Evaluation of beauty service of vegetation types in summer rangeland of Kerman province(Case study: Lalehzar mountain rangelamd)

Ecosystems’ cultural services, like beauty services, play an important role in human social well-being. Understanding the potential of ecosystems is essential in providing this service for sustainable ecosystem management. This study aimed to determine the beauty value of summer rangelands in Kerman province. Hence, the beauty value of ten rangeland types was determined through flowering plants in 200 plots in flowering season. The beauty value was estimated using four indexes, including relative Simpson diversity and relative canopy cover of flowering plants, relative flowering period, and relative maximum number of flower colors. The analysis of variance showed that rangeland types are different in terms of beauty value, and Astragalus gossypinus-Artemisia aucheri rangeland type had the highest beauty value and is a pioneer region for conservation programs. Salsola brachiata- Artemisia sieberi rangeland had the lowest beauty value due to severe grazing and vegetation degradation. Plant types were most beautiful in spring, summer and fall, respectively. Correlation analysis showed that relative Simpson diversity and relative maximum number of flower colors had the highest correlation with beauty value. PCA also showed that beauty value was positively correlated with the attributes, including species diversity and abundance of forbs. The beauty value can be considered a good indicator of the ecological value of ecosystems that should be considered in sustainable development.