Submit Manuscript

Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences

Year: 2001 | Volume: 4 | Issue: 11 | Page No.: 1323-1330
Facebook Twitter Digg Reddit Linkedin StumbleUpon E-mail
Research Article

Biodiversity of the Plant Species in Bisha, Asir Region, Southwestern Saudi Arabia

S. Z. Heneidy and L. M. Bidak

ABSTRACT

The study focused on plant diversity and species richness in each landform in the southwestern region of Saudi Arabia. One hundred and forty five species were recorded, belonging to 39 families. The most dominant families were Compositae (20 %), Graminae (14.5 %), Leguminosae and Chenopodiaceae (7 %). The contribution of the study area for ferns (25 %), gymnospermae (10 %), dicot (12 %) and monocot (11.9) of the total species in Saudi Arabia. The maximum number of plant species was attained in wadis followed by sandy plain habitats (111 and 109 respectively). The highest species richness/ habitat (111 sp./habitat) was recorded in wadis, while the lowest (56 sp./habitat) was recorded in rocky ridges . Beta diversity was estimated as the ratio between the total number of species and species richness (alpha diversity) where, there was little variation among four habitats (e.g. maximum ratio was 15.1 in sandy flat plateaus and minimum was 10.0 in both sandy rocky ridges and rocky ridges). About 10, 12, 12, and 25 % of the ferns, gymnospermae, dicotyledoneae, and monocotyledoneae were respectively the flora of Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, about 24 %, of the flowering plant occur in the southwestern region of Saudi Arabia.
PDF References Citation

Search

REFERENCES

  1. Abulfatih, H.A., 1984. Elevationally restricted floral elements of the Asir Mountains, Saudi Arabia. J. Arid Environ., 7: 35-41.
    Direct Link
  2. Abulfatih, H.A., 1991. Quantitative assessment of wild trees in Southwestern Saudi Arabia. Biol. Sci., 1: 117-127.
  3. Abulfatih, H.A. and A.K. Nasher, 1988. Rare and endangered succulent plants in southwestern Saudi Arabia. Arab Gulf J. Scient. Res. Agric. Biol. Sci., 6: 399-408.
  4. Ayyad, M.A. and A.M. Fakhry, 1996. Plant biodiversity in the Western Mediterranean desert of Egypt. Verhandlungen Gesellschaft Okol., 25: 65-76.
    Direct Link
  5. Ayyad, M., A. Fakhry and A. Moustafa, 2000. Plant biodiversity in the Saint Catherine area of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. Biodiver. Conservat., 9: 265-281.
    Direct Link
  6. Al- Hubaishi, A. and K.M. Hohenstein, 1984. An Introduction to the Vegetation of Yemen: Ecological Basis, Floristic Composition and Human Influence. Deutsche Gesllschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, Germany, pp: 209.
  7. Braun-Blanquet, J., 1964. Pflanzensoziologien, Grundzuge de Getationstunde. 3 Aufl. Vol. 14, Springer, Wien, New York, pp: 865.
  8. Caldecott, J.O., M.D. Jenkins, T.H. Johnson and B. Groombridge, 1996. Priorities for conserving global species richness and endemism. Biodiv. Conservat., 5: 699-727.
    CrossRefDirect Link
  9. Canfield, R.H., 1941. Application of the line interception method in sampling range vegetation. J. For., 39: 388-394.
    Direct Link
  10. El-Demerdash, M.A., A.K. Hegazy and A.M. Zilay, 1994. Distribution of the plant communities in tihamah coastal plains of gazan region, Saudi Arabia. Vegetatio, 112: 141-151.
  11. Faith, D.P. and P.A. Walker, 1996. Environmental diversity: On the best-possible use of surrogate data for assessing the relative biodiversity of sets of areas. Biodiv. Conserv., 5: 399-415.
    CrossRefDirect Link
  12. Heneidy, S.Z., 2000. Palatability, chemical composition and nutritive value of some common range plants from Bisha, Asseir region, southwestern Saudi Arabia. J. Desert Inst. Bull. Egypt., 2: 50-51.
  13. Heneidy, S.Z. and L.M. Bidak, 2001. Multipurpose plant species in Bisha, Asir region, Southwestern Saudi Arabia. J. King Suad Univ., 13: 11-26.
  14. Kutiel, P. and A. Danin, 1987. Annual-species diversity and above ground phytomass in relation to some properties of the sand dunes of the Northern Sharon plains, Israel. Vegetaio, 70: 45-49.
    CrossRefDirect Link
  15. Magurran, A.E., 1988. Ecological Diversity and its Measurement. 1st Edn., Princeton University Press, Princeton, ISBN: 0691084858.
  16. Migahid, A.M., 1996. Flora of Saudi Arabia. 4th Edn., King Saud University Press, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
  17. Moustafa, A.A., 1990. Environmental gradients and species distribution on Sinai mountains. Ph.D. Thesis, Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal Uniersity, Egypt.
  18. Dombois, D.M. and H. Ellenberg, 1974. Aims and Method of Vegetation Ecology. John Wiley and Sons Publisher, New York, Sydney, Torento.
  19. Nilsson, C., A. Ekblad, M. Gardfjell and B. Carlberg, 1991. Long-term effects of river regulation on river margin vegetation. J. Applied Ecol., 28: 963-987.
  20. Pielou, E.C., 1975. Ecological Diversity. John Wiley and Sons Inc., New York, Pages: 165.
  21. Shaltout, K.H., 1985. On the diversity of the vegetation in the Western Mediterranean coastal region of Egypt. Proc. Egypt. Bot. Soc., 4: 1355-1376.
  22. Shaltout, K.H., A.S. El-Din and M.A. El-Sheikh, 1994. Species richness and phenology of vegetation along irrigation canals and drains in the Nile Delta, Egypt. Vegetatio, 122: 35-43.
    CrossRefDirect Link
  23. Schmidt, D.L., D.G. Hadley, W.R. Greenwood, L. Gonzalez, R.G. Coleman and G.F. Brown, 1972. Stratigraphy and tectonism of the Southern part of the precambrian shield of Saudi Arabia. U.S. Geological Survey, Saudi Arabian Project Report, pp: 136-139.
  24. Wilson, M.V. and A. Shmida, 1984. Measuring beta diversity with presence-absence data. J. Ecol., 72: 1055-1064.

Search

Related Articles

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *