COMPARATIVE REGENERATION STATUS OF PINUS GERARDIANA IN TWO FOREST-USE TYPES OF SULAIMAN MOUNTAIN RANGE NEAR PAK-AFGHAN BORDER REGION: HISTORICAL, CURRENT AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

摘要

Pinus gerardiana Wall. ex D.Don is valuable commercial species with sparse distribution all around the world. In theSulaiman mountain range of Pakistan, P. gerardiana faces many threats affecting its regeneration status and sustainableconservation. The aim of study was to evaluate the competing regeneration and expansion pattern of P. gerardiana in twodifferent forest-use types (based on anthropogenic pressure) in Sulaiman mountain range. Seventy plots were randomlyselected in each forest. Average regeneration density was significantly greater in the (low anthropogenic area) (85.76 ± 6.67no ha-1) than the (high anthropogenic area) (4.30 ± 0.98 no ha-1). Determining the basal area (m2 ha-1), significantly highervalue was recorded in low anthropogenic area (2.69 ± 0.14, p0.01) in comparison to high anthropogenic area (1.43 ± 0.10,p0.01). Average height of the trees was significantly higher in the high anthropogenic area. Shannon evenness andSimpson diversity indexes were determined based on the size of the dbh classes of the species. For low anthropogenic area,Shannon evenness and Simpson diversity index were recorded as 0.8355 ± 0.02 and 0.6109 ± 0.01 respectively while forhigh anthropogenic area the two indexes were recorded as 0.7429 ± 0.03 and 0.5109 ± 0.02 respectively. Overall theregeneration of P. gerardiana in the high anthropogenic area is in a critical state of condition. Hence, there is an urgent needto consider and take into account the alarming situation and to ensure the sustainability of these forests by enforcing strictlaws through community involvement.