ENVISAGING NATURAL VEGETATION IN CONTRASTING ENVIRONMENTS (PIEDMONT AND ALLUVIAL) OF DERA GHAZI KHAN, PAKISTAN

Climate change and anthropogenic activities have an impact on vegetation patterns and spatial arrangement. Dera Ghazi Khan Rangelands and its environs are home to a diverse array of plant species that flourish in a variety of habitats. There are two types of habitats in the research area: piedmont and alluvial. The present study predicted the interaction between surrounds and vegetation at the land use and land cover (LULC), Broad vegetation groups (BVGs), vegetation type, formation and subformation levels redundancy analysis (RDA). We've identified 76 species, 62 genera, and 28 families, most of which were Solanaceae (20 species) and Asteraceae (20 species). The Qualitative data were also used to analyse the variety & floral species richness of every random selection in which Shannon diversity (H) values varied from 2.93 to 2.49, and the estimated species richness (S.R.) range was 19.70 to 9.30, with high values indicating high variety in the unit area. The normal cluster analysis was applied on the Mesic zone found at a low elevation of 114.3 m, Sandy alluvial plains located at a height of 147.21 m and the Piedmont environment at an altitude of 809.85 metres above sea level. The DCA is being used to analyse the entire data set, and the Eigenvalues of the recoded first four DCA axes, are 0.785, 0.377, 0.137, and 0.088. DCAOrdination revealed the major curve to an amalgam of elevation (p<0.05) and slope (p<0.01) as elevation considerations associated with species distribution. Soil factors were key ecosystem elements along the DCA axis. Mg2+, K+, and N2+ contributed no more than 0.054%, 0.20%, and 0.073% of variation along each ordination axis, respectively. We observed that lower elevations (riparian) have more plant species richness and variety than higher elevations (piedmont). Furthermore, there was a substantial positive link between length and vegetation pattern, demonstrating that numerous environmental conditions impact the overall vegetation pattern in the study area.