Investigating changes in vegetation and soil of grasslands in semi-humid areas of Mazandaran province in exclosure and grazed areas during five years (2017-2021) - Polour site

Ghelichnia, Hasan; Eftekhari, Alireza

doi:10.22092/ijrdr.2025.134288

Articles in Press

Authors

¹ Associate Prof, Forest and Rangeland Research Department. Mazandaran Agriculture and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO,Sari,Iran

² Assistant Professor, Rangeland Research Department. Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, AREEO, Tehtan, Iran

10.22092/ijrdr.2025.134288

Abstract

ABSTRACT
Background and objective
The monitoring and evaluation of rangelands provides the necessary information for the basic planning of rangeland management and as a result prevents the destruction of rangelands and water and soil conservation. The goals of this research are to prepare a continuous database of vegetation and soil indicators in rangelands and monitor their changes, determine the relationship between vegetation indicators and climatic factors, determine the trend and intensity of changes in different managements, and provide information for calculating long-term capacity of rangelands.
Methodology
For this study, the Polour site was selected in the rangelands of Baladeh region in Mazandaran province and was evaluated and monitored for 5 years. In order to evaluate the indicators of vegetation cover, 3 transects of 100 meters were placed at a distance of 50 meters from each other. Vegetation and soil factors were measured.Vegetation factors included canopy cover, density and production of plant species, litter, rangeland condition and trend. Soil factors include pH, EC, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, organic matter, soil bulk density and soil texture. 10 plots 1m² were placed along each transect and a total of 30 plots in exclosure and grazed areas. The canopy cover of any plant species with the method of measuring the canopy surface, the density by counting the number of species, the production by cutting and weighing, and the percentage of stone and gravel cover, litter,the and the bare soil were also measured in the plots. Statistical analyses were done in Minitab16 software.
Results
The results of analysis of variance have shown that there is a significant difference between most of the vegetation factors in different years. There is a significant difference between all the investigated vegetation variables in exclosure and grazed areas. There is no significant difference between most of the investigated soil factors in different years, except for the organic matter under the plant. There is a significant difference between the percentage of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, organic carbon and organic matter in exclosure and grazed areas. The comparison of the averages of vegetation cover in different years shows that the highest average percentage of the total cover was related to exclosure area. The highest average value was related to the years 2020, 2021, 2018 and 2019, respectively, and the lowest was related to the year 2017. The correlation between the coverage percentage of the exclosure area with the total production, the percentage of nitrogen and organic matter under and outside the plant, electrical conductivity under the plant and the amount of rainfall in the growing season is significant. In the grazed area, there is a significant correlation between the coverage percentage of the exclosure area with total production, organic matter under and outside the plan
t, and rainfall during the growing season. Correlation between the total production in the grazed area with the percentage of total coverage, the percentage of nitrogen and organic matter under and outside the plant, electrical conductivity under the plant and the amount of rainfall in the growing season is significant.
Conclusion
There is a significant difference between the fexclosure and grazed areas in terms of some soil factors. There is a significant difference between the indicators of vegetation cover during the studied years. The highest amount of coverage and production in both exclosure and grazed areas was in 2021 and the lowest in 2017. The results of the correlation test showed that total rainfall, autumn and winter rainfall, and growing season rainfall had the highest correlation in the canopy cover and plant production.

Keywords

References

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Iranian Journal of Range and Desert Research

Investigating changes in vegetation and soil of grasslands in semi-humid areas of Mazandaran province in exclosure and grazed areas during five years (2017-2021) - Polour site

References

References

Articles in Press, Corrected Proof
Available Online from 06 September 2025

Investigating changes in vegetation and soil of grasslands in semi-humid areas of Mazandaran province in exclosure and grazed areas during five years (2017-2021) - Polour site

References

References

Articles in Press, Corrected Proof Available Online from 06 September 2025

Articles in Press, Corrected Proof
Available Online from 06 September 2025