The present study is based on the examination of quantitative vegetation description of moist temperate conifer forests of Himalayan
region of Pakistan. Forty one stands at five different locations from Himalayan Region of Pakistan were chosen for the study. The
underlying group in the vegetation was exposed using Ward’s cluster analysis. The three groups derived from cluster analysis were
superimposed on principal component analysis (PCA) ordination axes. Three main groups were clearly separated out on ordination
plane (axis 1 and 2) Group I was dominated by Pinus wallichiana stands, group II was dominated by Abies pindrow while group III
was composed of Cedrus deodara dominating stands. The relationships between environmental factors and vegetation were examined.
Environmental variables generally showed no significant relation with ordination axes, among the environmental variables only
elevation showed significant correlation with the ordination axes suggesting that the altitudinal gradient has an overriding role in the
composition of vegetation. Moist temperate forests are highly disturbed due to anthropogenic causes. Some recommendations are
proposed for the improvement and future research in these forests.
Muhammad Faheem Siddiqui, Moinuddin Ahmed, Nasrullah Khan, Imran Ahmed Khan. (2010) A QUANTITATIVE DESCRIPTION OF MOIST TEMPERATE CONIFER FORESTS OF HIMALAYAN REGION OF PAKISTAN AND AZAD KASHMIR, , Volume 7, Issue 3.
