Sialkot is a district with a population of around 4 million, a 3,106 km² area, and four significant tehsils (Daska, Sambrial, Pasrur, and Sialkot) with a population density of 1,300/km². During the Indus Valley Civilization, the Sialkot District was an agricultural and forest-containing region with fertile and plain land. The weather is hot and muggy in the summer and chilly in the winter. The average annual temperature is 30°C in Sialkot, with 1,000 mm of precipitation annually. 6,43,624 acres of land are used for agriculture, and 99,241 acres are unused. We collected the plant species from five different forest areas (Ghalotian, Kishan Garh, Daburgi Chanda Singh, Pir Kot, and Gulab Garh Forests) of district Sialkot region from two different Tehsils, i.e., Daska and Sambrial (Figure 1). Our study region is located between 32° 27′ 88″ to 32° 50′ 21” N and 74° 34′ 74″ to 74° 24′ 90″ E. Ghalotian Forest area is located near Daska city at the bank of the upper Chanab canal near the boundary line of Gujranwala and Sialkot (Figure 1). The other four sites (Kishan Garh, Daburgi Chanda Singh, Pir Kot, and Gulab Garh Forests) are located between the Sialkot and Gujrat Districts near the downstream side of River Chanab.

Each site’s soil was sampled at 0–15 cm depth using a barrel-style hand auger (Allen, 1989). We used initial air drying and packing of polythene bags for soil samples. We accurately represented the collection place and the sample collection date on the samples’ labels. Specimens were brought to the lab to be evaluated for their chemical and physical characteristics, including organic matter, soil pH, available Calcium (Ca⁺²), Magnesium (Mg⁺²), Sodium (Na⁺), Chlorine (Cl⁻), Electric Conductivity (EC) Carbonates (CO₃⁻²) and Bicarbonates (HCO₃⁻¹) (Allen, 1989).

Following (Steel et al., 1996), we statistically examined the soil data for the significance of the findings using Dunken’s Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at a 0.5% significance level. In addition, we used Minitab software (v.18) to find the relationships between the phytosociological characteristics of 170 plant species. R packages were also employed to construct diversity indices such as Shannon-Weiner, Simpson, Evenness, and Richness (v.3.6.1). The data matrices were log-transformed using the log10 function from the zbase package before further analysis. The Shannon and Simpson diversity indices were produced using the vegan packages with diversity function (v.2.5–6) (Shannon and Weaver, 1963). Using the ggpubr³ package, diversity indices were further evaluated using the Wilcox test to confirm soil’s significant variations and impact on diversity indices. Similarly, we used Vegan’s vegdist and adonis functions to perform a permutational multivariate analysis of variance to look at plant diversity regarding several soil types (loamy and sandy) (PERMANOVA). Bray-Curtis distance matrices were calculated using converted community data. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) plots, part of the ggplot2 package, were used to show pair-wise differences between various soil types and environmental heterogeneity (Wickham, 2016).

We extracted district Sialkot’s daily temperature and precipitation data from⁴ to analyze this region’s temperature and precipitation trend.

We developed a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis (SWOT) to combine the environmental and anthropogenic characteristics (Trujillo, 2005; Ali et al., 2022). Each site was studied and analyzed to categorize the indication and identify critical elements affecting how effectively a species can acclimate to its environment in the research location. Strengths, for instance, reveal vegetation’s presence, size, and placement. Native species, natural catastrophes like floods, anthropogenic activities, and interspecies competition are all displayed in vulnerability. Threats indicate artificial forces and uncontrollable natural disasters, while opportunities point to the involvement of NGOs, other departments, or people fighting for preservation and restoration. This method is more impulsive since the opportunities are discussed compared to the other descriptions. Regarding the relative relevance of weight ranges, a SWOT value can range from 100 to 1,000 within a specific area (100 denotes a low value, and 1,000 denotes a higher significance value for specific study-area characteristics). The important Coefficient (IC) was produced to evaluate the area quality, representing the total relevancy of all the variables. The individual ICs are calculated using the formula.

Wi is a single indicator weight, Wi-n is the total of all relevant indicator weights, and ICi n = 1 (Trujillo, 2005). In addition, we noted the subtotal descriptor weights, ICs, and variations in the quantity and weight of each descriptor.

