PJB-2021-582
FLORISTIC DIVERSITY AND BIOLOGICAL SPECTRA OF DISTRICT CHAKWAL, PAKISTAN
Arshad Ali
Abstract
The district Chakwal, pakistan is sporadically known in terms of flora and vegetation. This is a mountainous terrain stretching between 450-1050 m above mean sea level. This study was aimed at recording flora and biological spectra of District Chakwal, Pakistan. A total of 468 plant species comprised of 295 genera and 79 families were documented which accounts for about 10.79% of the flora of Pakistan. It includes 03 ferns, 02 gymnosperms and 463 angiosperms (i.e. 125 monocotyledon and 338 dicotyledons). Conyza sumatrensis and Glandularia aristigera were recorded as new record and Buxus papillosa and Sida pakistanica as endemic to Pakistan; while, three species such as Alternanthera paronychioides, Solanum elaeagnifolium and Boerhavia repens were new to the Punjab. Therophytes are mostly dominating in te area (194 spp., 41.46%), followed by nanophanerophytes (94 spp., 20.01%) and hemicryptophytes (88 spp., 18.80%), chamaephytes (35 spp., 7.48%), macro-phanerophytes (27 spp., 5.77%) and geophytes (25 spp., 5.34%). With refernce to leaf spectra, nanophyll was the most dominant class with 151 species (32.26%), followed by microphyll (149 spp., 31.83%), mesophyll (102 spp., 21.79%), and leptophyll (66 spp., 14.10%). Homogeneity analysis detected a significant variation between floristic and vegetation life forms (x2 =14.543, p<0.05). This study explored the diversity of flora and biological spectra coupled with some unique taxa that need proper and immediate conservation, execution and monitoring from the concerned authorities to save this plant wealth.
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