The effect of anthropogenic disturbance on flora and plant diversity in Oak forests of west (Baneh city)

This study was carried out in three regions including the undisturbed, moderately disturbed, and highly disturbed of Yaghub-abad, Shoy, and Sadbar in Oak forests of Baneh County in order to investigate the effect of human made destruction on flora and plant species diversity. Three forest patches with similar physiographic conditions of each treatment were selected and three 1000 m2 plots (transect method and the 100m distance interval) were taken in each patch to record the floristic information. At the plot center, in a 400 m2 plot, type and abundance of tree and shrub species type were estimated. Also abundance of understory species in 5 micro plots with 1.5×1.5 m dimensions were recorded in this sample. . Species richness, Simpson and Shannon diversity and Shannon evenness indices were calculated to each sample. The results showed that there were 195 plant species which 47, 25, 15 species were exclusively observed in less disturbed, moderate disturbed and severe disturbed respectively. The results revealed that Asteraceae family is dominant in the area and in terms of Raunkiaer life forms, hemicryptophytes are dominant and considering chorotypes, vegetative region of Iran and Turan (Iranian-Turan) was mainly observable. This study also showed that the highest species richness and species diversity of Shannon-wiener belongs to the less disturbed region and the lowest ones calculated for sever disturbed region.