ECOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTION OF CHANGES IN MORELS ABUNDANCE HOTSPOT

The present study was carried out during the months of April to August in the years of 2020-2022. The study aims to identify and collect Morchella species along with its associated vegetation from the study area district Swat. Morels (Morchella spp.) are highly valued wild edible mushrooms. In Swat district Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, morels are the focus of the poor family traditions, along with valuable commercialized trading. Morchellasamples were collected using quadrat quantitative ecological techniques, with soil samples analyzed for physicochemical parameters using standard laboratory methods. During this study we collected and identify a total of 4 species of Morchella (Morchella esculenta, Morchella elata, Morchella conica and Morchella semilibera) were along with 76 plant species recorded from the study area. Floristically, these plant species belong to 40 different families. Among these, plant species 15 (20%) were trees species, 9 (12%) were shrubs species, while 52 (68%) were herbs considered as a habitat. Data analysis utilized PC-ORD and CANOCO Software for ecological assessment.Our results indicate that soil sand, clay content, pH, and moisture showed positive associations with species abundance. Our study provides insights into a diverse ecology and conservation. This research presents that focused on morel hunters, habitats, associated vegetation, local ecological knowledge of morel types, and responses to various disturbances. We concluded that expert morel harvesters have some local ecological information that can help us better to understand scientific knowledge of Morchella. This local understanding of the regionally complex ecology of Morels may help in inform conservation management.