We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
PATTERNS OF SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND DIVERSITY OF INVASIVE PLANTS AND THEIR CORRELATION WITH ENVIRONMENTAL ELEMENTS IN SIX DAM AREAS, AL-BAHA, SAUDI ARABIA.
- Authors
AL-ROBAI, S. A.
- Abstract
In Saudi Arabia, Al-Baha region is considered the most vulnerable to changes in community structure and biodiversity due to the spread of invasive plants. This study was designed to evaluate the diversity of invasive plants across six dam areas (Medhas, Aljanabeen, Alaqiq, Arada, Alahsaba and Olib). Twenty invasive plants were reported representing 17 genera and 10 families; 35% of them were from the American region, while 55% were therophytes and Asteraceae was the most prevalent family. Species richness ranged from 4 to 13 invasive plants per dam area, higher in Medhas and lower in Alahsaba and Olib dam areas. Argemone ochroleuca which was abundantly distributed in all dam areas had the greatest potential to invade this area. The evenness value for Olib dam area (0.92) was markedly high since it was close to one. A higher level of invasive plant diversity was observed in Aljanabeen and Medhas dam areas. This result was confirmed by the highest Shannon (2.19), Simpson (0.88), and Brillouin, (2.16), index values for Aljanabeen, and the highest Margalef (1.86), Menhinick (0.52), and Fisher's alpha (2.31) index values for Medhas dam area. Plant invasion was correlated with soil physical and chemical variables and elevation gradients. Canonical correspondence analysis revealed that total organic matter, electric conductivity, and elevation were the key active environmental factors in the studied areas.
- Subjects
SAUDI Arabia; INVASIVE plants; PLANT invasions; ELECTRIC conductivity; DAMS; PLANT diversity; SPECIES diversity
- Publication
Applied Ecology & Environmental Research, 2024, Vol 22, Issue 3, p1983
- ISSN
1589-1623
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.15666/aeer/2203_19832004