The impact of some ecological factors on the regeneration of the species of Taxus baccata L. in the Arasbaran Forests

Authors : Mir Mozaffar FALLAHCHAİ, Halil Barış ÖZEL, Ali KİALASHAKİ

Pages : 33-40

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Publication Date : 2012-06-01

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Taxus baccata L. is among the few indigenous and rare needle -leaf trees of the Arasbaran forests facing extinction due to various reasons. In order to investigate the impact of some of physiographic factors on the natural regeneration of this species, two growing areas of Kolaleh with an area of 40 hectares and Kouran with an area of 46 hectares were selected from the Arasbaran forests. The sampling method was selective sampling with 43 pieces of circular samples of the shape 10. As to the same number, sub-plots of the nested type were selected and intended specifications were extracted. The results of this study showed that the regeneration of Taxus baccata L. increases upward with the increasing of the height above the sea level in the Kolaleh habitat and its most appropriate altitude is 1200-1300 meters. At the same time, the most appropriate altitude in the Kouran habitat is between 1400 and 1500 meters.    The most regeneration of this species can be observed in the studied habitats in the northern foothills and the least regeneration can be seen in the northeast. In terms of the interrelationship between foothill slope and the frequency of regeneration, the highest percentage of reproduction took place in the Kolaleh habitat (46.48 percent in the slope of 51 to 60 percent). For the Kouran habitat, this value is about 58 percent for the slope of 41 to 50 percent, the reason for which may be associated to the raising of the soil's humidity and the increasing of surface soil in such slopes. Moreover, the results of Chisquare test showed that there's a significant discrepancy between the number of Taxus baccata L. regeneration and the heights and different directions in the level of 95% contingency.
Keywords : Natural regeneration, Taxus baccata L, Height, direction, slope, Arasbaran

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