Ecological Distribution Patterns of Wild Grasses and Abiotic Factors

Abstract

Documentation the relative influence of ecological dynamics on species diversity patterns can help us better understand spatial distribution patterns and devise a systematically comprehensive base for carrying out environmental explorations. The current attempt aimed at exploring the distribution patterns, diversity and richness of wild grasses with respect to climatic dynamics in the Gujrat district of Punjab, Pakistan. For this purpose, we applied the randomized sample method and sampled a total of 90 sites across the Gujrat district between 2019 and 2021 to document data on wild grasses and related ecological conditions. After assessment of the significant value index of each grass species with ecological records, we evaluated the data by ordination and cluster analysis. A total of 57 wild grasses from 37 genera were documented from the Gujrat district. The leading genera were Brachiaria, Cenchrus and Setaria, each accounting for 7.02% of all documented species, followed by Aristida and Panicum, each representing 5.76% of the species. Dactyloctenium, Dichanthium, Eragrostis, Polypogon, Poa and Saccharum each accounted for 5.26% of the species, and Digitaria, Pennisetum, Eragrostis, Chrysopogon Poa and Setaria each accounted for 3.51% of the species. Other genera each had a single species. Among all grasses, 75.44% of the species were native and 24.56% species were exotic and introduced to the study area. The leading life forms were therophytes (56.14%), followed by hemicryptophytes (42.11%) and geophytes (1.75%). Microphylls, with a 54.39% share, dominated the leaf size spectra of the wild grasses flora in this research. Other frequent classes included nanophylls (21.05%), macrophylls (19.3%) and leptophylls (5.26%). Flowering phenology of wild grasses showed that mainly species at the flowering phase were recorded during the months of June to August (40.35%) and July to September (19.29%). By applying Ward’s agglomerative clustering method, we classified the ninety transects into four major groups. Ordination analysis showed that different ecological factors had significant (p ≤ 0.002) effects on vegetation relations. The present endeavor provides a basic way to understand the impacts of ecological variables on the structure, diversity, composition and associations of wild grasses, which are helpful to improve the scientific-informed conservation and management measures for the environmental reestablishment of degraded habitat in the studied region.

1. Introduction

Vegetation is described by the whole plant species in a given habitat considering various environmental factors [1]. It is described by physiognomic, analytical, synthetic and quantifiable features under the influence of biotic and abiotic impacts. Environmental variables are responsible for vegetation composition, species coexistence and adaptability of the species in any location. In regard to climatic, edaphic and anthropogenic influences, vegetation is the composition, distribution and group of plant species in a particular area [2]. The vegetation structure may be defined based on several quantitative features. Quantitative analysis is a critical measure for planning and interpreting long-term ecological research as it evaluates vegetation structure precisely. Wild grasses and their ecological properties such as ecological habitat, life span, biological spectra and flowering phenology were analyzed in this study. Previous studies have enumerated the life forms and leaf size spectra and examined the impact of several climatic features on the eco-physiological practices of vegetation communities [3,4]. However, few studies have been conducted on the life forms of plant communities reported from Pakistan [5,6], and further in-depth studies would be extremely beneficial. The principal objectives of the current endeavor were to identify ecological characteristics (life cycle, life form, leaf size spectra) [7] in order to recognize the distribution patterns of wild grasses in a precise method.

Among flowering plants, Poaceae is a successful family, manageable in every habitat and phytogeographical zone of the globe due to its compliance with every climate, covering about 20% of the land surface. In monocots, about 15% is shared by Poaceae [8], affording them ecological predominance. From the nourishment point of view, grasses are the prime source of nutrient supplements for almost all animals, including humans. They supply the majority of human diet and a variety of livestock feedstuff in many countries’ urban and suburban contexts. Globally, grasses and natural pastures are used for cattle as forages. Locally native flora of Poaceae constitute a valuable nutritive source for livestock, along with preserving soil integration, moistness and porosity for air infiltration. Grass species are foremost a source of income, particularly for rural people around the world, providing effective cereal components for humans and livestock. In ecological terms, wild grasses have a very important role in the ecosystem as they are involved in the formation and conservation of soil texture by supplying humus to the soil on a regular basis, fulfilling nutrient requirements and improving primary production in all types of climates, from alpine to xeric habitats.

