Browsing by Subject "Phytosociology"

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Landscape ecological, phytosociological and geobotanical study of eumediterranean in west of Syria
(2008) Ghazal, Abdullah; Boecker, Reinhard
The Eu-Mediterranean vegetation in Syria is widespread over a large geographical area, occupying an altitudinal zone mainly from 300 to 900 m asl., but can be also found outside this range. The study area is located to the west of the longitude 37° E, where this vegetation dominates. A complete field surveying of the landscape for all regions in the study area was carried out. The environmental variables of the landscape (climate, soil, geology, land use, flora and vegetation) were analyzed in order to achieve landscape ecology grouping. The vegetation surveying was carried out according to the Braun-Blanquet method to classify the vegetation according to the phytosociological relationships through applying the ordination method of Factor Analyses of Correspondences (FAC). Integrating plant sociology with other environmental factors enabled compiling a hierarchical framework for landscape classification and mapping from a higher to a lower level of abstraction. Land units were named with reference to indicative phytosociological alliances. That mapping system uses the potential vegetation for studying areas from the national to the local scale of landscape. The legend of the map refers to the EUCORINE land cover project (2003). The Eu-Mediterranean vegetation is organized in three types: Humid and Sub-humid; Semi-arid; and Arid. The second type can be further divided into two sub-types: cold and non-cold. The following forest types can be recognized in the Eu-Mediterranean vegetation: 1. Evergreen oak forest: this is classified as Mediterranean maquis, and comprises the major part of the forest vegetation in Syria. The main element of this forest is Quercus calliprinos. This vegetation is classified into two main types: the inland vegetation type, and the humid and sub-humid vegetation type. 2. Semi-deciduous oak forest: it consists of Quercus aegilops vegetation and occurs in many sites in Syria. 3. Coniferous forest: dominated mainly by Pinus brutia as well as few small locations of natural forests of either Pinus halepensis or Cupressus sempervirens. The vegetation of Pinus brutia forests occupies a wide area especially in the western region. These forests are distinguished into three types: humid, sub-humid and semi-arid forests. 4. Non-forest Mediterranean vegetation. 5. Running water banks vegetation. 6. Steppe vegetation. The results of the current study show that the inland Quercus calliprinos vegetation is organized in two different associations, Quercus calliprinos-Crataegus azarolus and Pruneto (tourtuosa)-Quercetum calliprini (ass. nov.) in Jabal Al-Arab and the Anti-Lebanon, respectively. The Quercus calliprinos vegetation in the humid, sub-humid and non-cold semi-arid types is organized into four associations: Querco (infectoria)-Quercetum calliprini (ass. nov.), Styraco (officinalis)-Quercetum calliprini (ass. nov.), Querco (calliprinos)-Phillyreetum mediae and Pistacio (palaestina)-Quercetum calliprini. However, those relations were strong among the northern associations especially between the Pistacio (palaestina)-Quercetum calliprini and the Querco (infectoria)-Quercetum calliprini indicating that they are in different stages of the succession. However, if the maquis were kept extensively protected from human activities and were allowed to grow spontaneously, the composition of the maquis will change from a stand with a rich mixture of species to an almost pure stand of Quercus calliprinos. The richness of climax species in the Querco (infectoria)-Quercetum calliprini, which are used as phytosociological indicators for a climax forest, emphasizes that this association is the climax in the East-Mediterranean region. The Pinus brutia is one of the important species of the Syrian forests. Its forests belong to either of the two alliances: Ptosimopappo-Quercion (microphylla) and Gonocytiso-Pinion. The latter is more important in the study area; three new associations were identified to belong to it. These are: Pino (brutia)-Cistetum villosii, Pino (brutia)-Iridetum unguicularis and Pino (brutia)-Arbutetum andrachnii. Overall, 79 land units belonging to 55 land facets were recognized in this study. The dominant parent rock in the study area is calcareous which spread widely by limestone, marl and dolomite. The green rocks appear only in one area, the Baer-Bassit, by a special type of vegetation that belongs to Ptosimopappo-Quercion. The most important alliance in the study area is Quercion calliprini, which is presented by a maquis of Quercus calliprinos with sclerophyllous vegetation. However, Gonocytiso-Pinion represents the coniferous vegetation and spreads in different sizes of patches, but it has disappeared from of southern Coastal Mountains. Oleo-Ceratonion is exposed to a high level of disturbance leading it to exist only in small patches in the Thermo-Mediterranean. The effect of human activities causes high level of disturbance in all units, leading to the disappearance of many forest types.
