Abeer Moussa*(1) and Zuheir Shater(2)
(1). Department of Agricultural Mechanization, Faculty of Technical Engineering. Tartous University, Tartous, Syria.
(2). Department of Forestry and Ecology, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering, Tishreen University, Lattakia, Syria.
(*Corresponding author: Abeer Moussa. E-Mail: Abeerceta@gmail.com).
Received: 11/12/2023 Accepted: 19/02/2024
Abstract:
This research aimed to understand the edge effects resulting from forest fragmentation on plant species diversity in Tartous Governorate. The study was conducted in three forest sites during the year 2018 : Al-Juba Forest (Tartous), Seristan Forest (Safita), and Marah Al-Shellah (Sheikh Badr). Plant surveys were conducted using the Intercept Line Method, first at the edge of the forest and then at a distance of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 m from it, in the four directions (North, East, South, West). Compositional and functional diversity were assessed using several indices (Specific Richness, Shannon, Jaccard). The average specific richness of the total studied sites was high in the northern side and low in the southern side, especially in the lines close to the edge, but this specific richness gradually decreased in the furthest lines and in the four sides of the studied sites, converging clearly after 50 meters from the edge in general. The average specific richness according to the distance from the edge, for all the forests and lines studied together, showed an almost typical trend, as the specific richness gradually decreased when we moved away from the edge, and the standard deviation values were large, reflecting the large variation in the specific richness values in the studied sites and lines. Statistical analysis showed significant differences between the first and last lines in general, as the specific richness increased significantly in lines L0 and L1 than in lines L50 and line L100. The study of life forms showed that the hemi-cryptophytes dominated in the lines near the edge, while Phanerophytes dominated in the last lines. The study of the dispersal models showed that the number of species for most types was high near the edge and then decreased away from it, except for Myrmechores, which were recorded at the edge only, and Dyzoochores, which maintained their number in almost all lines.
Keywords: edge effect, life forms, dispersal model, compositional diversity, functional diversity.
Full paper in Arabic: PDF