In our country, Punjab is divided into four zones: north, west, south and central [9]. Meat and dairy products related to livestock are well managed throughout the province. Varieties of trees, shrubs, herbs and grasses flourish in this area. Wild grasses, on the other hand, remain the most potential fodder source. Because wild grass is more palatable to ruminants than other fodders, it is chosen [10]. As a result, for local people who manage animals as feed, wild grasses are the primary choices. Additionally, wild grasses grow vigorously and are accessible in any season.

In spite of the fact that precise knowledge about the Poaceae family, mainly understand the relation between wild grasses and animal potency is growing. There are major gaps in knowledge on the ecological aspects impacting the Poaceae family in Pakistan, especially in district Gujrat, Punjab. The Gujrat district has a varied topography and climate, which supports a widespread of floral diversity. But till now, it has received only sporadic scientific attention so far. As wide-range classification and ordination are beneficial tools to understand associations and dynamics for preserving, planning and uses of wild grasses [11]. Keeping in mind these facts, the present attempt was planned to address the following goals; (a) to analyze floristic distribution pattern of the wild grasses in this region; (b) to comprehend the developing trends for documenting taxonomic group and (c) to determine ecological factors influencing the structure, and composition of wild grasses in this area. Due to outcomes of this study, we will be able to formulate sustainable management policies and habitat restoration methodologies of the wild grasses, predominantly in this natural landscape, with global consequences.

2. Methodology

2.1. Study Area

The Gujrat district in Punjab, Pakistan is situated to the northeastern part of Punjab at 32°34′23.7″ N latitude while 74°4′57.6″ E longitude and located in the mid of two major rivers, River Chenab toward Southeastern side and River Jhelum towards Northwestern side are flowing. It is bounded on the northeastern part with Azad Jammu and Kashmir, on the northwestern to Jhelum River which separates it from Jhelum district, towards the eastern and southeastern side linked by the Chenab River, dividing it from the districts of Sialkot and Gujranwala, and on the western side situated Mandi Bahauddin district (Figure 1).

Total area of Gujrat is about 3192 square kilometers (km²) whereas total population is 2.4 million [12]. The climate of the district is moderate. During summer days, highest temperature reached up to 45 °C while short hot spells occurred due to vicinity of mountain range of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. In case of winter lowest temperature recorded below 2 °C. Annually recorded average rainfall was 778 mm. Underground water is the major source of irrigation for domestic and agriculture requirements [13]. The Soil profiling of the district shown the alluvial complex however fine-to moderate clay, silt and sand.

2.2. Vegetation Sampling

To work out the plant diversity in the Gujrat district of Punjab province, Pakistan, comprehensive field visits were conducted in the study area from 2019 to 2021. The entire district was split up into 90 grids based upon climate, topography, physiognomy and physiography. Each grid was subdivided into 3 sites based on the heterogeneity of the vegetation [4,14]. In the research area 270 sample sites were randomly selected for collecting quantitative phytosociological data. As a total 9 plots (3 grasses/ species) were investigated at each sample site. To attain richness records for individual grass species, quantitative phytosociological data, density, frequency, cover values and significance value index were documented in every plot for each plant species, and the mean values for each of the 270 sampled quadrats were calculated. During field surveys, samples were gathered from forest, wetlands, grassland, mountain summits, arable land, dry land, road sides, sandy places, scrubby lands in each site of the Gujrat district. Triplet quadrats, each with 11 m² in size were laid in each study site randomly. The important phytoecological data like the biological spectra (life form, leaf size), flowering seasons and cultivation status of each plant were noted. The geographic aspects such as altitude, latitude and longitude for each site was determined by a Garmin eTrex Global Positioning System (GPS) made by Garmin Ltd. (Switzerland) [15].

