Investigation of the Effect of Topography on Vegetative and Propagation Characteristics of Amygdalus scoparia in South Khorasan Range Ecosystems

Study of vegetation and environmental factors is considered as one of the important aspects in the management and conservation of natural ecosystems. This research investigates the effect of altitude from sea level (ASL) (in four classes: less than 1600 m, 1600-1800, 2000-1800 and more than 2000 m) and the direction of slope (in four main directions: north, south, east and west) on vegetative and Propagation Characteristics of Amygdalus scoparia includes density, average height, diameter of crown, number of sprouts, the thickest sprouts diameter (TSD), trunk health and natural regeneration. In order to study the effects of altitude and direction of slope on vegetative characteristics, one-way ANOVA and LSD tests were used and to determine the correlation between altitude with vegetative characteristics and natural regeneration of Amygdalus scoparia, Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients were used. The results showed that altitude had significant effects on the all vegetative characteristics of Amygdalus scoparia. The results of mean comparison indicate that the highest density and natural regeneration on 1800-200 meter level and the lowest on less than 1600 meter level. The maximum shrub height of the s and diameter of crown are on less than 1600 meter level, and the lowest are on 1800-2000 meter level and more than 2000 meter level. The effect of the direction of slope was significant only on the thickest sprouts diameter (TSD) (p≤0.01). The results of correlation analysis showed that there is a positive significant correlation between altitude and number of sprouts and there is a negative significant correlation between altitude and height, diameter of crown and trunk health of Amygdalus scoparia.