Volume 13, Issue 2 (10-2025)
Ecol Iran For 2025, 13(2): 28-40 |
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Soleymani N, Abrari Vajari K, Pourreza M. (2025). Tree Distribution Patterns in High Stands, Coppice Stands, and Coppice-high Stands in Zagros Forests (Case Study of Qalajeh Forest, Kermanshah Province). Ecol Iran For. 13(2), 28-40. doi:10.61882/ifej.2025.566
URL: http://ifej.sanru.ac.ir/article-1-566-en.html
URL: http://ifej.sanru.ac.ir/article-1-566-en.html
1- Faculty of Natural Resources, Lorestan University, Khorram Abad, Iran
2- Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, Lorestan University, Khorram Abad, Iran
3- Department of Forestry, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
2- Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, Lorestan University, Khorram Abad, Iran
3- Department of Forestry, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
Abstract: (825 Views)
Background: Zagros forests, as the second natural forest ecosystem in Iran, play an important role in water supply, soil conservation, climate adjustment, and socioeconomic balance in the country. These forests have always been subject to destruction and prone to decline throughout history due to various socioeconomic reasons prevailing in the region. Definitely, the continued destruction process of Zagros forests will impose irreparable damage to this unique ecosystem and the natural resources of the country. Planning for their preservation, protection, and restoration is crucial and necessary, and this issue requires detailed silviculture and related ecological studies. Today, information about the distribution of plant populations in the community is of great importance for management programs and studies. Any program will face problems without having information about the distribution of people in the community, which, in the Zagros forest, can also depend on the spatial distribution of Iranian oak trees and search groups playing an important role in the dynamics of those ecosystems and their optimal management. Therefore, knowledge of the distribution patterns of trees and oak trees and understanding their relationships with each other can be used in protection, restoration, and breeding operations for the forests, which can play an important role in understanding the dynamics of ecosystems and their optimal management. This research aimed to investigate and understand the differences and similarities of the spatial structure, as well as to understand the distribution patterns of the dominant forest stands in the protected forests of the Qalajah Mountain in Kermanshah Province. The results can provide important points to forest scientists and those involved in forest revitalization.
Methods: To carry out this research, a part of the oak habitat in the forests of the Qalajah Mountain in Gilangarb City was considered in Kermanshah Province. In this research, while identifying three forest high stands, the coppice stand, the coppice-high stand, three sample plots of one hectare were randomly taken in each. The distance-azimuth method was used to determine the position of each stand. Then, the structural characteristics of species name, growth form, the number of sprouts, the diameter at breast height, the height of trees, the dominant height of the coppice trees, and two perpendicular diameters of the crown were recorded in this study. In the next step, while calculating the structural characteristics of the stands, the function related to the distance between points L was used to model the spatial distribution patterns of trees and search groups in the studied forest stands. Moreover, the spatial dependence of the size of trees and search groups was investigated using the Kmm(r) correlation function.
Result: The densities of Iranian oak trees and the species high stand, high-coppice stand, and coppice stand were 117, 129, and 126 trees per hectare, respectively, and their canopy covers were 30.9, 30.63, and 19.8%, respectively. The results also showed that the spatial distribution patterns of trees and the sprout clump of Iranian oak in all three studied forest stands mainly followed a random spatial distribution pattern, except for limited distances with a uniform pattern or a clumped pattern due to habitat heterogeneity. Considering the importance of the crown in the structure of trees and sprout clump, the results of the analysis of the signed correlation function about the characteristics of the crown diameter of trees and Iranian oak trees in the studied stands showed that the value of the Kmm function was within the Monte Carlo range for all three stands, according to the other trees and trees in the stands. In terms of the crown diameter characteristic, the above stands are randomly placed next to each other, and there is no significant correlation between the spatial distribution of trees and sprout clumps in terms of the size of the crown diameter.
Conclusion: The spatial distribution pattern of the studied trees and sprout stands mainly follows a random spatial pattern. The random pattern in all three stands can be caused by the lack of natural reproduction or its disruption, reaching the maturity stage and not needing maternal bases, as well as the excessive exploitation of the forest. Furthermore, the trees and sprout stands are mainly located next to each other with different crown diameters, and therefore, there is no spatial correlation between them. Only at very limited intervals, in patches, and due to specific environmental conditions, trees and sprout clump have correlations and similarities in terms of crown diameter characteristics. In general, the results of the marked correlation function study indicate that the effect of the structural characteristic of the crown diameter in the sprout clump of trees in the studied stands on each other cannot mainly indicate their positive or negative facilitating effect on each other. In other words, the results of the correlation function of the sign indicate that the effect of the crown diameter characteristic in the trees and the sprout clump in the investigated stands on each other cannot indicate their positive or negative facilitating effect on each other.
Methods: To carry out this research, a part of the oak habitat in the forests of the Qalajah Mountain in Gilangarb City was considered in Kermanshah Province. In this research, while identifying three forest high stands, the coppice stand, the coppice-high stand, three sample plots of one hectare were randomly taken in each. The distance-azimuth method was used to determine the position of each stand. Then, the structural characteristics of species name, growth form, the number of sprouts, the diameter at breast height, the height of trees, the dominant height of the coppice trees, and two perpendicular diameters of the crown were recorded in this study. In the next step, while calculating the structural characteristics of the stands, the function related to the distance between points L was used to model the spatial distribution patterns of trees and search groups in the studied forest stands. Moreover, the spatial dependence of the size of trees and search groups was investigated using the Kmm(r) correlation function.
Result: The densities of Iranian oak trees and the species high stand, high-coppice stand, and coppice stand were 117, 129, and 126 trees per hectare, respectively, and their canopy covers were 30.9, 30.63, and 19.8%, respectively. The results also showed that the spatial distribution patterns of trees and the sprout clump of Iranian oak in all three studied forest stands mainly followed a random spatial distribution pattern, except for limited distances with a uniform pattern or a clumped pattern due to habitat heterogeneity. Considering the importance of the crown in the structure of trees and sprout clump, the results of the analysis of the signed correlation function about the characteristics of the crown diameter of trees and Iranian oak trees in the studied stands showed that the value of the Kmm function was within the Monte Carlo range for all three stands, according to the other trees and trees in the stands. In terms of the crown diameter characteristic, the above stands are randomly placed next to each other, and there is no significant correlation between the spatial distribution of trees and sprout clumps in terms of the size of the crown diameter.
Conclusion: The spatial distribution pattern of the studied trees and sprout stands mainly follows a random spatial pattern. The random pattern in all three stands can be caused by the lack of natural reproduction or its disruption, reaching the maturity stage and not needing maternal bases, as well as the excessive exploitation of the forest. Furthermore, the trees and sprout stands are mainly located next to each other with different crown diameters, and therefore, there is no spatial correlation between them. Only at very limited intervals, in patches, and due to specific environmental conditions, trees and sprout clump have correlations and similarities in terms of crown diameter characteristics. In general, the results of the marked correlation function study indicate that the effect of the structural characteristic of the crown diameter in the sprout clump of trees in the studied stands on each other cannot mainly indicate their positive or negative facilitating effect on each other. In other words, the results of the correlation function of the sign indicate that the effect of the crown diameter characteristic in the trees and the sprout clump in the investigated stands on each other cannot indicate their positive or negative facilitating effect on each other.
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