During the field surveys, grass specimens were taken, pressed, dried, photographed and finally mounted as an international standard-sized herbarium sheets. All recode samples were cross-matched to the floristic literature after identification following the Flora of Pakistan online (http://www.efloras.org/, accessed on 7 May 2020) [16,17]. To avoid any taxonomic confusion related to classifying species, binomials as well as the family nomenclature was used following the plant list ver. 1.1 (URL: http://www.theplantlist. org/, accessed on 12 May 2020) afterward the preliminary identification of grass specimens.

2.3. Soil Sampling

The location data of the plots under consideration was documented by handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) system. Physicochemical qualities of the soil determine the spatial distribution of plant communities [18]. Soil samples were collected with level at the depth of 9 to 12 cm from each sampling site and placed in a polythene bag. The dust was well mixed, then air-dried and rock, rubbish, gravel particles which are larger than 2 mm in size are removed by sieving the soil samples. Soil moisture, soil pH, electrical conductivity, organic matter, macronutrients such as CaCO₃, N, P, and K), and saturation were measured in the soil samples. Electrical conductivity of soil samples was determined with a conductivity meter, while pH was determined by pH meter. The total nitrogen (N) was determined following the Kjeldahl method [19], and the organic matter (OM) using the Walkley–Black method [20] was determined. The levels of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) were calculated, and CaCO₃ was assessed using acid-base neutralization method. The ScalTec moisture analyzer which was set to 110 °C was applied to measure the moisture content (MC) of soil samples [21]. The percentage of saturation was estimated following the formula;

$$\% moisture=\frac{Wet soil-Dry soil}{Dry soil}\times 100$$

(1)

2.4. Ordination Analysis

The relative influence of each grass species in the established vegetative associations was evaluated by means of cluster analysis [9]. This study correspondingly helped in finding the diagnostic and sporadic plants of each floral category, as well as their degree of association with their corresponding groups. The results of the vegetation classification were confirmed by detrended correspondence analysis (DCA). The impacts of environmental variables in the alterations in the grass species data was further investigated by canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). Ward’s technique and Euclidean distances applied to locate precise pruning points for the dendogram as describe by DCA and CCA was employed on the data sets to correlate grass vegetation structure with environmental factors [22,23].

2.5. Data Analysis

The collected phytosociological data for plants and environmental variables were organized and further processed in Microsoft Excel 2016 for subsequent analysis, following the CANOCO (version 4.5, Microcomputer Power, New York, NY, USA) and PAST software (version 4.10) [6,24]. The cluster analysis was based upon importance value index (IVI) of each wild grass species found in the 270 sampled spots. The optimal pruning fact for the dendrogram was determined using Ward’s technique and Euclidean distances. PAST software (version 4.07) was used to cluster and calculate the diversity indices for each cluster group. CANOCO software of applied to perform CCA and DCA [25,26]. On the basis of presence-absence (1/0) of species and Two way cluster analysis (TWCA) was completed. While complete procedure adopted for this study is given in the Figure 2.

3. Results

3.1. Species Composition and Funtional Trait Diversity

As a whole of 57 wild grasses from 37 genera were recorded from the district Gujrat. Most leading genera were Brachiaria, Cenchrus, and Setaria with 7.02% species in each following by Aristida and Panicum with 5.26% species, Dactyloctenium, Dichanthium, Eragrostis, Poa, Polypogon, and Saccharum with 5.76% grass species, Chrysopogon, Digitaria, Eragrostis, Pennisetum, Poa and Setaria with 3.51% species each (Figure 3), whereas other genera shared single species only. Out of these 75.44% of species were native and 24.56% were introduced. The results of the life form for classification shown the leading life form was therophyte (56.14%) following by hemicryptophyte with (42.11%) species and geophyte with (1.75%) species. The dominant leaf size spectra of wild species were microphylls (54.39%) following by nanophylls (21.05%), macrophylls (19.3%) and leptophylls (5.26%). Flowering phonological response of wild grasses shows that mostly grasses found at the flowering stage during June-August (40.35%) and July-September (19.29%) (see supplementary Table S1).

