PHYTODIVERSITY, VEGETATION COMPOSITION AND ETHNOECOLOGY OF MUZAFFARABAD DISTRICT, AZAD JAMMU AND KASHMIR, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Muzaffarabad district, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan is part of western Himalaya and rich in phytodiversity but little known with reference to plant diversity, vegetation composition and ethnobotanical studies through statistical tools. To fill this research gap, the whole area was explored for the collection of field data during August 2014 to July 2016 for floristic diversity, vegetation composition and types, tree species regeneration pattern and ethno-ecological knowledge by the inhabitants. Documentation of overall floral elements depicted that there were 757 phytotaxa (749 species, 3 sub-species, 5 varieties) belonging to 492 genera and 120 plant families, thus study area account for 13% of flora of Pakistan in spite of its low proportionate land area (0.21%). This study also recorded 87 plant species as new record to the study area including 10 species as new record for Pakistan. For vegetation studies, 16 altitudinal transects with 110 sampling stations and 990 plots were studied by using stratified random vegetation sampling method. All the collected vegetation and environmental data was further tested for various multivariate analyses. A total of 343 plant species associated with seven plant communities viz. 1) Cannabis-Ailanthus-Acacia sub-tropical community, 2) Pinus-Cynodon-Micromeria sub-tropical pine community, 3) Heteropogon-Piptatherum-Dodonaea sub-tropical scrubland community, 4) Plantago-Clinopodium-Geranium Himalayan moist temperate degraded community, 5) Pinus-Impatiens-Indigofera Himalayan moist temperate blue pine community, 6) Abies-Cotoneaster-Picea Himalayan sub-alpine coniferous community and 7) Poa-Sibbaldia-Ranunculus Himalayan alpine scrubland/grassland community were recorded. Kruskal Wallis and Multi-Response Permutation Procedures tests detected significant difference in the mean diversity values and species composition of plant communities respectively. Canonical correspondence analysis detected significant contribution of eight different explanatory towards explaining variations in the species data. Similarly variation partitioning results proved the leading contribution of topographic variables class followed by biotic and edaphic classes. Three coniferous species including Cedrus deodara, Picea smithiana and Taxus wallichiana showed no regeneration in the study area whereas it was recorded highest for Mallotus philippensis and Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata. By using fitted Generalized Additive Model, the response curves of tree species along stem to stump ratio (deforestation intensity) variable depicted that Abies pindrow, Aesculus indica, Cedrela serrata, Cedrus deodara, Picea smithiana, Quercus glauca, Quercus oblongata and Taxus wallichiana were under serious threat of deforestation. A total of 494 phytotaxa were recorded as ethno-ecologically important, which further grouped into 12 major use categories. These includes medicinal (293 spp.), fodder/forage (105 spp.), ornamentals/home garden (92 spp.), native vegetables (68 spp.), fencing/hedging (64 spp.), fruit/grains (52 spp.) fuelwood (36 spp.), artefact (31 spp.), spices/condiments (28 spp.), perception (15 spp.), construction (14 spp.) and furniture (12 spp.). The results of availability status of the ethno-species from wild/market during the last 10 years depicted 38 species as highly endangered and the leading one was Saussurea costus. Relative use value results suggested that male informants possessed the higher overall ethnobotanical information’s than the female informants. Overall, the study area was observed under heavy anthropogenic pressure thus sustainable use of existing resources and various recommendations were proposed.