Investigation Of Ecotype Two Species of Quercus (Oak) In The Forest Of Guilan Province

1. Investigation Of Ecotype Two Species of Quercus (Oak) In The Forest Of Guilan Province Sheikh Hassan F.*, Saeidi Mehrvarz S. & Asri Y. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran Abstract Introduction Material & Method research was carried out in order to study the ecological (elevation of area, slope and type of climate & soil) and morphological characters of leave & fruit (length & width of leave blad, number of dentate, length of petiol, length & width of cupules) in two species Q. macrenthera& Q. castaneifoliain the forests of Guilan Province. In order to sampling was done on several ecotypes in studied area. finally the data analyzed by using Minitab ver. 14 software and PCA method showed that two Quercusspecies separated from each other by the morphological characters of leave and fruit completely. Also their ecotypes differed by some factors and the ecological conditions can effect on the characters. Moreover the canopy present is directly dependent on tree elevation and the tree elevation does not correlate with tree diameter. The family Fagaceae includes nine currently recognized genera and ca. 1000 species, making it one of the largest and most economically important groups within the order Fagales. There are two clades within the family, Trigonobalanus sensu lato and a large clade comprising Quercus and the castaneoid genera. The genus Quercus (Oak) contains about 500 species that was introduce by Carl von Linnaeus (1753). Also Rechinger (1971)has reported 6 species in Iran. Quercus castaneifolia (Hyrcanian Oak) &Quercusmacrentheraare two species in Hyrcanian forests. We have undertaken this study to determinate effects of ecological factors on morphological characters in two species Q. macrenthera & Q. castaneifolia and also ecological studies of habitats include elevation of area, slope and type of climate & soil. In order to research morphological & ecological characters of two Quercus species in the Guilan province forests Samples were collected from 11 ecotypes. Sampling was done on several ecotypes in studies area. In each ecotype were established average of 3-5 plates in 1010 m and in each plat 5-8 samples wereselected randomly. Also in each ecotype 1-3 soil sample were collected to investigated the physiological & chemical factors. Finally the data were analyzed by using Minitab ver. 14 software and PCA method and based on the ecotypes were compared with each other. Fig 5: Leave of Q. macranthera Fig 1: leave of Q. castaneifolia Discussion Result Fig 6: Fruit of Q. macranthera Fig 2: Fruit of Q. castaneifolia The analysis showed that two Quercus species (Q. castaneifolia & Q. macrenthera) were separated from each other completely by the leave and fruit factors.Also their ecotypes differed by some factors and the ecological conditions can effect the characters.Moreover, the canopy present is directly dependent on tree elevation and the tree elevation dos not correlate with tree diameter. In the other hand, the area elevation may effect in tree elevation, fruits color & size. Soil factors as well as are important in tree elevation, diameter and productivity. The results of leave and fruit characters confirm the usefulness of them for identification of the species . Present of hair on shoots is a good character to separate Q. macrentherafrom the Q. castaneifolia. In the other hand, the ecological characters such as soil texture & area elevation effect the plant growth form . Moreover, in the dry soils & low slopes trees are shorter than the threes in wet soils and high slopes. Because of presence variation of morphological characters an extended study is useful to report sub species in north of Iran. Fig 7: Inflorescence of Q. macranthera Fig 3: Inflorescence Q. castaneifolia Fig 8: Tree of Q. macranthera Fig 4: Tree of Q. castaneifolia