A floristic study on Mazibon and Sibon protected forests, Ramsar, across the altitudinal gradient (300-2300 m)

The Mazibon and Sibon forests with the area of approximately 15000 hectars are located in 60 kilometers south of Ramsar and between 300-2300 m a.s.l. The occurrence of a variety of riverine, forest, rangeland and ecotone ecosystems within the area provide well stablished habitats for different plants and animals. In orther to preserve biodiversity, this area was designated as no-hunting area since 2002. The current study was conducted during 2009 and 2010. Flora of Mazibon and Sibon was studied along a transect from lowland to upper mountain. Three plots were made in each 100 m elevation band thus the floristic data were collected 63 plots. Totally 339 plant taxa belonging to 235 genera and 80 families were identified in the area. The Dicots with 268 taxa were the richest group of flora followed by monocots with 58 taxa, Pteridophytes with 11 taxa and Gymnosperms with 2 taxa. The variation of proportion of different life forms across the four defined altitudinal belts was surveyd. Hemicryptophytes were the dominant life form and comprised 40% of the flora. Endemism rate among 339 taxa was 4.4% (n=15 taxa). The largest proportion of the flora is related to Euro-Sibirian region (23.8%) followed by Pluriregional elements (19.9%), Euro-Sibirian /Irano-Turanian (19.3%), Euro-Sibirian/Irano-Turanian/Mediterranean (16.6%).