Abstract: Background and objectives: The visual value of ecosystems plays a critical role in motivating people and managers to protect natural ecosystems. Plants are the most important component of rangeland ecosystems, significantly contributing to the visual value of landscapes. Due to rapid landscape changes caused by human interventions, understanding the visual value of landscapes provides valuable information for developing sustainable management strategies and preserving or restoring attractive landscapes. Livestock grazing is a major factor affecting the structure and function of rangeland ecosystems. This study aims to investigate the impact of grazing intensity on the visual value of rangelands. Methodology: The features of flowers. Suits, stems, and leaves of plant species were used to quantify the visual value of landscapes. Since these features do not have the same importance in the visual value of landscapes, the importance of criteria and sub-crieria was estimated using tie Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Forty experts were asked to consider the importance of plant criteria (flower, fruit, stem, and leafy and sub-criteria (flower color, flower shape, flower size, flowering length, flower color variation, fruit shape, fruit color, fruit size, leaf shape, leaf color, leaf color in autumn, leaf fype, stem height, stem density, and stem color) based on their importance in the visual value of rangeland landscapes. In 90 plots, the number of individuals and canopy cover were estimated in thee areas: enclosure, moderate grazing, and heavy grazing regions of Khabar Baft rangelands. Visual value was estimated using the frequency and characteristics of flowers, fruits, stems, and leaves of the species. Species diversify was evaluated using Simpson's index, Shannon-Wiener's index, Matgalefs index, and evenness index. Results: AHP analysis showed that flowers were the most important for the visual value of rangelands, followed by leaves, witi stems and fruits together being less important. ANOVA analysis revealed significant differences in species diversity among enclosure, moderate grazing, and heavy grazing regions, with means of 0.75±0.15, 0.52±0.12, and 0.340.08, respectively (p<0.05). Canopy cover averages were 4311±31, % ي 12 %, and 22±6%, respectively (p<0.05). In terms of visual value, there were no significant differences between enclosure and moderate grazing areas, with averages of 0.78±0.17 and 0.68±0.13, respectively (p<0.05). Pearson's correlation results indicated a positive correlation between plant diversity (p<0.05) and the diversity of forb species and the percentage of the canopy of forb species (pool). Conclusion: Forbs significantly impact the visual value of ecosystems due to their flowers. Although species diversity decreased significantly in the moderate grazing area compared to the enclosure, the visual value was not severely affected due to the abundance of forb species in the moderate grazing area. Astragalus gossypinus was the most important species in terms of visual value in both the enclosure and moderate grazing areas, making it a key species for maintaining the visual value of the study area. This study provides useful infoimation to identify ecosystems' potential in providing visual value and guides ecological interventions to protect and restore ecosystems with high visual potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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