Evaluation of arid rangelands degradation and productivity in response to variable precipitation and land use changes
Journal Title: Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences (JBES) - Year 2015, Vol 7, Issue 6
Abstract
Several changes have impacted the ecosystem at northwestern coast of Egypt include transformation from extensive to intensive agro-pastoral systems, increasing the rate of urbanization,and frequent drought periods. This study was carried out at the northwestern coast of Egypt to evaluate changes in vegetation composition and rangeland productivity at Wadi Umm Ashtan in 2004 and 2015 as influenced by changes in land use and variable precipitation. Detail plant survey was conducted in each of the studied years, and the plant life of this Wadi was surveyed, plant cover and other vegetation parameters of each plant species were calculated. Rangeland productivity was evaluated of six different habitat represent the main sections of Wadi Umm Ashtan. Results indicated that tremendous changes have been noticed from spring of 2004 to spring of 2015, average vegetation cover at the different parts of the Wadi declined from about 24 % in 2004 to 15 % in 2015. The Wadi has faced increasing in urban encroachment rate whereas several tourism development and land urbanization projects have been established. As an example of the coastal part of the Wadi, vegetation survey in spring, 2015 of mobile sand dunes habitat indicated that total vegetation cover decreased to 7.3 % compared to about 11% in spring, 2004. Drainage lines habitat was rich in species diversity and several palatable plant species were recorded in this part of the Wadi. Overall, Drought, overgrazing, and different land use changes have negatively impacted vegetation cover at the study area and increased soilerosion.
Authors and Affiliations
El Sayed Khalifa
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP38681
- DOI -
- Views 176
- Downloads 0
Prokaryotic Community Profiles of Soils from Mayon Volcano, Philippines Based on 16S Ribosomal RNA Gene Sequences
Mayon Volcano is the Philippines’ most active volcano. Despite extensive pedological, ecological and ethnobotanical studies, no published information is known about its soil microflora. In this study, to determine the mi...
Changes in Acid and Alkaline Phosphatase Enzyme Activity in Rhizosphere Ash Fraxinus rotundifolia and its correlation with soil and plant P
We investigated in field experiments seasonal dynamics of acid and alkaline phosphatase activity. Alkaline and acid phosphatase activity showed a seasonal pattern. Alkaline phosphatase activity was significantly higher...
Reptile Diversity in Mt. Matutum Protected Landscape, South Cotabato, Philippines
Reptiles are highly diversewith high percentage of endemism in the Philippines. However, reptile diversity in Mindanao, the second largest island in the country,is poorly known. To determine the species richness, diversi...
Biodiversity in the urban park of Lama Balice between protection and enhancement: the BASE project
The BASE (Balice Smart Environment) Project systemically concerns the offer model and the community management of the urban Park Lama Balice, which has been able to express itself through the collaborations activated fro...
Concentrations of heavy metals in raw wastewaters of Cotonou city (Benin)
The current study aims to determine the concentration of heavy metals in raw wastewaters of Cotonou. Waters of three main sewers dumping their contents in Cotonou lagoon have been bimonthly sampled at their discharge p...