Plant species distribution and spatial habitat heterogeneity in the landscape of urbanizing desert ecosystems in Egypt

Abstract

Information on the urban flora and vegetation in the industrial new cities in Egypt are insufficient and far from complete. For this reason, this study was undertaken as the first attempt to fill this gap of knowledge. For two successive years (2004 and 2005), a reconnaissance survey was conducted in four new industrial cities: 6th October, El-Sadat, Burg El-Arab and 10th Ramadan; aiming at: (1) recognizing the floristic composition and vegetation structure of each of the studied cities; (2) identifying the main urban habitats dominating the studied cities; (3) comparing the vegetation of the urban habitats at the boundaries of each city, where desert soil merges gradually with the agricultural land, with that at its centre (purely agricultural land); and (4) analyzing, quantitatively, the vegetation groups (plant communities) that characterize the urban habitats. A total of 189 permanent stands in the four cities were selected to represent the apparent variation in the different habitats. These stands were distributed as follows: 49 in 6th October, 37 in El-Sadat, 45 in Burg El-Arab, and 58 in 10th Ramadan. Altogether, 305 species of the vascular plants constituted the main synanthropic flora and the total number of species varied from 171 in Burg El-Arab, 157 in 10th Ramadan, 144 in Sadat and 132 to 6th October. The largest families that formed the main bulk of the recorded flora were Gramineae, Compositae, Leguminosae, followed by Euphorbiaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Cruciferae, Cyperaceae, Umbelliferae and Solanaceae. Five main urban habitats (from inner city toward outskirts) were distinguished: lawns, home gardens, public gardens, waste lands and desert outskirts. The most species-rich habitat was the waste lands (172 species), while the total number of species varied from 104 in the lawns and 113 home gardens, to 123 in the desert and 133 in the public gardens. Generally, the recorded synanthropic flora within the five main urban habitats can be classified into: (1) cultivated plant species that included ornamentals, hedges, shade plants, fodder plants, vegetables and fruits; (2) canal banks, salinized areas and wetland plants; (3) xerophytic plants of the outskirting desert; and (4) weeds of arable Urban Ecosyst (2011) 14:585-616

Gravel pads of powerline towers as human-made habitats for ruderal vegetation in some Mediterranean wetlands of Egypt: Implications for management

“…Our results agree with the previous results, where anthropogenic ecosystem such as roads and urban habitats had high abundance of ruderals and weed species in different ecoregions of Egypt (Shaltout and El-Sheikh, 2003;Abd El-Ghani et al, 2011, 2013, in Europe (Sukopp, 2004;Ziarnek, 2007) and in Australia (Johnston and Johnston, 2004;Stenhouse, 2004). Many of these species differ in their degree of establishment in disturbed habitats (Newsome and Noble, 1986).…”

“…Four of these species (A. graecorum, B. indica, Salsola kali and Symphyotrichum squamatus) are considered as ruderal communities of urban habitats in Nile Delta (Shaltout and El-Sheikh, 2003). In addition, four species (C. bonariensis, C. acutum, S. glaucus and Heliotropium curassavicum) represented invasive segetal weeds in the Mediterranean arable habitats (Prieur-Richard et al, 2000;Abd El-Ghani et al, 2011). El-Sheikh et al (2012 recognized the dominance of B. indica, C. acutum and S. glaucus during vegetation succession on the constructed landfill along the shore of Lake Burullus.…”

Flora, Life-forms and Biological Spectrum of Muscat Governorate

“…Diverse habitats are zones of microenvironments at local scales, each habitat supporting a characteristic type of vegetation. As the species distribution is generally limited by its ecological amplitude, [43] climate and habitat filtering, generating species pools, [44], where species adjust their metabolism [45] and produce functional traits as result of adaptation to the microclimates found under variable habitats [46]. Analysis of the present study reveals that highest species concentration was found in gravel rocky terrain, here the life-form composition is dominated by small trees, woody chamaeophytes and therophytes.…”

Asset or Liability? Ecological and Sociological Tradeoffs of Urban Spontaneous Vegetation on Vacant Land in Shrinking Cities

“…Despite the strong environmental filters imposed on USV, the plant communities on vacant land are often diverse, and in some instances, more so than comparable urban or rural habitats [13,18,38,40,45,[75][76][77][78][79]. For example, more tree species were documented on vacant lots in inner-city Cleveland, OH than on residential properties [45].…”