Vegetation ecology and diversity of six Kuwait Islands: factors influence on species composition and richness
A., Al-Abbadi, G. . 2017
Kuwait lies at the Northwest corner of the Arabian
Gulf, and its eastern coast comprises parallel arcs of
nine islands. The present study dealt with vegetation
ecology and species diversity analysis of six uninhabited
islands, except Failaka, Warba, and Bubiyan islands, with
varied sizes of area ranging from 0.5 to 863 km2. A total of
70 species of flowering plants (60% annuals and 40%
perennials), belonging to 32 families, were collected from
the islands and their list is given. The main phytogeographical
category was represented by Saharo-Arabian
elements followed by the Irano-Turanian and Mediterranean
elements. The vegetation type is essentially halophytic
with widespread annuals. Six associations were
identified with the application of TWINSPAN, DCA, and
CCA programs. They were named after the characteristic
species as follows: VG I: Polycarpon tetraphyllum, VG II:
Zygophyllum qatarense, VG III: Emex spinosa, VG IV:
Seidlitzia rosmarinus, VG V: Malva parviflora-Salsola
imbricata, and VG VI: Suaeda aegyptiaca. These associations
were compared with the plant communities of
Kuwait and neighboring countries of Gulf region. The soil
characteristic factors alkalinity, moisture, soil texture, and minerals showed the best correlation with the distribution
of the associations. Significant differences between island
area, species diversity indices, organic matter, and minerals
contents of the islands were observed. Flora of these
uninhabited islands with un-grazed plants constituted about
37% of the flora of the mainland of Kuwait and their
valuable elements warrant prioritized conservation
measures.
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