Estimating Plant Biomass by Using Non-Destructive Parameters in Arid Regions (Case Study: Inche-Broun Winter Rangelands, Golestan, Iran)
الموضوعات :Naghmeh Gholami Baghi 1 , Adel Sepehri 2 , Hossein Barani 3 , Salman Abdol-Rasoul Mahini 4
1 - Ph.D Student, Rangeland Ecology and Management Department, Agricultural Sciences and Natural
Resources of Gorgan University
2 - Associate Professor, Rangeland Ecology and Management Department, Agricultural Sciences and Natural
Resources of Gorgan University
3 - Associate Professor, Rangeland Ecology and Management Department, Agricultural Sciences and Natural
Resources of Gorgan University
4 - Environment Department, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources of Gorgan
University
الکلمات المفتاحية: stepwise regression, biomass, Arid and semi-arid rangelands, Clipping and weighing method,
ملخص المقالة :
Plant biomass is an important factor for determining arid and semi-aridrangelands capacity. Due to the lack of proper and annual sampling of rangelands, there areno suitable data to determine biomass, range condition and proper range managementoperations. Plant biomass is one of the measurable attributes that can be assessed inrangeland studies. Since the clip and weight method is destructive and time-consuming,green biomass was estimated by using dimensional parameters (Plant Allometry) includingcanopy cover, length and width of diameters. Field sampling was done using seventy 2×2m quadrats along five 100 m transects. The data were analyzed by stepwise regression. Theresults showed that the fresh and dry biomass showed significant positive correlations withcanopy cover, the length and width of diameters of Halocnemum strobilaceum shrub(p<0.05). The results of stepwise regression showed that just canopy cover and diameterlength were remained in the final model, so that 80.2% of biomass variations wereexplained by canopy cover and diameter length.
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