The Sialkot range forest contains a variety of plant species due to variations in environmental factors. One hundred seventy plant species from 62 families and 138 genera were investigated from all sites. There were 135 plant species, 108 genera, and 48 dominating dicot families. In comparison, 27 plant species are included in monocots among seven families and 22 genera (Table 1). The research sites also reported a few species of pteridophytes and bryophytes. Additionally, two angiosperm families (Poaceae and Cyperaceae) were dominant in all locations, containing a total of 113 species: dicots (96 species) and monocots (17 species) (Table 2). In terms of plant life forms, 114 herb species (67%) were observed, along with 24 shrub species (14%) and 32 tree species (19%) from all research sites (Figure 2). The overall summary and vegetation assessment detail, including family name, species name, habitat, species group, and voucher numbers, were represented in Supplementary Table S1.

The phytosociological analysis was described using quantitative characteristics, including % frequency, % density, % cover, relative cover, relative frequency, relative Density, Importance Value (IV), and importance Value Index (IVI) are shown in Supplementary Table S3. Among all families, the overall % frequency is higher in species of the family Acanthaceae (50), Caesalpinaceae (59.48), Drypoteridaceae (58.3), Equiteceae (50), Myrtaceae (72), Phyllanthaceae (51.28) and Salvicaceae (53.4). % Density was higher in species of family Acanthaceae (10.19), Caesalpinaceae (17.69), Cryophyllaceae (11.98), Drypoteridaceae (29.12), Geraniaceae (10.2), Phyllanthaceae (16.29), Proteaceae (11.33), and Salvicaceae (29.12). % cover was higher in species of family Acanthaceae (18.25), Azioceae (21.44), Caesalpinaceae (19.1), Convolvulaceae (20), Cucurbitaceae (24.61), Drypoteridaceae (23.64), Equiteceae (23), Euphorbiaceae (18.25), Phyllanthaceae (21.44), Proteaceae (18.21), Salvicaceae (22.23), and Simaroubaceae (23). Importance Value Index (IVI) was higher in species of family Acanthaceae (4.4), Apiaceae (4.22), Asphodelaceae (4.44), Caesalpinaceae (6.44), Cryophyllaceae (4.59), Drypoteridaceae (8.94), Geraniaceae (4.45), Lamiaceae (4.26), Myrtaceae (4.44), Phyllanthaceae (6.44), Proteaceae (4.59), and Salvicaceae (8.94). We calculated each site’s quantitative characteristics, shown in Supplementary Table S3. Supplementary Table S1 displays the overall number of species at each site and a vegetation assessment (annual, perennial, herbs, shrubs, and trees). Gulab Garh forest is the largest in forest area and plant species, with 49 total (28 annuals and 21 perennials) (Table 2). Supplementary Table S4 lists all the sites’ predominant species of trees, shrubs, and herbs. The number of herbs are higher in the Kishan Garh and Ghulab Garh forests than in other sites. In comparison, the number of shrubs and trees are higher in Ghulab Garh forest (Table 2 and Supplementary Table S4).

The Wilcoxon test was employed to verify these disparities and indicators of the differences in soil types between the sites. In contrast to other soil types, such as sandy, loamy, and clay and clay loamy soils, there was no discernible variation in the kind of soil discovered at each site. The Shannon and Simpson alpha diversity indexes varied between all locations (Figure 3). All forest sites with loamy and sandy soil have a variety of species, which may be caused by several other environmental conditions (Figure 4).

The richness and evenness values based on individual plant species ranged from 9.87 to 13.43 (Table 3). Our results show less richness diversity than other studies in that area due to anthropogenic and hot climates. It is important to note that species richness increases with species number. Significant values (p ≤ 0.05) were found in the association between relative frequency and Density.

The species diversity also depends on the area of the forest. We investigated the extent of field study during the fieldwork. Notably, Table 3 shows a strong correlation between each site’s forest area and the richness of species diversity value; for example, Ghulab Garh forest has the most significant area of woodland with the highest valued species variety. At the same time, the Pir Kot Forest has less forest area and species diversity than other sites.

The Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) employed plots to show the variation of 170 plant species along with different environmental conditions in 60 quadrats (Figure 4). Five plant groups, which stand in for five study sites, are represented on the plot. We demonstrated that the distribution and composition of species were strongly influenced by factors such as soil texture (clay, sand, loam, and sandy), organic matter, soil pH, calcium (Ca⁺²), magnesium (Mg⁺²), sodium (Na⁺), chlorine (Cl⁻), electric conductivity (EC) temperature, precipitation, and moisture. More vegetation was visible and distributed more widely in sandy and loamy soils than in other soil types. Temperature is the dominant trait influencing plant vegetation, followed by precipitation, soil pH, moisture contents, loamy and sandy soil, and other organic and chemical components (Figure 4).

