Retracted: Botanical criterions of Quchan Baharkish Rangeland in Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran

Abstract

The article was retracted because of there was an error on it. The researcher can find the corrected version on May 2017 issues vol 21 no. 3 (https://www.ajol.info/index.php/jasem/article/view/158830)

Rangelands are natural ecosystems containing a range of resources of genetic reserves and numerous plant species and its evaluation has always been essential. However, biodiversity is one of the most important components of Habitat assessment and the identification and introduction of the flora of an area is one of the significant operations that can be used in order to optimize the utilization of the available natural resources. Baharkish rangeland is located at a distance of about 60 km south of the city of Quchan. The rangeland’s average elevation is about 2069 m above sea level, with its lowest at 1740 m and highest at 2440m. Baharkish rangland in over a ten year period has had the average annual rainfall of 337 mm and 998.2 mm evaporation as well as average annual temperature of 9.4°C, respectively. The results of the research conducted in the spring of 2014, showed that the total study area includes 22 species from 78 families with Poaceae, Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Apiaceae, Brassicaceae, Caryophyllaceae and Papilionaceae being the dominant families with respectively 19, 15, 12, 9, 8, 7 and 5 frequencies. Classification of biological Form according to Raunkiær method showed the dominance of the hemicryptophytes with the greatest frequency (42%), followed by Therophytes, Chamaephytes, Cryptophyte, and Phanerophytes with 30%, 15%, 8% and 5% of species are the dominant life forms of the area. In terms of geographical distribution, the Iran-Turanian plant species with the frequency of 63% obtained the maximum value.

Keywords: Biological form, Flora, Geographical distribution, Plant vegetation, Raunkiaer