Comparing Some Ecological Attributes of Cercis griffithii Boiss. on Geomorphic Faces of Arghavan Valley local of Binalood county, Khorasan Razavi province

The Arghavan Valley of Binalood county located at Khorasan Razavi province, is a habitat for valuable and almost rare plant community in eastern Iran which dominated by Cercis griffithii Boiss. shrubs. This habitat is very important for environmental aspects and combat desertification. It’s documented where arid and semi-arid shrublands destroyed, it is very difficult to restore. The Arghavan valley is located at geomorphological faces of mountainous which contains two distinct geomorphic facies of regular slopes and irregular ones that appear as rock outcrops with debris. It seems that this shrub has a kind of distribution pattern and biological power which related to the geomorphic facies. Then, to surveying the density of the shrubs in soiled slopes and rock outcrops, five sites were selected in such a way which have the most similarities with each other to minimize the impact of other environmental factors. By counting the number of the shrubs and determining the area of ​​each site using Google Earth software, density of the shrubs determined and statistical differences of facies were compared. For evaluate and comparing vigority of the shrubs, 30 plants selected randomly and canopy cover of them were calculated. Then 15 plants selected and leaf area of 12 leaves measured at each plant. So two attributes of leaf area and canopy cover were determined and compared statistically. Based on the results, at two geomorphic facies, mean density and leaf area were significantly different at 95% level, and the difference in mean canopy cover of the shrubs was significantly at 99% level. The shrub, therefor, has higher density on rocky outcrop with debris but more vigor on regular slopes. Favorable micro-climatic conditions of rocky outcrops for seed and seedlings establishment, may cause higher density at this facies. More possibility of root development, water and nutrition absorption at soiled slops, caused more vigority at this geomorphological facies.