3.2. Vegetation Classification of the Recorded Species

Cluster Analysis of Wild Grasses

Ward’s agglomerative cluster analysis classified the whole 90 transects from district Gujrat into four major groups (Figure 4). Cluster analysis (CA) established four groups of sampling transect in the studied area. Two way clustering analysis (TWCA) was done on the basis of the presence-absence (1/0) data of the species (McCune & Mefford, 1999) [27]. Species data matrix of 90 sampling transect cluster into four groups as shown in (Figure 5). Density, species richness, and diversity indices of four groups is given in

Table 1. Different diversity indices used for the wild grasses in the four major groups of sampling in the study range.

Diversity Indices	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4
Dominance_D	0.05	0.07	0.12	0.067
Simpson_1-D	0.94	0.92	0.87	0.93
Shannon_H	3.08	2.75	2.48	2.8
Evenness_e^H/S	0.68	0.74	0.46	0.73
Menhinick	1.65	1.21	1.33	1.01
Margalef	5.26	3.52	4.22	3.54
Equitability_J	0.89	0.90	0.76	0.90
Fisher_alpha	8.36	5.13	6.31	4.95
Berger-Parker	0.13	0.11	0.26	0.11

and in supplementary Table S1).

• Group 1

A total of 21 transects having 32 species clustered in group 1. While the most dominant species in association 1 was Saccharum bengalense, as importance value index (IVI) of 52.38, following by Tetrapogon bidentatus (IVI 32.36), Sporobolus ioclados (IVI 31.37), Setaria italica, (IVI 28.63) and Imperata cylindrica (IVI 24.98). Setaria viridis, Sorghum halepense, and Echinochloa colona were other prominent species in group 1. This group has species richness and evenness values of 1.65 and 0.68 respectively. The values for Shannon and Simpson diversity resulted as 3.08 and 0.94, correspondingly (see supplementary Table S1).

b.

Group 2

Group 2 has 15 transects and 21 species. Polypogon monspeliensis as ranking first having importance value index (IVI) of 34.13, following by Phragmites karka with IVI of 30.66, Sporobolus ioclados with (29.79), and Eleusine indica with (29.03) important value index. The other most common species were Stipagrostis plumose, Poa annua, Phalaris minor, Pennisetum divisum, and Poa pratensis. The species richness of group 2 is 1.21 and grass species evenness is 0.74. Simpson and Shannon diversity values remained respectively 0.92 and 2.75 ( see supplementary Table S1).

c.

Group 3

Group 3 has 21 transects and 26 species. Cynodon dactylon had the highest importance value index (102), followed by Enneapogon persicus (35.01), Dichanthium annulatum (31.8), and Cymbopogon jwarancusa (27.6). The other most prevalent species of group 3 included Echinochloa colona, Eleusine indica, Echinochloa crus-galli and Eragrostis papposa. Group 3 has a species richness value of 1.33 and evenness value of 0.46. Simpson and Shannon diversity resulted 0.87 and 2.48, respectively ( see supplementary Table S1).

d.

Group 4

Group 4 has 23 transects and 23 species. Cenchrus ciliaris had the highest importance value index (57.38), followed by Aristida abnormis (52.82), Brachiaria reptans. Dichanthium annulatum, Arundo donax, Cenchrus setiger, and Brachiaria distachya were the further utmost prevalent species. Group 4 has species richness as 1.01 whereas an evenness of 0.73. Simpson and Shannon diversity existed respectively 0.93 and 2.83 (see supplementary Table S1).

3.3. Diversity Indices

To determine species diversity, Hussain’s (1989) [28] method was employed. Elevation, aspect, soil pH, moisture, accessible nitrogen, calcium carbonate, potassium, electrical conductivity, and organic matter are all biotic and abiotic elements that affect species diversity. Species diversity, which determines the composition and productivity of vegetation, is the most important feature of vegetative dynamics. (Table 1) Species diversity is used to calculate the complexity and function of a community (Figure 5).

Group 1 had the highest Simpson and Shannon diversity indices, indicating that species diversity is inversely linked with elevation. The species richness was assessed after Menhinick (1964) [29]. Species richness in an area is determined by a variety of environmental dynamics, including geography, terrain, species pool, area productivity, and species competition. Highest species richness was recorded for groups 2 and 4, which was found at low elevation (see supplementary Table S1).

