Determination of the Sites with Conservation Priority in Research Forests of Yasouj University Based on Physiographic Factors

• Main Authors: R. Zolfaghari, P. Fayyaz, A. Jafari, M. R. Mirzaee, S. M. Zamani
• Format: Article
• Language: fas
• Published: Isfahan University of Technology 2013-03-01
• Series: Iranian Journal of Applied Ecology
• Subjects: Plant diversity; Zagros forest; Conservation index; Physiography.
• Online Access: http://ijae.iut.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-13&slc_lang=en&sid=1

Regarding high economic and conservative values of Zagros forests, and livelihood dependency of local people these recourses, determination of sites with higher conservation index can help us to maintain biodiversity of these forests more efficiently. Therefore, 49 plots with 450 m2 in area accompanied by 1, 10 and 45 m2 subplots were taken as systematic random design in research forests of Yasouj University. The number of species in each plot and subplot was recorded. The conservation values for different physiographic regions of forest were calculated using integrative parameters such as the number of species per plot, number of rare species per plot, number of tree species per plot, Jaccards similarity coefficient and slope of species-log(area). Comparing the conservation index in different physiographic sites revealed that the areas located in the north, hills and lower altitudes can be considered for in situ conservation due to higher number of trees, rare species and total plant species, species-log (area) slope and lower amount of Jaccard similarity coefficient. But, vegetative sites located in lower slopes and south, because of lower conservation index, can be used for other multipurpose forestry activities. Using this index for different forest areas can be potentially conducted for better conservation and management of Zagros forests.