Ecology of endangered Prunus korshinskyi Hand.-Mazz. in Jabal Al-Lauz, Saudi Arabia: Plant associations, size structure, and nutritional screening

Abstract

The wild Prunus korshinskyi has a restricted distribution in small scattered areas of Jabal Al-Lauz (2580 m above sea level), a mountain in northwestern Saudi Arabia. Major objective of current study is to provide information about P. korshinskyi by analyzing its ecology in terms of floristic diversity, plant associations, environmental features, and its size structure and nutritional value. For this purpose, 12 stands of 20 m2 were selected along the Jabal Al-Lauz mountain ridge. Three plant associations and their environmental variables were identified and characterized after application of a two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN), detrended correspondence analysis (DCA). And canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) as follows: VGI: P. korshinskyi-Astracantha echinus, VGII: Artemisia siberi-P. korshinskyi, and VGIII: Retama raetam-Artemisia sieberi. The edaphic factor affecting the distribution of the associations were pH, potassium and manganese content. The size class frequency distribution of P. korshinskyi shows a J-shape in spring and fall for the whole population; there was no regeneration via seed. Nutritional evaluation showed the fruits had a higher content of total carbohydrate, fats, crude protein, phosphorus, and potassium, and lower content of ash, Fe, Ca, Mn, Mg, and Zn than that in stems and leaves. This ecological knowledge gained through this study would be beneficial for managing and conserving of P. korshinskyi in a Jabal Al-Lauz area with its distinct and unique vegetation.

Climate change and hydrological regime in arid lands: Impacts of dams on the plant diversity, vegetation structure and soil in Saudi Arabia

“…Our results are comparable with the study of Sayed et al, (2020) on the impact of Wadi Jizan desert reservoir which reported that the area around the reservoir harbored several plant species with different life forms and a prevalence of annuals and perennials herbs. Chorological analysis of the surveyed plants revealed the dominance of monoregional elements (57.623%), over the biregionals (27.81%) and pluriregionals, and the presence of the biregional and pluriregonal due to Saudi consider as a meeting point of Africa, South Europe and Asia ( Alatar et al, 2012 , Al-Sherif et al, 2013 , Osman et al, 2014 , Abdel Khalik et al, 2017 , Mahmoud et al, 2018 , Al-Yasi et al, 2019 , Al-Shehri et al, 2020 ).…”