Investigation of Habitat Characteristics and Phenology of Five Range Species in Highlands of Kashan, Iran

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Knowledge on habitat characteristics and nature of regional vegetation inrangelands is a prerequisite for any planning and proper range management along withsustainable development of renewable natural resources. Rangelands in southern andwestern highlands of Kashan, Iran are of good vegetation diversity but unfortunately,palatable and desirable species are endangered in recent years. This research aims toinvestigate habitat characteristics and phenology of five range species including Prangoslatiloba, Prangos uloptera, Ferula ovina, Astragalus eriopodus and Onobrychismelanotricha. Several field studies were conducted and the distribution of each species inhighlands of Kashan was determined using topographic maps, land capability, and GPS.Ten key species were selected in each region to study their phenological stages includingvegetative growth, flowering, seed maturity, and seed dormancy. In spring, summer andautumn, 15-day visits and a 30-day visit in winter were performed. Finally, the distributionof each species and phenological stages were presented in maps and graphs. Our resultsshowed that the dormancy period in most species started from early August and continueduntil late March. As temperatures rise in late March, vegetative growth starts and continuesuntil mid-May. Flowering stage was in a period of mid-May and the end of June;afterwards, seeding stage and seed dispersal have started.