Impacts of Anthropogenic Disturbance on Vegetation Structure of El-Maktala Coastal land, Egypt

Abstract

The anthropogenic disturbance on vegetation in El-Maktala coastal land, an unprotected area in the north western coast of the Egypt. That has recently been subjected to blatant encroachments of vegetation, were studied. The most important of these threats is the construction of the road and grazing, 27 species are reported in this study; the most represented plant families are Poaceae (18.5%) and Asteraceae (14.8%). Perennial, chamaephyte and Mediterranean species were recorded in the highest percentage. Canonical correspondence analysis showed that silt, clay, sand contents, PH, EC and CaCO3 content are the factors that have the highest effect on vegetation distribution in the studied stands. The diversity indices in the studied area was moderate. According to Sorenson’s coefficient, these communities have quite a bit of overlap or similarity. The Vegetation Quality Index indicated that coastal land is highly sensitive to desertification, as decrease in plant cover. Recently, the violation and destruction of wildlife have increased, therefore, preserving it along with general biodiversity has become an urgent necessity.