INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE & BIOLOGY ISSN Print: 1560–8530; ISSN Online: 1814–9596 08–256/AJI/2009/11–1–64–68 http://www.fspublishers.org Full Length Article To cite this paper: Ahmad, I., M.S.A. Ahmad, M. Hussain, M. Hameed, M.Y. Ashraf, M. Saghir and S. Koukab, 2009. Spatio-temporal effects on species classification of medicinal plants in soone valley of Pakistan. Int. J. Agric. Biol., 11: 64–68 Spatio-temporal Effects on Species Classification of Medicinal Plants in Soone Valley of Pakistan IFTIKHAR AHMAD, MUHAMMAD SAJID AQEEL AHMAD 1 , MUMTAZ HUSSAIN, MANSOOR HAMEED, MUHAMMAD YASIN ASHRAF†, MUHAMMAD SAGHIR‡ AND SHAISTA KOUKAB¶ Department of Botany, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan †Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB), Faisalabad, Pakistan ‡Barani Agricultural Research Institute, Chakwal, Pakistan ¶Arid Zone Research Centre, Quetta, Pakistan 1 Corresponding author: e-mail: sajidakeel@yahoo.com ABSTRACT Soone Valley of Salt range in Pakistan was investigated to determine the distribution pattern of vegetation especially medicinal plant diversity at different sites and seasons. Six sites were selected on the basis of variation in their environmental [elevation, slope, aspect (western/northern), altitude, topography and soil composition] and community attributes [habitat, vegetation type & plant community structure]. The ecological data for autumn, winter, spring and summer seasons were recorded during last weeks of September, December, March and June, respectively. Results revealed that most of the species were frequent during summer as compared to other seasons, which was correlated with suitable temperature, enough moisture and availability of macronutrients during summer. Among sites most of the species were more frequent in Khabeki and Khoora sites, which seemed to be associated with high macronutrient availability and field capacity. Salt and drought tolerant species were associated with Jallar site. On the other hand, moisture loving and moderately moisture requiring species were found equally distributed between the Knotti Garden and Dape Sharif. Justicia adhatoda was the only frequently occurring medicinal plant during most of the seasons and at maximum sites, whereas the distribution of other species was mainly restricted to a particular season or site. It was concluded that soil moisture, salts and availability of macro-and micronutrients were the major determinants of species distribution in the studied area. Key Words: Soone valley; Classification; Medicinal plants; Seasons; Species distribution INTRODUCTION Species classification is generally used to assess the diversity and status of plant species. Based on different criteria, plant species are generally classified in different groups e.g., dominant, abundant, rare etc. For example, Dyksterhuis (1949) classified range species using percent cover and assigned them the terms like decreaser, increaser and invader. In addition, based on quantitative ecology, he classified range conditions into excellent, good, poor and very poor. Hanson (1951) classified bunch type range land into four classes depending on the observed vegetation composition, soil condition, plant vigor and lesser degree on plant density. Hussain (2002) classified various plant species based on density and frequency percentage. The Soone Valley is located between longitudes 72°00 and 72°30 E and latitudes 32°25 and 32°45 N. It is surrounded by two parallel east-west longitudinal ridge systems, covering an area of 300 km 2 . The average elevation of the area is 762 m and the highest adjacent point is the Sakesar Top being 1522 m above sea level (Afzal et al., 1999). The climate of the valley is characterized by a relatively low annual precipitation (50 cm) and average minimum temperature of 1 o C during January, while average maximum temperature is 36 o C during June. Prolonged periods of drought are frequent and winters are accompanied by frost (Hussain, 2002). The dominant vegetation of this valley comprises of Justicia adhatoda, Achyranthus aspara, Acacia modesta, A. nilotica, Albizzia lebbeck, Melilotus alba, Capparis deciduas, Chenopodium album, Calotropis procera, A. farnesiana, Datura metel, Fumeria indica, Olea ferruginea, Peganum hermala and Mentha longifolia (Ahmad et al., 2002; Hussain, 2002). These and many other species are traditionally popular as healing agents and have been used by indigenous people for the treatment of various diseases (Ahmad et al., 2002). Although a number of surveys were conducted in salt range reporting the biodiversity and floral composition (Ahmad, 2002), little information is available on the