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<p>The present study is based on the hypothesis that the age of graveyards or burial places influences the composition of plant communities, resulting in distinct assemblages under the impact of various edaphic factors. To evaluate this hypothesis, the study was conducted across burial sites in Tehsil Samahni, Bhimber, in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir region of Pakistan. The graveyards were categorized into three age groups: young, medium, and old. A total of 279 quadrats were sampled across nine graveyards, three from each age group, documenting 73 plant species. Multivariate techniques were applied, including the construction of a two-way cluster heat map and hierarchical clustering, which revealed the grouping of these 73 species into three distinct clusters corresponding to the graveyards where they predominated. Community I, predominantly associated with young and medium-aged graveyards, consisted of 25 species from 16 families, including dominant taxa such as <i>Anthemis arvensis</i>, <i>Hypericum androsaemum</i>, <i>Scrophularia nodosa</i>, <i>Valeriana officinalis</i>, <i>Pimpinella saxifraga</i>, and <i>Cerastium fontanum</i>, all showing perfect indicator values for both young and medium age graveyards but absent in old graveyards. Community II, characteristic of medium and old graveyards, included 23 species such as <i>Vicia sativa</i>, <i>Leontodon hispidus</i>, <i>Lathyrus pratensis</i>, and <i>Oxalis acetosella</i>, which had strong indicator values for these later successional stages. Community III, mainly found in old graveyards, comprised 25 species including <i>Lathyrus pratensis</i>, <i>Oxalis acetosella</i>, and <i>Salvia pratensis</i>. To further explore species distribution across the graveyards, multivariate analyses including Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) were performed. The work revealed that traditional cemeteries can act as important refugia for native flora in rural settings and the study contributes to the underexplored interface of ethnobotany and landscape ecology.</p>

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Assessment of plant community composition and diversity across cemeteries: indicator species of burial sites in Tehsil Samahni, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年10月27日

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  • Zel E Arooj,
  • Muhammad Ishtiaq,
  • Muhammad Waqas Mazhar,
  • Mehwish Maqbool,
  • Tanveer Hussain

摘要

The present study is based on the hypothesis that the age of graveyards or burial places influences the composition of plant communities, resulting in distinct assemblages under the impact of various edaphic factors. To evaluate this hypothesis, the study was conducted across burial sites in Tehsil Samahni, Bhimber, in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir region of Pakistan. The graveyards were categorized into three age groups: young, medium, and old. A total of 279 quadrats were sampled across nine graveyards, three from each age group, documenting 73 plant species. Multivariate techniques were applied, including the construction of a two-way cluster heat map and hierarchical clustering, which revealed the grouping of these 73 species into three distinct clusters corresponding to the graveyards where they predominated. Community I, predominantly associated with young and medium-aged graveyards, consisted of 25 species from 16 families, including dominant taxa such as Anthemis arvensis, Hypericum androsaemum, Scrophularia nodosa, Valeriana officinalis, Pimpinella saxifraga, and Cerastium fontanum, all showing perfect indicator values for both young and medium age graveyards but absent in old graveyards. Community II, characteristic of medium and old graveyards, included 23 species such as Vicia sativa, Leontodon hispidus, Lathyrus pratensis, and Oxalis acetosella, which had strong indicator values for these later successional stages. Community III, mainly found in old graveyards, comprised 25 species including Lathyrus pratensis, Oxalis acetosella, and Salvia pratensis. To further explore species distribution across the graveyards, multivariate analyses including Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) and Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) were performed. The work revealed that traditional cemeteries can act as important refugia for native flora in rural settings and the study contributes to the underexplored interface of ethnobotany and landscape ecology.