Vegetation composition and threats to the montane temperate forest ecosystem of qalagai hills,swat,khyber pakhtunkhwa,Pakistan

The remnant temperate forests in qalagai hills,district swat,khyber pakhtunkhwa is under severe anthropogenic pressure in the form of logging,deforestation,over-grazing and clearance of forest for terrace cultivation. the present endeavours were undertaken to assess the structure and composition of the existing vegetation of the area with an aim to pinpoint strategies for the conservation of this threatened ecosystem. a total of 160 stands were sampled by using 10x10m,2x2m and 1x1m quadrats for tree,shrub and herb layers,respectively adapting random stratified design. frequency,density and crown coverage of each species were recorded and converted to relative values to obtain importance values. in all,floristic composition comprised of 209 species of vascular plants belonging to 167 genera and 75 families. on the basis of highest importance values,similarity index,topography,physiognomy and edaphic factors,eight stratified plant communities viz.,1) populus-debregeasia- nasturtium,2) olea-plectranthus-micromeria,3) pinus roxburghii-plectranthus-rumex,4) quercus-indigofera-amaranthus,5) pinus wallichiana-indigofera-galium,6) cedrus-indigofera-thymus,7) cedrus-viburnum-pteridium and 8) pinus wallichiana-viburnum-leucas were established in the area. reclamation and conservation of original ecosystem need a long term strategy with active involvement of the local inhabitants.