Ecological Species Group’s Description of Oak Site (Case Study: West Azerbaijan, Iran)

A combination of field and tabular methods and multivariate analyses were used to develop groups of herb layer species (i.e., ecological species groups) that describe and characterize ecosystems dominated by oak in West Azerbaijan, Iran. Six such ecological species groups were created using 117 woody and herbaceous species sampled in 76 plots within a 320 ha region. We developed ecological species groups both for herb layer and tree strata in a Q-mode analysis using a combination of two types of hierarchical cluster analysis, TWINSPAN and Cluster analysis. Species groups were corroborated using detrended correspondence analysis and the environmental conditions indicated by each were described and contrasted based upon field observation. Two of the six species groups indicated relatively light conditions to moderate shade, north aspect and fertile soils within the set of plants dominated by Quercus libani Olive. The remaining four groups reflected very dry to dry, infertile sites, very light to light conditions, south aspect and disturbed sites. Our results demonstrated that ecological species groups may also provide the ecological basis for distinguishing ecosystems at broader scales for better management of forest.