Higher soil moisture levels were recorded in the Kishan Garh and Ghulab Garh forests compared to the other three sites with lower moisture contents. Cl⁻, Ca⁺², Na⁺, Mg⁺², and soil moisture contents vary greatly in all sites from place to place (Table 4). Kishan Garh forest displayed higher levels of plant diversity than the other sites due to its much higher quantities of accessible Cl⁻, Ca⁺², Na⁺, and Mg⁺². Thus, these mineral contents impact plant diversification (Table 4). For various sites, the range of EC ds/m was likewise diverse. Ghalotian forest has a maximum value of EC ds/m, whereas Kishan Garh Forest has a minimum value, making Ghalotian forest notably distinct from the other sites. CO₃⁻² and HCO₃⁻¹ tests reveal that CO₃⁻² is absent in all sites, while HCO₃⁻¹ is present in a small amount. Kishan Garh forest site has a minimum number of HCO₃⁻¹ and shows more plant diversity, while Pir Kot Forest has the maximum number of HCO₃⁻¹, representing less plant diversity in that area. Results show that HCO₃⁻¹ harms plant diversity.

Several studies have indicated the effects of climate change in dry forest areas, revealing increasing trends in temperature and decreasing trends in rainfall (Irwandi et al., 2017). However, previous studies only used data from a time series of less than 5 to 10 years, obtained from one climatic factor. Here, we use temperature and precipitation data sets of more than 70 years to check the temperature and precipitation trend in this area. The results showed that the increasing trend of temperature and decreasing trend of precipitation significantly affect the biodiversity of DTFs in the Sialkot region (Figure 5).

The SWOT analysis revealed that vegetation and food availability were the study area’s strengths and extreme importance. The strength’s subtotal Importance Coefficient (IC) was 0.58, while its natural resource availability, size, climate, and biodiversity were moderate (Supplementary Table S5). In terms of opportunities, the Forest and Irrigation Departments were the primary forces behind the protection of wild flora and management techniques, and the subtotal sum of IC was 0.31 as indicators of significant (positive) descriptors (weakness and threats) also showed higher values (0.29 and 0.19), which suggests a more substantial impact. While additional vulnerabilities, such as anthropogenic activities, risk of human infrastructure, and agricultural practices, were at the extreme level. Threats, grazing, and anthropogenic activities also significantly contributed to a subtotal of 0.20 (Supplementary Table S5).

These forest areas contain diversified vegetation, mainly woody plants used for various purposes. This forest is also used for socioeconomic activities and hosts several animal and bird species. Some essential herb species treat circulatory diseases, digestive disorders, cough, fever, constipation, and skin diseases in these forests (Supplementary Table S6). This area is located near the urban and main Grand Trunk Roads side, with varying climatic conditions reflecting diversified vegetation. The locals of this area used these forests as unorganized agricultural practices, metropolitan area construction sites, and different anthropogenic activities such as parking and animal grazing (Supplementary Table S6). We identified numerous anthropogenic activities in the area, including habitat loss and degradation, depletion of resources of the region’s species richness, agricultural land transformation, and grazing sites (Supplementary Figure S2). Like other anthropogenic pressure points, these sites are threatened by mostly urbanization-related habitat loss. Additionally, the construction of roads between these forests fragmented and destroyed their habitat. The most significant hazard at Daburgi Chanda Singh Forest was habitat disruption because waste debris severely reduced flower diversity (Supplementary Figure S2). In contrast, locals were bound to observe the maintenance of wild areas along the Daburgi Chanda Singh, Pir Kot, and Gulab Garh forests (Supplementary Table S4). Likewise, district Sialkot’s Wildlife and forest departments protect the terrestrial ecosystem and conserve all other sites that various departments maintain. The forest and wildlife department should raise awareness among local people to preserve nature and ask them to contribute to keeping areas wild.

