The effect of stand density on woody and herbaceous diversity in Oak forests

This research was carried out with the aim of investigating the effect of mass density on woody and herb diversity in oak stands in Sardasht forests of West Azerbaijan province. For this purpose, the effect of density on the diversity and richness of tree and grass cover in three populations with Sparse, Completely sparse and relatively dense populated densities was investigated. 30 square plots were arranged in a randomized manner in the forests of the region, The distance between the sample units was 100 meters and the distance between the transects was 200 meters. Types and characteristics of tree species and shrubs were recorded in each sample. The frequency and species of herbaceous species were recorded in 5 micro particles with a dimension of 1.5 × 1.5 m in each sample. The correlation between stand density, richness and diversity indices of herbaceous species and tree species diversity was investigated by Pearson method. Tokay test was used to compare the mean of richness and species diversity between thinness, thinness and fairly massive densities. The results showed that 117 species of plants (5 tree species and 112 grass species) are present in the region. Correlation between grassland characteristics and tree specification showed that the Shannon uniformity index is correlated with the number of spikes, mean diameter and cross-section, and the Simpson species diversity and Margalof species richness with the average diameter and cross-sectional area is correlated. Also there was no significant difference between the diversity and richness of herbaceous and tree species in different densities.