Introducing Conservatism Coefficient and determining it for ground flora in middle Zagros Forest, (Case study: Kakareza Forest, Lorestan province)

Abstract

Natural and anthropogenic disturbances result to loss of biodiversity and ecosystem stability decline. Metrics that aggregate more qualitative information on individual species and overall community composition could be useful to better assess factors such as the conditions of natural areas, their conservation value and the impact of human disturbance. This is the first study that determine conservatism coefficient for vascular plants in Lorestan province. The standard modified multi-scale Whittaker plots were used for vegetation sampling. A panel of botanists and ecologists were asked to assign conservatism coefficient to each native species based on their knowledge and previous experiences about plant species sensitivity to disturbances and fidelity to a specific habitat by using floristic list. Results showed that conservatism coefficient were accepted by botanists and ecologists and can be used in the next researches for identifying forests conservative values. Based on the results of 57.67 % of plants were ranked fell into the first category (1-3), while 32.27 % fell into second category (4-6), approximately 8.46% of plants were ranked into third category (7-8) and finally 1.58 % of plants were ranked in the forth category (9-10). Astragalus leonardii Maassoumi, A. longirostratus Pau. and Bunium luristanicum Rech. f. have the most values of conservatism coefficient were ranked fell into the forth category. Based on the results and with regard to species conservation status, these species can be introduced as an indicator of intact oak forest. Determining CC in the natural intact regions and comparing it with other regions is useful for evaluation of restoration programs succession.

Keywords

• Disturbance
• fidelity
• floristic quality
• Invasive species