Journal of Rangeland

The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of environmental factors on distribution of Artemisia fragrans and Artemisia austriaca in southeastern rangelands of Sabalan. For this purpose, 140 sites were selected based on a random- systematic approach. The density of selected plant species were measured in five plots of 1m², established along a 40 meters transect in each site. Soil samples were collected from 0 to 30 cm of soil surface in the beginning, middle and end part of each transect and their EC, OC, K, P, Lime, pH, TNV, sand, clay and silt content were measured. Litter and bare soil percentage were also measured in each site. One way ANOVA was performed to explore the relationships between the environmental factors characteristics and presence and absence of the selected species. Duncan's test was used to compare the mean values of the measured variables. Discriminant analysis was used to determine the importance of measured variables on the distribution of A. fragrans and A. austriaca and grouping the sampling sites. According to the results, the two produced functions were explained 86 % and 14% of the variances. The results indicated that 94/2% of grouped sites were classified correctly. Litter, elevation, precipitation, temperature, OC, bare soil, gravel, K, sand, silt, slope and aspect were identified as the most important factors, influencing the distribution of A. fragrans and A. austriaca in the study area.