Abstract
Five distinct habitats along salinity gradient were explored for plant ecological attributes including soil plant interaction, vegetation composition and species distribution in the Cholistan desert. Higher saline sites supported Sporobolus ioclados with Aeluropus lagopoides, Cymbopogon jwarancusa, Ochthochloa compressa, Haloxylon recurvum and Suaeda fruticosa, whereas moderately saline habitats supported predominantly Fagonia indica, C. jwarancusa and O. compressa. The community structure and composition of each habitat type were very specific, the most dominant component being S. ioclados. Each species has very specific relation to different environmental variables, and this reflects the habitat status, ecological adaptations and stress tolerance degree of the individual species. On the whole, it can be concluded that salinity alone was not responsible for the distribution of species at salt affected habitats.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Abd El-Ghani, M.M. 2000. Vegetation composition of Egyptian inland saltmarshes. Bot. Bull. Acad. Sin. 41: 305–314.
Abu-Ziada, M.E.A. 1980. Ecological studies on the flora of Kharga and Dakhla Oases of the Western Desert of Egypt. Ph.D. Thesis, Faculty of Science, Mansoura University. pp. 342.
Aragón, C.F., M. Méndez and A. Escudero. 2009. Survival costs of reproduction in a short-lived perennial plant: Live hard, die young. Am. J. Bot. 96: 904–911.
Arshad, M. and A.R. Rao. 1995. Phytogeographical divisions of Cholistan desert. Cholistan institute of desert studies, Islamia University, Bahawalpur and University of Agriculture, Faisala-bad. Proc 6th All Pak Geog Conf 55–61.
Arshad, M., Anwar-ul-Hussan, M.Y. Ashraf, S. Noureen and M. Moazzam. 2008. Edaphic factors and distribution of vegetation in the Cholistan desert, Pakistan. Pak. J. Bot. 40: 1923–1931.
Ashraf, M. and N. Yasmin. 1997. Responses of some arid zone grasses to brackish water. Tropenlandwirt. 98: 3–12.
Asri, Y. 1993. Some ecological characteristics of halophyte plant associations in western margin of Uromieh Lake. J. Res. Const. 18: 21–25.
Asri, Y. and M. Ghorbanli. 1997. The halophilous vegetation of the Orumieh Lake salt marshes, NW. Iran. Plant Ecol. 132: 155–170.
Austin, D.F. and S. Ghazanfar. 1979. Convolvulaceae. In: E. Nasir and S.I. Ali (eds.). Flora of Pakistan, No. 126. National Herbarium, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, Islamabad. pp. 64.
Black, C.A. 1965. Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 2. Amer. Society of Agronomy Inc., Publisher Medisson, Wilconsin, USA. pp. 1372–1376.
Bodla, M.A., M.R. Chaudhry, S.R.A. Shamsi and M.S. Baig. 1995. Salt tolerance in some dominant grasses of Punjab. In: M.A. Khan and I.A. Ungar (eds.), Biology of Salt Tolerant Plants. Book Crafters, Michigan, USA. pp. 190–198.
Caballero, J.M., M.A. Esteve, J.F. Calvo and J.A. Pujol. 1994. Structure of the vegetation of salt steppes of Guadelenitin (Murcia, Spain). Oecologia 10–11: 171–183.
Carrow, R.N. and R.R. Duncan. 1998. Salt-Affected Turfgrass Sites: Assessment and Management. Ann Arbor Press, Chelsea, MI (John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ).
Cope, T.A. 1982. Poaceae. In: E. Nasir and S.I. Ali (eds.), Flora of Pakistan, No. 143. Department of Botany, University of Karachi. pp. 679.
Dagar J.C. 1998. Vegetation of salt affected soils and its scope for agroforestry interventions. Int. J. Ecol. Environ. Sci. 24: 49–57.
Drenovsky, R.E. and J.H. Richards. 2003. High nitrogen availability does not improve salinity tolerance in Sarcobatus vermiculatus. W. N. Am. Natur. 63: 472–478.
Flowers, T.J. 1975. Halophytes. In: D.A. Barker and J.L. Hall (eds.), Ion Transport in Cells and Tissues. North-Holland, Amsterdam, pp. 309–334.
Flowers, T.J. and T.D. Colmer. 2008. Salinity tolerance in halo-phytes. New Phytol. 179: 945–963.
Freitag, H., I.C. Hedge, S.M.H. Jafri, G. Kothe-Henrich, S. Omer and P. Uotila. 2001. Chenopodiaceae. In: S.I. Ali and M. Qaiser (eds.), Flora of Pakistan, No. 204. Department of Botany, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan and Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, USA.
Ghafoor, A. 1974. Zygophyllaceae. In E. Nasir and S.I. Ali (eds.). Flora of West Pakistan, Univ. of Karachi, Karachi.
Gulzar, S. and M.A. Khan. 2001. Seed germination of a halophytic grass Aeluropus lagopoides. Ann. Bot. 87: 319–324.
Gulzar, S, M.A. Khan and I.A. Ungar. 2003. Effects of salinity on growth, ionic content, and plant-water status of Aeluropus lagopoides. Comm. Soil Sci. Plant Anal. 34: 1657–1668.
Hameed, M. and M. Ashraf. 2008. Physiological and biochemical adaptations of Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. from the Salt Range (Pakistan) to salinity stress. Flora 203: 683–694.
