Studying the phenological stages of Thymus kotschyanus and Artemisia aucheri in Alamot semi-steppe rangelands, Ghazvin

Knowledge of the phenological stages of species constituting a plant community has a considerable importance in grazing management to achieve the goals of sustainable production. The study of plant phenology is critical for monitoring, management and conservation of ecosystems. In this research, the phenology of two shrub species including Artemisia aucheri and Thymus kotschyanus was investigated for four years during 2007 to 2010. For this purpose, 10 samples were selected from each species and the phenological data were recorded every 15 days and every 7 days in the vegetative and reproductive stages, respectively. Results showed that the start and end time of growth in different years in these two species differed under the influence of temperature and precipitation. The flowering stage of Thymus kotschyanus began in the first half of June, and the seeding stage started in the first half of July, continuing to the first half of August.The vegetative growth of Artemisia aucheri started from the second half of May, the flowering stage began in the late August and the seeding stage started from the last week of September, continuing for 2-3 weeks.