Evaluation of Morphological Characteristics of Quercus brantii Lindl. Leaf in Forests of Kermanshah Province

Environmental factors such as humidity and temperature varying at different altitudes of the forest and affect on plant distribution, species types and leaf morphology. Altitude is one of the important factors affecting environmental factors. In this study for evaluate the morphological changes of the leaf along the elevational gradient, five oak populations were surveyed in different altitudes of zagros forest in kermanshah province. At each altitude, five trees were selected and from each tree, 20 leaves were collected. Then in each population, leaves were mixed and fourteen leaf traits were measured. Results of duncanʼs analysis showed that there was a significant difference among five populations in all studied leaf characteristics and traits sush as area, perimeter, length, width, Ave Radial, Radial var, CMRV, S Factor, Width in X and Height in Y, had the highest values in high altitudes. two parameters of leaf area and perimeter with the highest amount of cumulative variance (67%) had the most role in grouping. Based on cluster analysis Five oak populations were divided into three groups and Population 2 and 3, as well as population 1 and 4, showed the most similar in morphological traits. The population 5 showed less similarity with populations 1 to 4 which this issue might demonstrate genetic diversity in this population.