Abstract
To understand and manage ecosystem complexity, it is important to determine the relationships between soil characteristics, human activities, and biodiversity. This study analyzes the relationships between vegetation, soil, and man-made damage with regards to land use change in the Fereydan region, Iran. Soil physical properties such as sand and silt content, clay, saturated soil’s moisture content, and gravel percentage as well as chemical properties such as lime content, pH, electro conductivity (EC), and organic matter content were measured. In order to trace these variables, the principle component analysis (PCA) was applied. The study area was divided into three states of conditions; i.e., good condition rangelands, poor condition rangelands, and abandoned rain-fed area. Based on the results there was a significant difference between species diversity in good condition rangelands compared with two other sites. The results further revealed that among soil chemical and physical characteristics, only soil organic matter had a significant difference between different rangeland sites. According to the results, the rangelands with good conditions had the highest amount of organic matter (1.43–1.50%) compared with two other studied rangelands (poor conditions: 1.02–1.09%; abandoned rain-fed: 1.2–1.46%). The most influential factor on the species diversity index was the distance to village parameter that revealed the important role of humans in degrading rangelands and reducing species diversity.
Highlights
Plant communities owe their existence to relations between plants and their surrounding environment
The good condition rangeland sites are located more than 1 km away from human infrastructure and rural sites whereas abandoned rain-fed and poor condition rangelands are located in the vicinity of the human infrastructures
According to the multivariate regression analysis, the most influential factor on the species diversity index is the distance to village parameter; which signifies the important role of humans in degrading rangelands and reducing species diversity
Summary
Plant communities owe their existence to relations between plants and their surrounding environment. A number of environmental factors (e.g., soil nutrients and moisture content) impose a profound effect on the unique characteristics of plants as well as plant and vegetation communities [1,2,3,4,5]. The introduced relations between plant communities and environmental factors underpin a very important debate in ecology [6]. Arid and semi-arid areas are mostly characterized by their scarce vegetation cover which makes its ecosystems fragile and vulnerable to external or internal components such as human activities [7]. The distribution, pattern, and abundance of plant species in arid and semi-arid areas have most often been related to three groups of factors including physical environmental, soil chemistry, and human factors [8].
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