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<p> Biodiversity hotspot mapping and documenting vegetation-environment interactions are crucial for effective conservation and management efforts. Spatial patterns of vegetation diversity help in identifying priority areas. The western Himalayan forests of District Bagh, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan, harbour rich plant diversity, but limited knowledge of their influencing factors and unidentified priority areas are the major constraints. To fill this knowledge gap, field sampling was conducted from January 2018 to December 2020, with a total of 60 randomly selected sampling sites (540 plots) along the elevation gradient to collect vegetation and environmental data. Multivariate statistical tools were employed to analyse the data. The results depicted that the study area has 382 plant species which belong to five significantly different (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05) plant associations, each having unique species composition. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) results depicted that elevation, annual precipitation, latitude value, available potassium, normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), and longitude value (in order) were the most influential drivers (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05) of the vegetation differences. Anthropogenic disturbances like deforestation and grazing pressure were recorded as important factors as well. Shannon’s diversity mapping suggests that the central parts of the study area, including the Rangla, Thub, Mallot, Banni Passari, and Jaglari areas, as well as the Lasdana area in the east, were the most diverse (H' &gt; 3) and are key hotspot candidates for conserving local diversity and improving management in the region. This study recorded some non-native plant species, including <i>Sisyrinchium micranthum</i> and <i>Mazus caducifer</i>, for the first time in Pakistan. These invasive species were found to be successfully naturalising; therefore, continuous monitoring of their competitive abilities compared to native flora is necessary.</p>

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Plant diversity hotspot mapping and identification of vegetation–environment interactions in the western Himalayas

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年2月23日

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  • Taskeen Iqbal,
  • Arshad Mahmood Khan,
  • Tariq Habib,
  • Zafeer Saqib,
  • Karamit Hussain,
  • Maomao Zhang,
  • Rainer W. Bussmann,
  • Manzer H. Siddiqui

摘要

Biodiversity hotspot mapping and documenting vegetation-environment interactions are crucial for effective conservation and management efforts. Spatial patterns of vegetation diversity help in identifying priority areas. The western Himalayan forests of District Bagh, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan, harbour rich plant diversity, but limited knowledge of their influencing factors and unidentified priority areas are the major constraints. To fill this knowledge gap, field sampling was conducted from January 2018 to December 2020, with a total of 60 randomly selected sampling sites (540 plots) along the elevation gradient to collect vegetation and environmental data. Multivariate statistical tools were employed to analyse the data. The results depicted that the study area has 382 plant species which belong to five significantly different (p < 0.05) plant associations, each having unique species composition. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) results depicted that elevation, annual precipitation, latitude value, available potassium, normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), and longitude value (in order) were the most influential drivers (p < 0.05) of the vegetation differences. Anthropogenic disturbances like deforestation and grazing pressure were recorded as important factors as well. Shannon’s diversity mapping suggests that the central parts of the study area, including the Rangla, Thub, Mallot, Banni Passari, and Jaglari areas, as well as the Lasdana area in the east, were the most diverse (H' > 3) and are key hotspot candidates for conserving local diversity and improving management in the region. This study recorded some non-native plant species, including Sisyrinchium micranthum and Mazus caducifer, for the first time in Pakistan. These invasive species were found to be successfully naturalising; therefore, continuous monitoring of their competitive abilities compared to native flora is necessary.