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The present study assesses the impact of waste water discharge on the plant communities and size structure of the common woody species in Wadi El‐Shees, Al‐Jabal Al‐Akhdar, Libya. Thirty stands were selected along two adjacent tributaries (polluted and un‐polluted) in Wadi El‐Shees. Sixty‐five species belonging to 60 genera and 34 families were recorded, predominated with therophytes and mono‐regional taxa and only one endemic species (Arbutus pavarii). The application of TWINSPAN on the data set, led to the recognition of 4 vegetation groups, two represented each of the polluted and un‐polluted regions. Soils of the polluted area have significant higher values of organic matter, salinity, chloride and iron. Ten common woody perennials were selected for estimating the variation in their size structure in the polluted and un‐polluted tributaries. These species include one shrublet, two shrubs and 7 trees. It was found that the density and volume of all species except A. pavarii and Sarcopoterium spinosum were higher in the polluted than the un‐polluted area. Four size distributions were recognized: inverse J‐shaped, bell‐shaped, positive and negative skewed distributions. It was concluded that pollution had significant impact on the plant density and sizes structure of the common woody plants in Wadi El‐Shees. Such study may help in managing and conserving plant diversity in Northern Libya. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

The present study aims at describing and analyzing the floristic composition and vegetation types, as well as evaluating the impact of waste water pollution on the plant diversity and community structure in Al-Marj plain, North Libya. Forty-two stands, distributed among polluted and non-polluted sites, were selected seasonally for this study. A total of 156 species were recorded (92 in the polluted and 121 in the non-polluted sites). Eight vegetation groups were resulted after the application of TWINSPAN and DCA as classification and ordination techniques: four represented the polluted sites, two for the non-polluted sites and other two were mixed groups. Group II (Sarcopoterium spinosum -Pistacia lentiscus), which represents the polluted sites, had the highest values of soil moisture, salinity, sulphate, calcium and potassium; while group VI (Juniperus phoenicea -Olea europaea) inhabiting the non-polluted site, had the lowest value of organic matter, salinity and magnesium. Group VII (Foeniculum vulgare -Nicotiana glauca), representing the non-polluted site, was the most diverse, while VG III (Ricinus communis -Chrysanthemum coronarium), characterizing the polluted one, was the least. Heavy metal analysis, in both soil and waste water, indicated that the concentrations of Pb, Cd, Cr, Cu and Ni in the polluted sites were significantly higher than that in the non-polluted ones. The diagram resulting from CCA showed effectiveness of most soil variables, except carbonates, sodium, magnesium and chlorides. The impact of waste water discharge led to the emergence of new invasive species, which may severely affects the plant diversity and community structure of this hot spot of biodiversity in Libya

This study was conducted in El-Abyar area in El-Jabal El-Akhdar region, northeast Libya. The aim was to study the environmental settings and the potential and possibility of establishing a protected area in this important region from a historical, biological, social, and economic point of view. The methodology included an intensive literature review, distribution of 300 questionnaires, soil and water analysis, fauna and flora survey, in addition to extensive field observation during the period from 2011 to 2021. The study highlighted the significant representative state of the study area for the whole El-Jabal El-Akhdar region in terms of environmental conditions and inappropriate anthropogenic pressure. Although the area has been severely degraded due to the arid climate coupled with decades of mismanagement, it still has remarkable ecological and environmental features and there is a feasible possibility of being converted into an effective protected area for biodiversity conservation with sustainable use of its natural resources by the local population (Category VI on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Classification for protected areas). The remaining barriers for which drastic solutions need to be implemented are a lack of awareness, a lack of protected areas guidelines and national perspectives, interest conflict with local people, a lack of constant funding, and failure of legislation enforcement.