Herbaceous biodiversity and soil properties of stabilised landslide area in northern mountain forest of Iran

Landslides create many ecological processes on a local scale in the landscape, including subsequent ecological processes. Landslide geological effects and their management as well as physical hazards have been thoroughly investigated, but the ecological processes created by landslides and their relationship with measures to rebuild the stability of unstable domains have not been well investigated. The comparison of a landslide area with its adjacent control area in terms of soil properties and vegetation can help us determine the time it takes for recovery. Soil properties and herbaceous biodiversity of a stabilised landslide area in the Northern Mountain Forest (Kheyrud Forest) were investigated and compared with a non-slide adjacent area. In order to study the properties of soil and herbaceous biodiversity in the two areas, 2 * 2 (m) sample plots were used. To calculate biodiversity indexes, PAST software was used. To compare properties of the areas, Independent Sample T-test was used. Statistical test results showed an insignificant difference between chemical properties and herbaceous diversity of the areas. In this study the means of Margalef and Menhinick richness were 1.27 and 0.68 respectively in the stabilised area, and 1.43 and 0.73 respectively in the control area. The means of Simpson diversity in the stabilised area and control area were 0.76 and 0.66 respectively. The results of the soil mechanical properties comparison showed that the soil texture of the areas of interest was fine grained. Soil liquid and plasticity limits were 42.78 and 28.42 respectively in the stabilised area and 42.42 and 29.34 respectively in the control area. It was concluded that the soil mechanical, physical and chemical properties of the stabilised area returned to the original situation over two decades.