Hameed, M., A.A. Chaudhry, M.A. Maan and A.H. Gill. 2002. Diversity of plant species in Lal Suhanra National Park, Ba-hawalpur. Pak. J. Biol. Sci. 2: 267–274.
Hegazy, A.K., J. Lovett-Doust, O. Hammouda and N.H. Gomaa. 2008. Vegetation distribution along the altitudinal gradient in the northwestern Red Sea region. Community Ecol. 8: 151–162.
Herbst, D.B. 2001. Gradients of salinity stress, environmental stability and water chemistry as a template for defining habitat types and physiological strategies in inland salt waters. Hydrobiologia 466: 209–219.
Hoveizeh, H. 1997. Study of the vegetation cover and ecological characteristics in saline habitats of Hoor-e-Shadegan. J. Res. Const. 34: 27–31.
Hussain, F. 1983. Manual of Plant Ecology. University Grants Commission, Sector H-8, Islamabad.
Iqbal, M.Z., N. Yasmin and M. Shafiq. 2002. Salt tolerance variation in some common trees. Acta Bot. Hung. 44: 67–74.
Jafari, M. 1989. Survey of relationship between salinity agents and distribution of plants in Damghan region. MSc. Thesis, Natural Resources College of Tarbiat Modarres University.
Jafari, M., M.A. Zare Chahouki, A. Tavili, H. Azarnivand and G.H. Zahedi Amiri. 2004. Effective environmental factors in the distribution of vegetation types in Poshtkouh rangelands of Yazd Province (Iran). J. Arid Environ. 56: 627–641.
Jafari, M., S.M. Chalak-Haghighi, S.H. Habibian and H. Azarnivand. 2003. Valuation some of Atriplex lentiformiss effects on vegaetation characters in cultivation areas. J. Iran Nat. Res. 56: 301–320.
James, J.J., R.L. Tiller and J.H. Richards. 2005. Multiple resources limit plant growth and function in a saline-alkaline desert community. J. Ecol. 93:113–126.
Kasera, P.K. and S. Mohammed. 2009. Ecology of Inland saline plants. In: K.G. Ramawat (ed.), Desert Plants: Biology and Biotechnology. Springer-Verlag. pp. 410.
Khan, M.A. 1998. Some aspects of salinity, plant density, and nutrient effects on Cressa cretica L. J. Plant Nutr. 21: 769–784.
Khan, M.A. and S. Gulzar. 2003. Germination responses of Sporobolus ioclados: a saline desert grass. J. Arid Environ. 53: 387–394.
Khan, M.A, M.Z. Ahmed and A. Hameed. 2006. Effect of sea salt and l-ascorbic acid on the seed germination of halophytes. J. Arid Environ. 67: 535–540.
Kluse, J.S. and B.H. Allen Diaz. 2005. Importance of soil moisture and its interaction with competition and clipping for two mountain meadow grasses. Plant Ecol. 176: 87–99.
Körner, C.H. 1994. Scaling from species to vegetation: The usefulness of functional groups. In: E.D. Schulze and H.A. Mooney (eds), Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function. Springer, Berlin. pp. 117–140.
Kowalenko, C.G. and L.E. Lowe. 1973. Determination of nitrates in soil extracts. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. Proc. 37: 660.
Ludwig, J.A. and J.F. Reynolds. 1988. Statistical Ecology: A Primer on Methods and Computing. John Wiley, New York.
Marignani, M., E. Vico and S. Maccherini. 2008. Performance of indicators and the effect of grain size in the discrimination of plant communities for restoration purposes. Community Ecol. 9: 201–206.
Maryam, H., S. Ismail, F. Alaa and R. Ahmed. 1995. Studies on growth and salt regulation in some halophytes as influenced by edaphic and climatic conditions. Pak. J. Bot. 27: 151–163.
Milovic, M. and L. Markovic. 2003. Cressa cretica L. (Convolvu-laceae) in the flora of Croatia. Natura Croatica 12: 9–18.
Mughal, M.R. 1997. Ancient Cholistan-Archeology and Architecture. Ferozsons (Pvt.) Ltd. Lahore.
Munns, R. and M. Tester. 2008. Mechanisms of salinity tolerance. Ann. Rev. Plant Biol 59: 651–81.
Naz, N., M. Hameed, A. Wahid, M. Arshad and M.S.A. Ahmad. 2009. Patterns of ion excretion and survival in two stoloniferous arid zone grasses. Physiol. Plant. 135: 185–195.
Rao, A.R. and S.D. Baber. 1990. Conservation and genetic erosion studies of Chingi and Cholistan forests. Annual Research Report, World Wildlife Fund Project. Univ. Agri., Faisalabad, Pakistan.
Steel, R.G.D., J.H. Torrie and D.A. Dickie. 1997. Principles and Procedures of Statistics. A Biometric Approach. 3 edn. McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, Toronto.
Yoshida, S., D.A. Forno, J.H. Cock and K.A. Gomez. 1976. Laboratory Manual for Physiological Studies of Rice. IRRI Philippines.
Zhang, J.T., Y. Xi and J. Li. 2006. The relationships between environment and plant communities in the middle part of Taihang Mountain Range, North China. Community Ecol. 7: 155–163.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
About this article
Cite this article
Naz, N., Hameed, M., Ahmad, M.S.A. et al. Is soil salinity one of the major determinants of community structure under arid environments?. COMMUNITY ECOLOGY 11, 84–90 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1556/ComEc.11.2010.1.12
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1556/ComEc.11.2010.1.12