Morphological traits of Quercus castaneifolia C. A. Mey in Darkash region and Golestan National Park
Subject Areas : forest science
Keywords: genetic diversity, Plasticity, leaf area, Forest park, natural forest,
Abstract :
Due to the widespread destruction of highland habitats (Quercus castaneifolia C. A. Mey) in northern and northeastern Iran, the study of its genetic diversity for more conservation and management seems necessary. In the present study, based on 12 morphological traits using multivariate statistical methods, the geographical diversity of oak species was studied among different populations in the two regions of Darkash and Golestan park. For this research, from two natural oak habitats, four stations with a difference in height of 200 meters from each other and from each station, five trees with a minimum distance of 100 meters from each other and five leaves from each tree were collected. The studied characteristics were measured using TPS software and analyzed using SAS 9.1 software. The results of analysis of variance showed that the characteristics of petiole length, leaf width 0.9, number of right veins, number of left veins, leaf circumference and leaf length to petiole length were significantly different between habitats. The results also showed that the traits of number of right and left veins, leaf length and width had the most role in creating variance and grouping of stems and had the lowest amount of plasticity. As a result, these traits are less affected by the environment and are effective in studying diversity and are introduced as suggested traits in studying the genetic diversity of tall oak species.
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