An Investigation on the Presence Form of Halocnemum strobilaceum in Saline and Alkaline Rangelands of Northern Golestan Province

One of the halophyte plant species in the rangelands of Golestan Province is Halocnemum strobilaceum which grows in areas of saline and alkaline soils with shallow water table. It belongs to Chenopodiaceae family. It is named Cheraton by local people and covers 167,000 hectare of the province area. Five study sites which are named Gomishan, Sangar-tapeh, Soficom, Incheh-shoreh-zar, and Incheh-boroon were selected to conduct the study. A formula of L = 2D + d was used to calculate a proper size of measuring plots. Letter D represents the diameter of plant and letter d represents the distance between individual plants. For each site, three transects and thirty plots were used to measure canopy cover, density, frequency, and the proportion of this species in plant composition. Also the weight of above-ground production and roots were measured. The size of plots in Gomishan, Sangar-tapeh, Soficom, Incheh-shoreh-zar, and Incheh-boroon were 1, 2, 2, 2, 4 square meters, respectively. The results showed that, in terms of canopy cover, density, regeneration, above-ground production, and root production of this range plant, there are significant differences among different sites. This plant showed the most (%26) and the list (%6.46) canopy cover in Gomishan and Incheh-boroon study sites, respectively. It also showed the most (59300/ha) and the list (5250/ha) density in Gomishan and Incheh-boroon study sites, respectively. The frequency of plant was %86.6 to %96.6 in different sites. The plant formed %50.93 to %65.53 of the plant composition in different study sites. The most above-ground and root production were found in Incheh-boroon area.