Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Zeinab Jafarian
• Mansoureh Kargar
• Jamshid Ghorbani

Abstract

Spatial variability and heterogeneous geographical distribution of soil physical and chemical properties in rangeland ecosystems are affected by physical and biological factors including different managements, soil microclimate and topography, leading to the vegetation changes. Therefore, this research was aimed to study the spatial variability of production, density and canopy cover of Artemisia aucheri in the line with some soil properties variability in Vavsar rangelands of Kiasar. The sampling method was random-systematic. A total of five transects of 100m  length were selected in the study area with a distance of 100m on which 10 plots of 2m² were established with a distance of 10m.  Soil samples were taken from a depth of 0-15 in each plot.  In addition, production, density and canopy cover of Artemisia aucheri were measured in each plot. According to the results of geostatistical analysis in GS⁺ software, the percentage of clay and the density of Artemisia aucheri, showed the highest variation coefficients with the values of 82% and 53%, respectively. The variograms' amplitude varied from 196.2m for production to 910m for the percentage of moisture, lime, EC, and canopy cover. According to the results of cross validation, the models of lime percentage, density and production of Artemisia aucheri showed spatial correlation, and, consequently, had higher accuracy to be used in Kiriging interpolation.
 

Keywords

• soil properties
• Artemisia aucheri
• Production
• Density
• Canopy Cover
• Vavsar Rangeland