3.4. DCA Ordination Plot of Species

The position of species in relation to ecological gradients is can be analyzed by DCA plot as shown in Figure 6. On the extreme top left side of DCA diagram while grass species Polypogon fugax, Setaria intermedia, Poa pratensis, Sorghum halepense, Polypogon monspeliensis, Lolium persicum, Sporobolus ioclados and Heteropogon contortus suggesting lower score on 1st axis and higher score on 2nd axis. The given species favour dry atmospheres, higher elevation habitats. So, diagram’s top right side location suggests that Brachiaria deflexa, Bromus pectinatus, Chrysopogon aucheri, Cynodon dactylon, and Cenchrus biflorus having higher scores on axes 1 and 2. These species, found at lower elevations favors to grow on dry habitats as is evident from its high score. Such species may be separated by a little distance, indicating microclimatic variations. On the bottom left side, the species Saccharum bengalense, Setaria viridis, Saccharum spontaneum, Panicum turgidum, Setaria verticillata, Phalaris minor, Imperata cylindrical, and Phragmites karka propose that they prefer a semiarid location. The species that are grouped in the center of the DCA diagram, Digitaria sanguinalis, Paspalum distichum, Eleusine indica, Panicum antidotale, Dichanthium annulatum, Echinochloa colona, Eragrostis ciliaris, Phalaris minor and Panicum maximum display that such species are frequent to several communities and have no clear restriction to certain habitats. The DCA dendogram of 90 transects in district Gujrat revealed scattered types of vegetation, at high elevation first and second association sampling sites exist while association-3 is located to lower elevation (Figure 7). The maximum gradient length (0.487) in DCA ordination was calculated for axis-1 with eigen value of 0.487. The gradient length for axis-2 was 4.964 with eigen value of 0.421. The total inertia for species 7.46.

3.5. CCA Ordination of Wild Grasses

It is cleared from the CCA ordination that applied environmental variables like altitude slope, aspect, pH, moisture, soil saturation, organic matter, N, P, K and CaCO₃ significantly affect species distribution pattern. Each triangle represented as separated species of grasses, with distance between them displaying the degree of resemblance. The maximum sites are grouped on the top left side of the CCA plot. In the first quadrat of the CCA plot, species were affected by soil moisture and CaCO₃ while in the second quadrat species were influenced by saturation, aspect, organic matter, soil pH, and electrical conductivity. In the third quadrat of CCA plot, plant species were affected by slope and potassium (Figure 8 and Figure 9).

The first axis defined 3 variations, the second accounted for 5.3 while the third and fourth axes elucidated 7.4–9.4 of the accumulative variation, representing that soil moisture and organic matter with prime linkage with third and fourth axes, displaying substantial effect on diversity patterns of wild grass species. Giving to CCA results few wild grass species were spread to all elevations but a few species were restricted to certain elevations (

Table 2. Summary of the CCA analysis.

Axes	1	2	3	4
Eigen values	0.495	0.385	0.358	0.321
Species-environment associations	0.833	0.806	0.789	0.755
Accumulative percentage variance of wild grasses data	3	5.3	7.4	9.4
Accumulative percentage variance of species-environment relation	18.2	32.3	45.4	57.2
Total inertia	16.642
Sum of all eigen values	16.642
Sum of all canonical eigenvalues	2.726
Monte-Carlo test
Test of significance of first canonical axis: eigenvalue	0.495
F-ratio	2.085
p-value	0.0300
Test of significance of total canonical axes; Trace	2.726
F-ratio	1.211
p-value	0.0140

).

4. Discussion

Edaphic along with environmental factors have considerable influence on species diversity, composition, and its dispersal [30,31]. Understanding the plant community’s response to abiotic factors is critical. The present study is the most complete examination of connection of species to environment in the Poaceae family [32], as it looks at vast geographic region in the Gujrat district. In the research area, a total of 57 species of wild grasses were explored. The floristic composition was comparable to that found in the Cholistan Desert [7,33]. In the current findings, the most specious genera were Eragrostis (5 sp., 18.5%) followed by Aristida Cenchrus (4 sp., 14.8%) and Panicum (2 sp., 7.4%). Similar results have also been reported from salt range of Pakistan previously as they reported 62 grass species belonging to 11 tribes Paniceae, Andropogoneae and Eragrastoideae being the dominants [34]. In our study, species like Brachiaria distachya, Cenchrus ciliaris, Digitaria nodosa, Pennisetum orienttale and Setaria glauca belongs to Panicoideae.

