NATURAL FACTORS AFFECTING THE DENSITY OF REGENERATION IN SUBTROPICAL CHIR PINE FOREST OF MALAKAND REGION, KHYBER-PAKHTUNKHWA, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Chir pine botanically called Pinus roxburghii of family Pinaceae, found in sub-tropical chir pine zone providing valuable services to the locals. The anthropogenic disturbances in sub-tropical Chir pine forest are mostly affecting natural regeneration in coniferous forest of Pakistan. However, natural factors like slope, aspect, elevation, sunshade etc. also responsible for low density of natural regeneration in these forests. Therefore, we formulated a study to investigate the effect of slope and aspect on natural regeneration of chir pine forest in Malakand region in Khyber Pakhutnkhwah. Regeneration was studied on three different slopes (steep slopes of 27° and above, the moderate slope of 18- 27° and gentle slope 18° and below and northern and southern aspect. A total of 45 random samples were thoroughly studied in the form of circular plots of radius 8.4 meters, 15 from each category of slope in each study area. Similarly, 20 plots on southern and 20 northern aspect were also selected randlomly in each study area. Analsysis was carried out through two way analysis of variance for slopes and two sample independent t- test for aspect through SPSS and significance difference among slope was determined through tukey test. The result showed that moderate slope and southern aspect was the best for optimum natural regeneration. The less number of regeneration on gentle slope corresponds to heavy anthropogenic activities, grazing pressure and inadequate mother trees. The study recommend to focus efforts of regeneration protectoin mainly on moderate slope, prohibit individuals from collecting seeds, and raise public understanding of natural regeneration.