First floristic investigation in archaeological sites of Iran: features and plant richness of the Pasargadae World Heritage Site

Abstract

Archaeological areas often become hotspots for biodiversity and refugia for plant species. The management activity of a site permits the conservation of natural habitats. This first contribution to the floristic assessment of an Iranian archaeological site, aims to preserve its natural values. The Pasargadae World Heritage Site (sixth century BC) located at the border between the Zagros mountains and the Irano-Turanian region, showed a richness of 244 species, belonging to 38 families and 163 genera. The most represented families are Asteraceae (56), Poaceae (34) and Fabaceae (22). Herbaceous species represented 90% of the flora [therophytes (42%), hemicryptophytes (39%) and geophytes (9%)]. Asiatic, Irano-Turanian and Mediterranean species are the most recurrent species with a high component of endemic ones. Astragalus ghashghaicus, Taraxacum plicatulum, Acantholimon serotinum and Linaria farsensis were among the more interesting floristic elements. The comparison with past data, even if limited in quantity, indicated a good floristic conservation status. This research also showed the need to deepen our knowledge of the taxonomic features of this Iranian flora, sometimes still resulting in an ambiguous or unresolved status. The collected floristic data will help in elaborating management protocols, to enhance the cultural and natural value of the site.

Keywords:

• UNESCO site
• biodiversity
• Iranian endemism
• floristic assessment
• plants and monuments
• taxonomic update

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Professor Giulia Caneva for her thoughtful supervision and for providing the opportunity of doing this project. We would like to thank Professor Hossein Akhani, Dr Nafiseh Samadi and Dr Alexander Rudov at the Biology Department of the University of Tehran, for their kind assistance in the first stages of plant identification. We are grateful to the ‘Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione ed il Restauro’ (ISCR), which supported the Italo-Iranian cooperation project ‘Measures on Site Stone Conservation in Pasargadae WHS’. We would also like to show our gratitude to Dr Hamid Fadaei, site manager and other colleagues at Pasargadae WHS for their support during field surveys, accessing the archive and providing the possibility of laboratory studies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The PhD scholarship of Zohreh Hosseini was granted by the University Roma Tre, and The Grant of Excellence Departments, MIUR – Italy (Art. 1, commi 314–337 legge 232/2016).