Plant Life Classification in Summer of Tehsil Takht-e-Nasrati, District Karak, Khyber Pakhtun Khawa, Pakistan

Abstract

Aims: The study was designed to explore the floristic composition and vegetation classification. Place and Duration of Study: A survey of natural vegetation of Tehsil Takht-e-Nasrati, District Karak was undertaken in summer 2010-2011. The study was conducted within four distinct stands further divided into 22 sites for clear communities’ segregation. Methodology: Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA), and Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) were used for the plant community analysis. Plant species of each community type are presented together with the information on dominance and sub dominance species. Results: Five plant association i.e. Cenchrus-Saccharum-Prosopis association, Cenchrus-Eragrostis-Calligonum association, Zizyphus-Cenchrus-Eragrostis association, Rhazya-Fagonia-Cymbopogon association and Aerua-Boerhavia-Zizyphus association were recognized and 46 species were recorded. Conclusion: Classification and ordination techniques provided very similar results based on the floristic composition and communities similarity. The results produced the source for the mapping division of plant life communities.