The study of habitats and response pattern of Salsola kerneri (Wol) Botsch. to environmental factors in rangelands of Mazandaran province

Understanding the ecological characteristics of plant species and how they respond to environmental factors provides information necessary for vegetation management and rangeland management. Therefore, in the present study, the ecological needs of the species Salsola kerneri (Wol) Botsch with emphasis on determining the ecological factors affecting vegetation changes and investigating the response of these species to ecological factors changes using Canonical Correspondona Analysis (CCA) and Generalized Additive Models (GAM) in Mazandaran province were discussed. Data were analyzed using SPSS17 and CANOC 4.5 software. The results showed that S.kerneri showed a significant response to some of environmental factors in its habitat. The response pattern of S.kerneri along the Ec, pH and Tnv (Lime) followed the monotonic increase model and increased with increasing values, abundance and percentage of vegetation. Therefore, with the increase of these factors in a certain range, the coverage percentage of this species increases. The response of this species along the pH of soil followed the monotonic increase model and by increasing this factor, the presence and percentage of vegetation decreased. The response of this species along the organic matter (%) of organic carbon (%), nitrogen (%) and litter%) followed the monotonic decrease model and by increasing this factor, the presence and percentage of vegetation decreased. The response pattern of S.kerneri along the clay (%),soil specific gravity, Altitude of sea, mean annual temperature, potassium (ppm) and phosphorus (ppm) followed the unimodal model and its optimum growth rate for these factors were 11%, 1.1 g/cm3,13C°,1700m,12.5°C, 700 ppm and 5 ppm respectively. It grows in lands with low to relatively high slopes, but it has more abundance in slopes of 40-50%. The highest cover percentage of this species in the eastern slopes and the lowest in the northeastern slopes. The stone (%), sand (%) and silt (%) response also followed the bimodal model. The study of this species response curve along the slope of topographic and soil factors provided valuable information to determine the ecological needs of this species that can be considered in rangeland improvement operations in similar areas.