Multivariate analysis of environmental and vegetation data of Ayub National Park Rawalpindi

Abstract

National Parks are designated to protect the ecological integrity of one or more ecosystems for present and future generations. Pakistan has more than 20 national parks. The aim of this research was to quantify the vegetation in Ayub National Park using ordination techniques. The research was conducted to determine the soilvegetation relationship and quantify the floristic composition of National Park vegetation data of Ayub National Park. The data was recorded using quadrat method. A strategy of simple random sampling was used for naturally grown plants (herbs and shrubs). Thirty quadrats were tossed randomly at different locations and spies were identified. In all 44 plant species were identified. The soil of each quadrate was taken as environmental variable for electrical conductivity, pH and heavy metals detection. Classification and ordination were carried out using PCOrd version 5 CANOCO 4.5. Vegetation profile of study area resulted in ten most abundant species present in Ayub National Park having cover value of >15%. Classification of vegetation data with TWINSPAN resulted in species dichotomy, represented by two major communities. Deterended Correspondence Analysis (DCA), results indicated the presence of four major plant communities, while Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA), results confirmed the species correlation and association with soil with the help ofsoil EC, pH, and with heavy metals detection.

Keywords

• Ayubia National Park
• Soil-vegetation relationship
• multivariate analysis