Floristic analysis helps identify plant diversity and overall productivity in any given location (Shaheen et al., 2016). During the summer of 2019–2021, we inspected five local forest sites of the Sialkot range forests. Its catchment areas comprise dry and wild regions, reserve woods, agricultural land, and human infrastructure of housing societies and factories. The current research reported 170 plant species from 62 families (Table 1). The Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Poaceae groups dominated the flora. The documented families had several characteristics with the flora found in the country’s other regions, such as the dominance of the Asteraceae and Poaceae families (Shaheen et al., 2011; Abbasi et al., 2013; Abbas et al., 2016; Ijaz et al., 2016; Ali et al., 2022). Numerous studies on vegetation assessment on the native flora of the country from diverse regions have been published in the past (Ijaz et al., 2015; Kifayat et al., 2015; Saeed Khattak et al., 2015; Ahmad et al., 2016; Rahman et al., 2016; Ali et al., 2022). Furthermore, the overall recorded values are consistent with a recent study conducted in the catchment area of the river Chanab in Punjab, Pakistan (Ali et al., 2022).

Due to ideal environmental conditions, including soil chemistry, different plant species are naturally restricted to habitats or have adapted to settle in the same area. Findings suggested that the Kishan Garh Forest has a minimum richness value (9.86), while the Gulab Garh Forest revealed a maximum richness value (13.46), demonstrating the site’s species variety. According to our findings, the Gulab Garh forest has the highest number of species (49) and a more extensive area (152 acres). In contrast, the Pir Kot Forest has the lowest number of species (21) with the lowest area of forest (11 acres), and the remaining sites have moderate values (Table 1) with moderate area in size. At the same time, low species diversity has been reported from the Ghalotian forest. Our soil analysis results indicated that organic matter %, soil moisture contents, Ca⁺², Mg⁺², and Na⁺ are significantly lower in the Ghalotian forest than at other sites. In addition, deforestation, human interventions, agricultural activities, animal grazing, and warm climatic conditions also cause annual plants to disappear quickly from the Ghalotian forest area. The previous example of environmental stress decreases the species diversity in dry land (Khan et al., 2011). Another reason Gulab Garh forest had the most plant species of any site is that this area could be attributed to lower anthropogenic activity and a larger forest area than other sites. Because abiotic factors alter vegetation structure over time and geography, species richness interprets the biological variety resulting from numerous environmental conditions (Chawla et al., 2008; Khan et al., 2016). Furthermore, geography, climatic factors, and anthropogenic impact on the soil affect plants’ growth and alteration in environmental factors significantly impacts plant species’ evolution (Khan et al., 2014).

Our findings highlighted alpha diversity’s significant effects; a key factor of plant growth influenced by the soil structure. Environmental elements like loamy and sandy soil also impacted alpha diversity in various forest areas. We had the most remarkable plant diversity compared to other soil patterns because loamy and sandy soil played a vital role in alpha diversity. Recent research in the various parts of the country has found a similar design of variety across environmental parameters, such as the phytosociological study of River Chanab and the Naran Valley (Khan et al., 2011, 2012; Ali et al., 2022). Similarly, sites with the same soil characteristics have little variety, which might be influenced by numerous biotic or abiotic factors (Hussain et al., 2019). Gulab Garh forest had the highest richness evenness value compared to the other forest sites (Khan et al., 2011, 2012, 2016; Earnhardt et al., 2014). Supporting evidence for plant species composition was also provided by studies conducted in other parts of the country, including the Central Himalayan (Kumaun) region of India, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Dao Khan Hills, and the river Chanab (Kharkwal et al., 2005; Ali et al., 2022).

Climate change has significantly influenced plant diversity, posing a severe threat to the basis of ecosystem structure and function. Specifically, temperature and precipitation are both expected to shift globally, and their separate and interactive effects will likely affect ecosystems differentially depending on current temperature, precipitation regimes, and other biotic and environmental factors. Our results suggested that increasing temperature trends and decreasing precipitation trends (Figure 5) significantly affect the plant biodiversity in this area. We found that warming effects were context-dependent, with the most significant adverse impacts of warming on diversity in the warmer, drier slope location. The long-term trend of decreased growing-season rainfall drove a decline in multivariate functional diversity (Miller et al., 2019), paralleling the loss of species richness. Our study is essential in understanding how global change will affect ecosystems across multiple scales and locations.

