Floristic study of vegetation in Palang Galoun protected region, Isfahan province, Iran

Abstract

The Palang Galoun protected region, comprising 34935 hectares, is located 75 km northwest of Najaf Abad, and 102 km northwest of Isfahan city. The aim of this research was to assess the floristic spectrum, life form varieties, chorological analysis, determination of protected status and identification of medicinal, threatened species criteria and poisonous plants of this natural heritage. Plant samples were collected during different vegetative seasons at several stages. Life forms of samples were determined and chorological analysis was performed. On the basis of the obtained results, a total of 166 species belonging to 126 genera and 39 families were identified. Six families, 23 genera and 26 species belonged to monocotyledons, whereas 33 families, 103 genera and 140 species belonged to dicotyledons. In terms of chorological analysis, 58% of plant species were distributed in the Irano-Turanian region. It is noteworthy that 44 endemic species, 97 medicinal species, 48 pasture species and 23 poisonous species were present in the studied area. Life forms were found to comprise 54% hemicryptophytes, 24% therophytes, 10% geophytes, 7% chamaephytes and 5% phanerophytes. Based on IUCN red list categories and criteria, there were 22 species in the lower risk category and seven species categorized as vulnerable case.

Diversity and distribution of endemic and threatened plant species in the Sorkhabad Protected Area, Zanjan, NW Iran and identification of the biodiversity hotspots in the area

“…Because of the importance of protected areas in the conservation of biodiversity, it is necessary to carry out floristic research and document endemic and threatened species in these areas. In Zanjan Province and in Iran as a whole, several floristic studies have been conducted to investigate biodiversity in different areas such as the diversity of vascular plants in Damirli mountains (Mahmoodi et al, 2022); geographic distribution of the genus Astragalus in Iran (Mahmoodi et al, 2009); the hotspots and conservation gaps of the mega genus Astragalus in the Old World (Maassoumi & Ashouri, 2022); plant biodiversity of Golestan National Park (Akhani, 1998); floristic study of Marakan Protected Area (Ghahremaninejad & Nafisi, 2011); plant diversity of Ghorkhod Protected Area (Memariani et al, 2016); floristic study of Lissar Protected Area (Ghahremaninejad et al, 2012); flora of Sarigol National Park (Rahchamani et al, 2014); floristic study of Saldaran Protected Region (Hasanzadeh et al, 2018); the flora of Saluk National Park (Ezazi et al, 2014); a floristic study of Kalmand Bahadoran Protected Area (Mirhosseini et al, 2018) and floristic study of vegetation in Palang Galoun Protected Region (Sadeghipour et al, 2018). Sorkhabad Protected Area, which has an area of 122,618 hectares is situated in Zanjan Province.…”