Abstract
Livestock grazing makes deforming, thorny and twisted branches. The leaf are the main food resources for livestock. We aimed to investigate the leaf morphological characteristics of Zagros forest species under the livestock grazing. Therefore, leaf morphological characteristics of six forest species were investigated in five forest stands in Ilam province. Morphological traits: leaf width, leaf length, petiole length, leaf area, leaf dry weight were measured. The results showed that grazing affects most of the leaf morphological traits. To sum up, the findings showed that tree leaves are more susceptible to grazing stress as the grazing will damage the tree growth and forest regeneration and structure. Therefore, knowing how livestock causes damage in the forest trees will help to lessen the forest destruction and then manage forest better.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Environmental Sciences Proceedings |
| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 21 Oct 2022 |
Keywords
- Livestock grazing
- leaf morphological traits
- Forest Conservation
- structural adaptation
- Zagros forest