PJB-2017-625
First report on the flora of dams and water breakers in the arid desert of United Arab Emirates.
Tamer Mahmoud
Abstract
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), like many countries, is facing hyperarid conditions. Through the last few decades, many dams and water breakers were built to conserve rain water and recharging the underground water table. Several surveys were done to explore the flora of these areas. This paper provides the first comprehensive checklist of the vascular plant flora of dams and water breakers in the arid desert habitats of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A total of 66 dams and water breakers were surveyed and it revealed 248 plant species belonging 170 genera distributed in 50 families were recorded from these areas. Among these, two regionally endemic species namely Pulicaria edmondsonii and Schweinfurthia imbricata, in addition to, 34 rare species and were also recorded from the study area. Besides, one species Glinus lotoides L. (Molluginaceae) was recorded for the first time from UAE. The chorological analysis of the study area showed that the floristic composition is dominated by Saharo-Arabian elements, with 113 species. The life form spectrum indicated that therophytes were the most represented (46%) and Helophytes was the least represented life form group. Analysis of plant growth form shows that the occurrence of annual plants was high followed perennials.
To Cite this article:
Download
