Evaluation of the Efficiency of Landscape Function Analyze (LFA) to Estimate Plant Diversity in Kiasar rangeland of Mazandaran

This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of the LFA method to predict the species diversity indices. Sampling was carried out using 140 plots of 1 m2 along 14 transects based on a randomly-systematic design and so, the final index of soil infiltration, nutrient cycle and soil stability was calculated. Also, the cluster analysis was applied to determine the similarity between the variability indices, soil surface parameters and final indices by using PAST software. The results showed that at the level of 1percentage (P≤0.01), the Shannon diversity and Simpson indices were predicted by altitude from the sea level and nutrient cycle parameters, respectively and, richness index were predicted by these two parameters. It seems that the LFA method can create the final indices by considering and scoring some of the surface parameters of the soil (eleventh indices) and these indices can finally display the ecosystem's performance finally display the ecosystem's performance.