POPULATION STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF DODONAEA VISCOSA (Linn.) Jacq., IN MALAKAND DIVISION PAKISTAN BY SIRAJ AHMAD DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY UNIVERSITY OF MALAKAND CHAKDARA, DIR (L) 2016 POPULATION STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF DODONAEA VISCOSA (Linn.) Jacq., IN MALAKAND DIVISION PAKISTAN BY SIRAJ AHMAD A thesis submitted to the Department of Botany University of Malakand for the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Botany DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY UNIVERSITY OF MALAKAND CHAKDARA, DIR (L) 2016 DECLARATION I declare that this work is original and I have not used other than the declared sources and have explicitly marked all materials which have been quoted either literally or by content from the used sources. I also declare that this work has so far neither been submitted to the Department of Botany, University of Malakand, Pakistan, for obtaining the degree of Ph.D in Botany. The present study was carried out in the Laboratory of the Department of Botany, University of Malakand Chakdara (Lower Dir), Khyber Pakhtun Khwa (KPK), Pakistan. ______________________________ Siraj Ahmad Table of Contents LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................... v ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. vi CHAPTER 1:GENERAL INTRODUCTION ....................................................................... 1 1.1 Profile of the study area ............................................................................................................ 2 1.2 Agro-Ecosystem zoning of Malakand Division. ................................................................... 3 1.3 Ecological Zonation of study area ........................................................................................... 3 1.3.1 Sub-humid tropical zones .......................................................................................... 3 1.3.2 Sub-tropical zone ....................................................................................................... 4 1.3.3 Humid temperate zone ............................................................................................... 4 1.3.4 Cool temperate zone .................................................................................................. 4 1.3.5 Cold temperate zone .................................................................................................. 4 1.3.6 Alpine zone ................................................................................................................ 5 1.3.7 Cold desert zone ........................................................................................................ 5 1.4 History of study area ............................................................................................................ 6 1.5 Introduction to plant (Dodonaea viscosa).......................................................................... 10 Aims and Objectives ................................................................................................................ 19 CHAPTER 2: COMMUNITY STRUCTURE AND NATURAL DYNAMICS OF Dodonaea viscosa .................................................................................................................... 20 2.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 22 2.1.1 Community structure and natural dynamics of vegetation ............................................. 22 2.1.2 Multivariate analysis ............................................................................................................ 24 2.1.3 Background information on Multivariate analysis in Pakistan ...................................... 25 2.1.4 Study area .............................................................................................................................. 26 2.2 MATERIALS AND METHOD ......................................................................................... 30 2.2.1 Field Method ......................................................................................................................... 30 2.2.2 Design of sampling points and collection of data ............................................................ 30 2.2.3 Soil samples collection ........................................................................................................ 31 2.2.4 Soil Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 32 2.2.5 Statistical Analysis ............................................................................................................... 32 2.3 RESULTS .......................................................................................................................... 34 2.3.1 Floristic composition ............................................................................................................ 34 2.3.2 Classification of Vegetation Communities’ through Ward’s Cluster Analysis ........... 37 2.3.3 Dodonaea communities ....................................................................................................... 40 i 2.3.4 Environmental variables related to various plants communities derived through Ward’s cluster analysis .................................................................................................................. 42 2.3.5Correlation among environmental variables ...................................................................... 45 2.3.6 Vegetation-environmental relationship (Ordination) ....................................................... 47 2.3.7 Correlation of Environmental variables with NMS ordination axis .............................. 50 2.3.8 DCA ordination..................................................................................................................... 51 2.3.9 Correlation of environmental variables along with DCA ordination axis .................... 55 2.3.10 Cover /ha ............................................................................................................................. 61 2.3.11 Height size structure of Dodonaea ................................................................................... 64 2.3.12 Cover size classes of Dodonaea ....................................................................................... 69 2.4 DISCUSSION .................................................................................................................... 72 CHAPTER 3: REGENERATION STATUS OF DODONAEAVISCOSA IN STUDY AREA ...................................................................................................................................... 79 Abstract .................................................................................................................................... 80 3.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 80 3.2 MATERIALS AND METHODS ....................................................................................... 83 3.2.1 Field survive .......................................................................................................................... 83 3.2.2 Design of quadrat and collection of data. .......................................................................... 83 3.2.3 Collection of soil samples ................................................................................................... 83 3.2.4 Laboratory procedure ........................................................................................................... 83 3.2.5 Statistical Analysis ............................................................................................................... 84 3.3 RESULTS .......................................................................................................................... 85 3.3.1 Regeneration Potential of Dodonaea viscosa................................................................... 85 3.3.2 Cross correlation of seedling and sapling with environmental variables ...................... 85 3.3.3 Regression analysis .............................................................................................................. 88 3.4 DISCUSSION .................................................................................................................. 104 CHAPTER 4: THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT SOIL AND SHADE REGIME ON GERMINATION AND GROWTH PATTERN OF DODONAEA VISCOSA ................ 106 Abstract .................................................................................................................................. 107 4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 108 4.2 Materials and Methods ..................................................................................................... 110 4.2.1 Study site ............................................................................................................................. 110 4.2.2 Experimental manipulation ............................................................................................... 111 4.3 RESULTS .......................................................................................................................