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Structure, composition and regeneration of riparian forest along an altitudinal gradient in northern Iran

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Abstract

In order to protect and understand the regeneration of riparian forests, it is important to understand the environmental conditions that lead to their vegetation differentiation. We evaluated the structure, composition, density and regeneration of woody species in forests along the river Safaroud in Ramsar forest in northern Iran in relation to elevation, soil properties and distance from the river. Using 60 transects located perpendicularly to river and 300 quadrats, we examined forests 0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 m from the stream along an elevation gradient spanning from 350 to 2,400 m a.s.l. We found that total density, regeneration, diameter and basal area of trees were significantly higher in the interior of the forest whereas shrub density was higher close to the river. The uneven-aged forest structure showed no significant differences among gradient from the river to the forest interior. Hydro-geomorphic processes, flooding, the elevation gradient, distance from the river and soil properties were the most important factors that influenced plant community distribution in relation to the river.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Office of Natural Resources of Ramsar city and everyone else that helped us collect field data, identify species and conduct soil testing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Guilan, Rasht, Islamic Republic of Iran

    Mohammad Naghi Adel, Hassan Pourbabaei & Ali Salehi

  2. Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources and Marine Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor-Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

    Seyed Jalil Alavi

  3. USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station, 202 Natural Resources Building, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    Daniel C. Dey

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  1. Mohammad Naghi Adel
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  2. Hassan Pourbabaei
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  4. Seyed Jalil Alavi
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  5. Daniel C. Dey
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Correspondence to Mohammad Naghi Adel.

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Adel, M.N., Pourbabaei, H., Salehi, A. et al. Structure, composition and regeneration of riparian forest along an altitudinal gradient in northern Iran. Folia Geobot 53, 63–75 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-016-9272-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-016-9272-x

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