Rahman Inayat Ur, Afzal Aftab, Iqbal Zafar, Alzain Mashail Nasser, Al-Arjani Al-Bandari Fahad, Alqarawi Abdulaziz A, Abd Allah Elsayed Fathi, Ali Niaz, Sakhi Shazia, Khan Muhammad Azhar, Khan Uzma, Ijaz Farhana, Mumtaz Samina, Calixto Eduardo Soares
Department of Botany, Hazara University, Mansehra 21300, Pakistan.
William L. Brown Center, Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
Plants (Basel). 2021 Dec 28;11(1):87. doi: 10.3390/plants11010087.
Plant species are distributed in different types of habitats, forming different communities driven by different sets of environmental variables. Here, we assessed potential plant communities along an altitudinal gradient and their associations with different environmental drivers in the unexplored Manoor Valley (Lesser Himalaya), Pakistan. We have implemented various ecological techniques and evaluated phytosociological attributes in three randomly selected 50 m-transects within each stand (a total of 133) during different seasons for four years (2015-2018). This phytosociological exploration reported 354 plant species representing 93 different families. The results revealed that the Therophytic life form class dominated the flora, whereas Nanophyll dominated the leaf size spectra. There were a total of twelve plant communities identified, ranging from the lowest elevations to the alpine meadows and cold deserts. The maximum number of species were found in community (197 species), in the middle altitudinal ranges (2292-3168 m). Our results showed that at high altitudes, species richness was reduced, whereas an increase in soil nutrients was linked to progression in vegetation indicators. We also found different clusters of species with similar habitats. Our study clearly shows how altitudinal variables can cluster different plant communities according to different microclimates. Studies such as ours are paramount to better understanding how environmental factors influence ecological and evolutionary aspects.
植物物种分布在不同类型的栖息地中，在不同的环境变量集驱动下形成不同的群落。在此，我们评估了巴基斯坦未开发的马努尔山谷（小喜马拉雅山脉）沿海拔梯度的潜在植物群落及其与不同环境驱动因素的关联。我们采用了各种生态技术，并在四年（2015 - 2018年）的不同季节，对每个林分（共133个）内随机选取的三条50米样带进行了植物社会学属性评估。这次植物社会学探索报告了代表93个不同科的354种植物。结果显示，一年生植物生活型类群在植物区系中占主导地位，而小型叶在叶大小谱中占主导地位。总共识别出了12个植物群落，从最低海拔到高山草甸和寒冷沙漠。在海拔范围中部（2292 - 3168米）的群落中发现的物种数量最多（197种）。我们的结果表明，在高海拔地区，物种丰富度降低，而土壤养分的增加与植被指标的进展相关。我们还发现了具有相似栖息地的不同物种集群。我们的研究清楚地表明了海拔变量如何根据不同的小气候将不同的植物群落聚类。像我们这样的研究对于更好地理解环境因素如何影响生态和进化方面至关重要。
