Investigation of alluvial sediments seed bank and its comparison with vegetation along Beshar River

This study has tried to introduce the flora, biology and chorology of vegetation along the Beshar River, on Kohgilouyeh va Boyerahmad province, and its sediment seed bank to determine the role of the river in transferring seeds and the importance of alluvial sediments in maintaining and storing plant seeds. For this purpose, a floristic list of vegetation along the Beshar River on Dehno, Mokhtar, Darohan, Kabgian, and Rudashti areas was prepared by field surveys. Then, to determine status of the seed bank using the seedling generation method, the sediments along the river was sampled and transferred to the greenhouse for germination. The results showed that there were 32 and 25 plant species in the vegetation along the river and sediment seed bank, respectively. Among the identified species, 20 species are shared between the vegetation along the river and the sediment seed bank, while 5 species including Alyssum dasycarpum, Chenopodium botrys, Erodium cicutarium, Medicago rigidula, and Aeluropus littoralis are present only in the sediment seed bank. According to the results, hemicryptophytes, therophytes, and geophytes along the river are 50%, 48.87% and 3.12%, respectively. In sediment seed bank, 36% of the species are hemicryptophytes and 64% of the species are trophites. The ANOVA shows that there is a significant difference between sediment seed bank in different areas of the river in terms of number of seedlings grown. The comparison of the mean, also, indicates the existence of a significant difference between the seed bank of sediments in all areas except Kabgian-Dehno.