Iranian Journal of Applied Ecology

To study the effect of climatic factors on Taverniera glabra species distribution in Iran rangelands, climatic variables were selected and factors affecting species distribution were evaluated using factor analysis. Then a spatial distribution map was prepared for all these factors throughout Iran. Factor analysis showed that 9 factors included: temperature, relative humidity, winter precipitation and summer precipitation, partly cloudy days, average wind speed, thunder and snowy days with eigenvalues greater than 1, explained 29.71, 22.32, 9.58, 7.52, 6.80, 6.22, 4.25, 3.69, 2.22 percent of variance, respectively and 92.35% of total variance. Finally, the climatic factors of temperature, relative humidity, average wind speed and thunderstorm were identified as the most important factors affecting distribution of vegetation types which Taverniera glabra are dominant species. Furthermore temperature, summer precipitation, average wind speed and thunderstorm factors affecting on distribution of vegetation types in which Taverniera glabra are accompanied species. The results showed that these climatic factors caused distribution of Taverniera glabra in the South East of Iran.