The community is collection of plants living together in the same environmental conditions and have similar biological tolerances [14]. Only a few leading species, referred as dominants in a community have an impact on the habitat and the growth of other species. Many countries acknowledge the value of having forage and fodder statistics documented by communities with such knowledge and information. Local groups that maintain and regulate livestock [35] all around the world have extensive knowledge about fodder. Aitchison [14], was the pioneer in Pakistan who evaluated road side flora in Kurram.

Biotic, environmental and anthropogenic stresses [36,37] alter the frequency, density, and cover and hence effect floristic structure and composition [38]. Habitat, ecological circumstances, and existing plant species all influence the structure of a community. The findings in the present study on phytosociological characteristics (density, frequency and cover) are in line with previous Eco-floristic studies. A wide range of research worldwide have been reported on altitudinal gradient which has a significant impact on species distribution patterns, composition and community structures [39]. A similar trend was observed, particularly at higher elevations of the in the Gujrat area, Physical differences are associated with performance, fitness and ecological inferences in trait-based approaches [40], which permit for planned categorization of plants while accounting for the eco-evolutionary dynamics of constructing communities [1,40]. The life form is a vital physiognomic feature [41] for understanding the interaction between flora and its environment, signifying plant adaptability to micro- and macro-climates [42]. In the current work, therophytes dominated the flora, contributing for 53.84%, following by hemicryptophytes, which accounted for four species (4.23%). The dominancy of therophytes has already been documented in other reports. The highest proportion of therophytes as the dominant life form in our study area shows a high level of disturbance. Therophytes are characteristically related with arid environments. Little rainfall and slow vegetative growth are the two prominent characteristics associated with therophytes [43]. Hemicryptophytes were another most prevalent life form in the research area. The affiliation of hemicryptophytes to cold and hilly areas is a potential clarification for their multitude occurence. The results of the leaf size spectra in the present findings revealed that microphylls (50%) were the utmost common, followed by nanophylls (23.07%). In the progression of leaf size, environmental factors have a great role. Those species whose root system is sensitive to low temperatures, moisture retention is critical. In such cases, a decrease in nutrient absorption and water from the soil may be resulted, which give rise to develop microphyllous leaves. Previous studies [3,44] are in line with the current results. According to our reports, 13.46% of the grass species collected from the samples sites were introduced. Alien plant species damage local habitats more effectively and outcompete resident species, irrespective of their life history strategy, their superior phenotypical plasticity and oftenly more suitability as compared to native flora [45]. As an outcome, for habitat renovation, native species must be prioritized over invasive species. The widespread spreading of species can be coupled to their capacity to overwhelmed ecological constraints [46].

Plants species in communities at lower elevations are differ in relations of composition and its distributional pattern to community from those communities established at higher altitudes [45]. At high elevations species like Apluda mutica, Cymbopogon jwarancusa, Chrysopogon serrulatus, Panicum turgidum, Stipagrostis plumosa, Ochthochloa compressa and Polypogon fugax were limited. In the other study [47] conducted on grasses in the Potohar region, pointed out the same conclusions. The grass species richness and distributional pattern in the research area of Gujrat were influenced by altitudinal differences. At intermediate altitude, the diversity was highest. The plants such as Cynodon dactylon, Cenchrus biflorus, Brachiaria ramosa, Dichanthium annulatum, Dactyloctenium aegyptium, Eleusine indica and Saccharum bengalense appeared to be well-adapted. As rising up altitudinally, the climate may be more harsh, the species richness declined considerably [48]. At high altitudes, temperature, air pressure, rainfall and nutrient availability all change significantly. This transition resulted in a total alteration in the grass community’s structure, with xerophytes being substituted by high-altitudinal species [49] that could withstand minor temperatures. The upward migration of organisms can also be associated to fluctuations in global climatic conditions. The variability, species richness, and diversity of grasses have been demonstrated to be influenced by altitudinal deviation, slope, aspects, and abiotic gradients. Even at a minor geographical scale, altitude is the most important environmental factor, dropping grass diversity and abundance. The present study highlights appropriate growing conditions such as adequate organic matter, soil moisture, nitrogen content, lowest pH and lowest altitude as previous researches [10,14,50].

