The Effect of Soil and Water Characteristics on the Vegetative Parameters of Hara Trees in the Qeshm Mangrove Habitat, Hormozgan Province

In this study, a statistical survey of the mangrove habitat of Qeshm Island was carried out for better public recognition and its structure and the vegetative mangrove forest components as well as their relationship to the physical and chemical characteristics of soil and water were examined. In order to do this, six transects were chosen in three regions of mangrove with closed, medium, and low canopy density, respectively. In 60 sample plots, the vegetative parameters, tree density per hectare, canopy percentage, aerial root density and height, regeneration, and tree height were measured per unit area. In the center of each sample, fifteen physical and chemical soil and water parameters were measured. Finally, the relationship between the various vegetative characteristics at different cover densities and soil-water characteristic levels was studied using principal component analysis (PCA). The results of PCA on fifteen recorded environmental variables showed that the first and second principal components explain 86.63% and 13.36% of the evaluated parameter changes, respectively. Generally, the soil organic matter and clay percentage as well as the sodium level in areas with high densities of cover are considered to be factors impacting on the vegetative characteristics of Hara trees.