Habitat and floristic peculiarities of an isolated mountain mire in the Hyrcanian region of northern Iran: a harbour for rare and endangered plant species

Abstract

Except for the aquatic wetlands already designated under the Ramsar (Wetland) Convention, little is known about the flora and habitat ecology of mountain mire patches in the Hyrcanian forest of northern Iran. The present study describes the floristic composition and the life forms, chorology and habitat characteristics of plants at Chaman-e Kelar, an isolated mountain mire in the central Hyrcanian relict forests. Almost 75 % of the 103 plant taxa recorded in this mire were typical wetland plants, and the most abundant life form was hemicryptophytes. Phytogeographically, more than half of the recorded species were of pluriregional origin followed by Euro-Siberian, Irano-Turanian and Mediterranean elements. Despite the rather small area, six habitat types were recognised on the basis of physiognomy using the EUNIS habitat classification scheme, each type being characterised by particular microrelief (hummock/hollow) and floristic (dominant and accompanying species) features. A Kruskal-Wallis test of differences between the Ellenberg values of plant species for six indicator variables showed that only F (moisture value) and N (nutrients value) differed significantly among the six habitat types. PCA analysis of the species data indicated that the first main gradient was related to mire moisture, whereas the second axis reflected the gradient from shallow standing water to water table at or near the mire surface. Chaman-e Kelar is of high conservation importance, with three Iranian endemic species (Trisetum bungei, Polygonum hyrcanicum and Ranunculus amblyolobus) and six rare and endangered species (Trisetum bungei, Phleum bertolonii, Epipactis palustris, Lysimachia vulgaris, Polygonum hyrcanicum and Ranunculus amblyolobus). Any factors that might affect moisture and nutrient availability on this important mire should be cautiously monitored and managed.

Keywords

• biodiversity
• Chamane-e Kelar Mire
• chorology
• Ellenberg indicator values
• life forms
• peatland