Spatial undergrowth species composition in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) in West Sumatra
(2003) Germer, Jörn Uwe; Sauerborn, Joachim
The area planted to oil palm expanded during the last decades substantially, making it become the world's second most important oil crop. Despite its economic significance the oil palm remains remarkably unknown. Little attention is paid also to the oil palm undergrowth, though important in stabilizing the agro-ecosystem in plantations. Comprehensive knowledge of undergrowth species adapted to specific ecological niches in oil palm plantations is essential to investigate their function in and potential benefit to the oil palm agro-ecosystem. The objectives of the conducted research were to develop a reproducible approach for phytosociological investigation in oil palm plantations and to accomplish a general inventory of the vascular plants associated with oil palm in a plantation in West Sumatra. Additionally it was aimed to study the undergrowth heterogeneity within the fields and the distribution of species in the plantation in response to solar radiation below the palm canopy, soil type and physical and chemical soil parameters. A rich diversity of 298 species, 186 dicotyledonae, 77 monocotyledonae and 35 pteridophyta (ferns and allies), representing 81 families was identified in the research area. Similar to rainforests, plants with a high consistency were few, while most of the species occurred only sporadically in the oil palm undergrowth. In average 36 species were found in each of the 100 sampled relevés. The 8 most frequent species were identified as an abstract plant community: Mikania micrantha H.B.&K., Pouzolzia zeylanica Benn., Ageratum conyzoides L., Sporobolus diander Beauv., Nephrolepis biserrata (Sw.) Schott., Pityrogramma calomelanos (L.) Link, Lygodium microphyllum (Cav.) R.Br. and Stenochlaena palustris Bedd. Due to particular management practice, oil palm fields can be zoned in harvesting path, palm circle and inter-row. Species that were mainly found in the inter-row were: Diplazium esculentum (Retz.) Sw, Cyclosorus interruptus (Willd.) H.Ito, Nephrolepis biserrata and Christella dentate (Forssk.) Brownsey & Jermy. Plants that were found primarily in the other zones were small herb species such as Hedyotis corymbosa Lam., Limnophila rugosa Merrill, Borreria setidens (Miq.) Boldingh and Peperomia pellucida H.B.&K., the sedges Fimbristylis miliacea Vahl and Cyperus kyllingia Endl. as well as the grass Sporobolus diander. It was found that the palm canopies developed slower on histosol than on fluvisol and assumed that the main reason for this difference was the lower nutrient pool in low-density organic soil. Melliferous species, which are often important as hosts for pest antagonists, were infrequent where less light was available. In the inter-row a distinct shift from a creeper and grass to a fern and non-creeper dicotyledonae dominated undergrowth was observed with falling levels of solar radiation. Species consistently more frequent in less shaded sampling sites throughout the research area were: Basella alba Linn., Calopogonium muconoides Desv., Commelina diffusa Brum.f., Imperata cylindrica Beauv., Pueraria phaseoloides Benth. and Sporobolus diander whereas Ageratum conyzoides, Christella dentata, Diplazium esculentum, Peperomia pellucida, Phyllanthus debilis Willd., Pouzolzia zeylanica and Sparganophorus villantii Crantz preferred more shaded environments. The soil analyses revealed that the soil carbon content was not only distinctly different between histosol and fluvisol, but also between individual sites on the two soil types. Next to the carbon content the effective cation exchange capacity varied largely between sites. The physical soil properties were stable within the sites, while the chemical properties were significantly influenced by fertilization. Species abundance per relevé was significantly higher on fluvisol than on histosol, while the difference in the total number of species between the soil types was small. 11 species showed a preference towards low soil carbon content: Ceratopteris thalictroides (L.) Brongn., Christella dentata, Christella parasitica (L.) Lev., Diplazium esculentum, Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn., Hedyotis corymbosa, Pleocnemia irregularis (C.Presl) Holtt., Polygonum barbatum L., Selaginella plana Hieron., Sphaerostephanos polycarpus (Bl.) Copel. and Stachytarpheta indica Vahl. Accordingly the presence of two species: Borreria latifolia (Aubl.) K. Schum. and Dicranopteris linearis J. Underw. augmented with increasing soil carbon content. In the sampling sites marked by high ECEC ferns were dominant. On fluvisol 11 out of 18 species that occurred more frequently where the ECEC was higher were ferns and on histosol 3 out of 12 species respectively. The distinct difference of soil carbon content blanketed, apart form the ECEC possible effects of other soil properties on the undergrowth species composition.