Investigation on relationship between ecological factors and plant associations of Bahadoran Kalmand protected area in Yazd province

The Bahadoran Kalmand protected area with an area of 255000 hectares is located at about 30 km Yazd township and in the southeastern township of Mehriz with geographical coordinates of 31° 00′ to 31° 40′ North latitude and 54° 15′ to 55° 20′ East longitude. The vegetation cover was studied using the physiognomic-floristic method. Some soil characteristics were evaluated based on conventional methods and data were analyzed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method. The results showed that there was a special relationship between different plant communities and soil characteristics. The most important factors in separating these plant communities were electrical conductivity, acidity, texture, organic carbon, and sodium adsorption ratio. In general, in regard to habitat conditions, each plant community has different ecological needs and tolerance range with environmental factors and soil characteristics.