, forage production, and species density in four areas including reference area, personal rangeland, key area and critical area in the ...
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Analysis of vegetation is one of the important factors in appropriate management of rangelands. The current research was conducted to evaluate canopy cover percentage, forage production, and species density in four areas including reference area, personal rangeland, key area and critical area in the region of village. In each area, 5 transects were established on which 10 quadrate 1 m were used with regard to the plant type and distribution of species. The lengths of each transect and the distance between them were determined 100 m and 20 m respectively according to the species density and distribution. Canopy cover percentage, forage production and species density were recorded in all quadrates. Clipping and weighing method was used to estimate forage production. Data analysis was performed using one way ANOVA and Duncan test. Results indicated that there was significant difference in canopy cover percentage (p≤ 0/1), forage production (p≤ 0/05) and species density (p≤ 0/01) among 4 studied areas. The result showed that with moving from reference to critical area, canopy cover percentage, forage production and species density dramatically decreased as palatable species (class I), average palatable species and non palatable and invasive species had the most canopy cover percentage, forage production and density respectively in reference area, personal rangeland and common area between village and critical area. Perennials and palatable grasses such as Bromus tomentellus and Hordeum bolbosum had the highest canopy cover percentage, forage production and density in reference area. With a gradual increase in grazing intensity, percentage of palatable species decreased while non palatable species like Boisseria squarrosa and Centaurea virgata increased. This research revealed that heavy grazing jeopardized the sustainability of the rangeland ecosystem by creating unfavorable changes in vegetation characteristics.
Jamal Emani; Ali Tavili; Essa Bandak; Mohammad Khosravi
Volume 17, Issue 2 , September 2010, , Pages 234-242
Abstract
Flood water spreading projections have been done with many objectives. One of these objectives is increasing vegetation cover. Flood water spreading leads to the increasing of soil moisture and as a result increasing forage production. In this study the effects of flood spreading are evaluated. This ...
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Flood water spreading projections have been done with many objectives. One of these objectives is increasing vegetation cover. Flood water spreading leads to the increasing of soil moisture and as a result increasing forage production. In this study the effects of flood spreading are evaluated. This assessment is done in aquifer of Mayhem district of Ghorveh state. In each rainfall that results into flood, 6 areas are flooded and 2 areas are not flooded. Therefore, 6 areas considered as the flood water spreading and 2 areas considered as the control site. The samplings of vegetation properties were performed in these eight areas. For this purpose, in each district, 5 transects each with a length of 100 m with 10 m interval from each other were situated and along each transect, 10 quadrates with an area of 1m were established. In each area, the characteristics of canopy cover percentage, forage production and species density were recorded. Analysis of data was performed using of un-paired T-test. Obtained results from T-test indicated that there is significant difference between canopy cover percentage (p≤ 0/1) and forage production (p≤ 0/05) while no significant difference was observed for species density in flooded and non-flooded areas. The results showed that the canopy cover increased from 41/91 percent in the control site to 62/18 percent in the flood spreading area. The forage production increased from 467/17 kg/ha in the control site to 632/17 kg/ha in the flood spreading area. Also the species density increased from 1/18 in the control site to 1/59 in the flood spreading area. Some of the plant species that are in the III classes from palatability aspect, decreased in the flood spreading area rather than control site.