The European Journal of Plant Science and Biotechnology 5 (Special Issue 2),44-47. 

Larger gradients of abiotic factors result in more vegetative zones in salt-affected habitats.

Tóth T, Szabó A. 

ABSTRACT

Data of eleven transects were collected from the technical literature to give answer to the question: what is the most important factor that determines the number of zones in a transect? From collected data on transect length, elevation, soil salinity and soil pH, the gradients of these parameters were calculated between the highs and lows of the transects. The number of vegetative zones per unit transect length showed very strong correlation (significant at 0.01 level) with every studied gradient and their sum as well. The strongest correlation was shown by the pH gradient with r=0.991, because of the toxicity of the sodium carbonate, responsible for the high values. Although the studied database is rather heterogeneous, the tendencies are very clear. For the comparison of the effect of separate abiotic factors on the number of vegetative zones per unit transect length, more detailed analysis with a larger number of transects (with similar length and elevation) is necessary.

Key words: salinity, elevation, pH, zonation