Vegetation dynamics of anthropogenically disturbed ecosystem in hilly areas around Sargodha, Pakistan

Abstract

Present study has been conducted in order to evaluate the effects of different anthropogenic disturbances (stone crushing, grazing and cutting of trees for fuel) on the growth and development of different plant communities in disturbed ecosystem of Karana Hills near Sargodha. The data for density, frequency, cover and other derived parameters was collected using fixed quadrate method and analyzed by using canonical correspondence analysis technique. It was concluded that 80% disturbance was caused by stone crushing, 10% disturbance by grazing and 5% disturbance by harvesting and remaining by fire with other factors. Environmental factors significantly affect the growth as well as distributional pattern of the native plant species. Anthropogenic activities, especially stone crushing significantly affect community structure and composition, and distributional pattern as more stress tolerant species replace the sensitive ones.