Spatial Variability of Regeneration and Tree Species Diversity in Zagros Forests, Case Study: Gahvare Forests, Kermanshah

The regeneration is one of the most important phenomena in forest ecosystems and the most important factor of development and sustainability of forests. Assessment of the regeneration is one of the best criteria for monitoring forest function stability. The aim of this study was to investigate the spatial variability of regeneration diversity and its relationship with tree species diversity in Zagros Forests, Kermanshah (Gahvareh).This study was conducted at 70 hectares of Gahvareh forests. In this area, 67 sample plots (400 m2) were used in a 100 × 100 m sampling grid. In each plot, total number and species of trees and all seedlings which had diameter less than 7.5 cm were recorded. We also recorded asexual regeneration in ¼ plots (100 m2).Then the spatial continuity was described using geostatistics (variogram and cross- variogram). The variograms of variables revealed the presence of spatial autocorrelation except evenness index (Sheldon) of trees and sexual regeneration. They had spatial dependence at large ranges that showed the large distance of dependency and homogeny of condition. In addition, cross-variograms indicated a strong spatial relationship between diversity of sexual regeneration and tree diversity and between diversity and richness of asexual regeneration and tree abundance.