A Phytosociological Study of the Shiwalik Mountain Range in Bhimber, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan
Khanum, Humaira; Ishtiaq, Muhammad; Maqbool, Mehwish; Mazhar, Muhammad Waqas
46 références bibliographiques
publication en ligne: Oct 19, 2026
manuscrit accepté: Sep 18, 2026
révision du manuscrit demandée: Jun 27, 2024
manuscrit reçu: Dec 22, 2023
DOI: 10.1127/phyto/0443
Abstract
This study examined the phytosociology of the Shiwalik Mountain Range in District Bhimber, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. The quadrat method was employed to sample vegetation across 15 plant communities distributed among three tehsils: Bhimber, Samahni, and Barnala. A total of 225 quadrats were sampled, with 15 quadrats established within each community. For each species, density, frequency, canopy cover and Importance Value (I.V.) were calculated, and communities were named after their two or three highest importance valued species. Species richness (S) averaged 16.4 and 16.6 species per community in Tehsils Bhimber and Samahni respectively, and 12.4 in Barnala. Shannon diversity (H′) and Pielou’s evenness (J′) ranged from 2.49–2.70 and 0.96–0.99 across the three tehsils. Cluster analysis of species presence/absence data grouped the fifteen communities into two broad clusters. A Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) returned a first-axis gradient length of 3.87 standard deviation units, supporting the use of Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) rather than a linear ordination method. A two-variable CCA model (soil potassium and electrical conductivity), selected after screening all six measured soil variables to avoid overfitting a fifteen-site ordination; explained 19.1% of the total variation in species composition and was statistically significant (p = 0.007). These results provide a quantitative baseline description of plant community composition and its association with soil potassium and electrical conductivity in this section of the western Himalayan foothills, and may inform future, larger-scale studies of vegetation–soil relationships in the region.
Mots-clefs
community structure • vegetation types • floral conservation • phytosociology • soil–vegetation relationships