Unraveling Vegetation Diversity and Environmental Influences in the Sultan Khail Valley, Dir Upper, Pakistan: An Advanced Multivariate Analysis Approach

Both environmental and edaphic variables play an important role in the structure, composition, and distribution of plant communities.In the present study, we aimed to investigate the major plant associations along the altitudinal gradient and the effects of various topographic and edaphic variables on the distribution of vegetation in the Sultan Khail Valley in the Hindu Kush range of Pakistan.The data was collected between 2017 and 2019.For field data collection, the valley was divided into various ecological zones based on altitude, aspect, physiognomy, and geographical coordinates.Two hundred vineyards were established for the data collection.The canopy cover and the number of vascular plant species were determined using the Braun-Blanquet scale.Soil samples were collected and analyzed for various physicochemical properties.In the JUICE host program, the modified Two Way Indicator