The SWOT analysis was modified to identify the emphasizing approaches, including negative and positive events at the regional, provincial, and national levels. Strength and opportunity indicators and higher values indicate a more significant beneficial influence (Stortini et al., 2015; White et al., 2015). It also helps to discover and decrease uncertainty. The SWOT analysis thoroughly broke down the external and internal elements (strengths and opportunities) and vulnerabilities (weaknesses and threats) that vegetation in the woods of the Sialkot range forest faced. Results revealed that the Sialkot range forest areas are affected due to multiple threats that will lead to deforestation. Several anthropogenic activities have impacted overall biodiversity, harming surrounding vegetation and thus depleting natural resources (Supplementary Tables S5, S6).

Other TDFs face significant problems from anthropogenic activities such as inappropriate cultivation, urbanization, and habitat destruction (Iqbal et al., 2021). The principal drawbacks and weaknesses of all the sites are building new housing societies and roads, clearing the forests, and livestock grazing (Supplementary Table S6). Changes in the topography, depletion of natural resources, and urbanization have always been associated with human activity (Khaleghi, 2017). The connectedness between biological relationships with other nearby places might be broken by habitat loss (Hanski and Ovaskainen, 2002). Previous studies also reported that anthropogenic activities have significantly affected the natural environment (Goudie, 2013). The area of agricultural land quadrupled between the 1700s and 2000s, and the amount of natural vegetation decreased by half worldwide (Scanlon et al., 2007; Pongratz et al., 2008). Over-harvesting, increasing populations and need for homes, expansion of agriculture, pollution, unsuitable, indiscriminate development, and habitat degradation are the leading causes of biodiversity loss (Kumar and Verma, 2020; Prakash, 2020).

Additionally, many experts argue that anthropogenic activities are the primary cause of the recent increase in CO2 levels in the atmosphere (Ghosh and Brand, 2003; Prakash, 2021). These human actions degrade the forest environment, endangering stability and lowering biodiversity, particularly in plant and animal species (Athirah et al., 2013). Akbar et al. (2017) conclude that anthropogenic activities are the main contributors to deforestation and forest degradation. To conserve species, the Forest and Irrigation Department planted trees in the catchment area of the Sialkot range forest to preserve the native flora. As a result of its location in the Himalayan foothills and proximity to the Bajwat wildlife sanctuary, the Jammu Tavi Bajwat area is likely to be designated as a game reserve area with less human interventions and more biodiversity than other places (Ali et al., 2022).

Plant biodiversity observational study is a lifetime endeavor that requires contributions from many academic fields, including the natural and social sciences. The Sialkot region’s vulnerable and nearly extinct micro-forest patches are the subject of this investigation. A thorough botanical investigation is necessary to describe the plant taxa, richness, and conservation status of the Sialkot range forest, District Sialkot, Pakistan. They were unrepairable losses to plant biodiversity, rising temperatures, and deforestation caused by human activities. As a result, we should consider all possible regional and local drivers of plant biodiversity. According to recent research, SWOT can be modified to account for risks to the plant community, from the individual to the community (Ali et al., 2022). Additionally, it must urgently communicate with planners, policymakers, and conservationists to conserve important wild species. Steps must be taken to address new issues locally and regionally through tight monitoring regulations. The local government must work with community organizations and NGOs to stop the widespread degradation of the natural ecosystems caused by increasing population, agriculture, deforestation, and the construction of illegal housing societies and roads.

Our results indicated that Thymelia passive, Argemone Mexicana, Adhatoda vasica, and Geranium rotundifolium were different species not previously known. Saccharum arundinaceum, Saccharum spontaneum L., Poa annua L., and Desmostachya bipinnata L. are a few examples of wild cultivated plants that can benefit from having stress and disease resistance traits. There is a suggestion that unique or fragmented ecosystems and the protection of rare species may go alongside one another. Furthermore, it is recommended that species be categorized following IUCN classifications to implement timely and systematic conserving action that is both effective and efficient. The Sialkot range forests also support other species not currently used as food, fuel, medicine, or timber. These are just wild genetic resources of essential biodiversity species. We could use two broad strategic methods to protect ecological variety in the Sialkot range forests to summarize the entire description for future management on an urgent basis. Firstly, stop using natural resources illegally. Secondly, create botanical gardens, reforest areas, designate protected areas, breed rare species locally, and create satellite seed and gene banks to restore plant biodiversity. The concerns are also addressed by adhering to Pakistan’s biodiversity action plan and working toward achieving sustainable development goals (Ali and Iqbal, 2021). In addition, it will be necessary to address habitat fragmentation and deforestation to allow plant species to use dispersal to track favorable conditions. Priorities should be given to conserve and restore the dry forest habitats and surrounding communities.