Environmental factors affecting ecological sites distribution of Kachik rangeland, Marave Tappe

Recognition of ecological factors affecting the establishment and distribution of plants is necessary and the use of multivariate analysis could be useful to achieve this purpose. In the current research, relationship among the most effective environmental parameters on distribution and establishment of vegetation types of Kachik Watershed was studied by multivariate analysis method. After providing land unit maps, density and canopy cover percentage were measured in reference areas of each land unit. Random-systematic method was used and sampling was performed on 53 quadrates established on 19 transects with intervals of 150 m. Soil samples were taken from the depth of 0-30 cm and pH, EC and percentage of clay, silt and sand were measured. Six separate ecological groups were identified by cluster analysis. Results of principal component analysis revealed that aspect, slope, pH, EC, soil texture and Ca had the most effect on distribution of ecological groups with correlation coefficients of 0.98, 0.96, 0.93, 0.89, 0.82 and 0.81, respectively.