Comparing Some Ecological Attributes of Cercis griffithii Boiss. on Geomorphic Faces of Arghavan Valley

The Arghavan Valley of Binalood county located at Khorasan Razavi province, is a habitat for valuable and almost rare plant community in eastern Iran which is dominated by Cercis griffithii Boiss. shrubs. This habitat is very important for environmental aspects and combat desertification. It has documented the place where arid and semi-arid shrublands are destroyable, highly unrestorable. The Arghavan valley is located at geomorphological faces of mountainous which contains two distinct geomorphic facies of regular slopes and irregular ones that appear as rock outcrops with debris. Apparently, this shrub has a kind of distribution pattern and biological power which is related to the geomorphic facies. Then, to survey  the density of the shrubs in soiled slopes and rock outcrops, five sites were selected in such a way that enjoy the most similarities with each other to minimize the impact of other environmental factors. By counting the number of the shrubs and determining the area of ​​each site using Google Earth software, density of the shrubs determined and statistical differences of facies were compared. In order to evaluate and compare vigority of the shrubs, 30 plants were selected randomly and their canopy cover was calculated. 15 plants were then selected and leaf areas of 12 leaves were measured at each plant. Two attributes of leaf area and canopy cover were determined and compared statistically. Based on the results, at two geomorphic facies, mean density and leaf area were significantly different at 95% level, and the difference in mean canopy cover of the shrubs was significantly at 99% level. The shrub, therefor, has higher density on rocky outcrop with debris but more vigor on regular slopes. Favorable micro-climatic conditions of rocky outcrops for seed and seedlings establishment may cause higher density at these facies. More possibility of root development, water and nutrition absorption at soiled slops caused more vigority at these geomorphological facies.