Ecological variables had a considerable influence upon community linkages, as explained by multivariate techniques (Cluster and Two-way cluster analysis, DCA, CCA) [51]. With the cumulative effect of ecological (slope, altitude, slope, aspect) and edaphic (soil saturation, soil moisture contents, pH, CaCO₃, K, P, N, and organic matter) factors [18,52,53], the vegetation was divided into four plant associations using modern statistical tools. Floristic zonation has been linked to micro-topography, soil characteristics, altitude, and environmental gradients in general. Many researchers have identified similar classifications for Poaceae species found in various settings. Brazilian researchers [54] used similar methodologies to investigate classification and ordination of wild Poaceae family. Environmental aspects are correlated with the richness, quantity and functional features of wild grass species to determine for spatial arrangements of grasses plants. Wild grasses with various photosynthetic methods flourish in a wide range of climates. Several environmental characteristics displayed significant (p < 0.002) potential on vegetation, according to the ordination studies (CCA and DCA). Plant communities 1 and 2 have a strong relationship, for example, wild grasses such as Brachiaria ramosa and Dactyloctenium aegyptium in community-1. The distribution of these species seems to be strongly effected by soil moisture and CaCO₃. Plant community 2nd presence of Dichanthium annulatum and Saccharum bengalense was most likely impacted by P, pH, and Ec. OM, altitude, N, and K were strongly correlated to Desmostachya bipinnata, Eleusine indica, and Echinochloa crus-galli. Environmental factors, as well as physical and functional features, have been linked to indicator species [39,53]. Ecological variables, according to the of the study [15], are central impact in determining the plant communities. The arrangement of plant species in communities can be attributed by topographical and ecological features. Every species has varied strategies in adapting to variable soil in community composition. Subsequently, soil factors are key markers and are critical drivers of species distribution within specific associations. The distribution of wild grass species is linked to soil structure, texture, soil moisture, availability of nutrients along with other environmental conditions.

5. Conclusions

In Gujrat, Punjab Pakistan, we recorded the taxonomic diversity, vegetation structure, composition, and distribution patterns of wild grasses with respect to abiotic variables. A total of 57 species of wild grasses from 37 genera were recorded from Gujrat, representing as edaphic and ecological variations caused diversified vegetation in the area. Dominant genera were Brachiaria, Cenchrus, and Setaria of 7.02% species in each followed by Aristida and Panicum with 5.26% species, Dactyloctenium, Eragrostis, Dichanthium, Polypogon, Poa, and Saccharum had each 5.76% species, Chrysopogon, Pennisetum, Eragrostis, Digitaria, Poa and Setaria with 3.51% species each, and the rest of the genera having single species. Native were 75.44% of and 24.56% were introduced. Life form resulted leading was therophyte (56.14%) followed by hemicryptophyte with (42.11%) species and geophyte with (1.75%) species. In the leaf size spectra, the dominant class was microphylls (54.39%) followed by nanophylls (21.05%), macrophylls (19.3%) and leptophylls (5.26%). Phenological responses were at flowering phase during the months of June-August (40.35%) and July-September (19.29%). Based on multiple-factor categorization and multivariate analysis, the findings show a link between environmental conditions and species. Species diversity and richness varied according to spatial scale. The outcomes of the current study showed that soil factors express a crucial role in defining the vegetation pattern. Using functional distribution pattern approaches to explore species features may aid in better predicting ecosystem function, which can contribute to the valuation of ecology services in the long run. Furthermore, this knowledge could be valuable in developing management approaches for the restoration of degraded biomes in this area, as well as developing scientifically informed management solutions.