Assessment of protected vs. degraded oak forests: A geostatistical approach based on soil and plant diversity

Investigating the soil and vegetation characteristics of forest provides basic and essential information on the management process of forests. Therefore, due to the importance of the subject,  this study is to investigate the distribution of different soil parameters and vegetation diversity in a part of oak forests of Ilam province using geostatistics methods. In so doing, at first, 100 plot centers were identified in a systematic random method with a network by 100 × 200 m2 dimensions. Three samples were selected  around  the center of each plot at a depth of 20 cm. In each plot, 4 samples of 1 m2 were used for vegetation sampling.  After calculating different parameters, the spatial structure of the parameters investigated, the estimated accuracy was calculated, and finally the spatial distribution map of the various parameters was papered. The results showed that there is a spatial dependency between the characteristics of the soil as well as diversity, richness and uniformity in the studied area and the distribution map of these parameters provided with proper accuracy. In addition, the results of the comparison between the two protected and unprotected areas showed that there was a significant difference between the two regions in relation to the different variables.