Vegetation restoration targeting approach to identify the optimum environmental conditions for the restoration of native desert plants using remote sensing and MaxEnt modeling

Abstract

In this study, we focused on integrating remote sensing techniques and MaxEnt modeling to develop a restoration approach to determine and rank hotspots for revegetation and restoration planning of native desert plant communities. The results showed that the distribution of suitable habitats for native desert communities varied according to climatic, bioclimatic, soil, and topographic factors. Cyperus species occur in deep loose soil, while Rhanterium species predominate on gypsums or calcareous soils growing in areas that contain a thin layer of gravel. Communities such as Cyperus and Haloxylon were not influenced by the wet seasons, making them suitable for restoration because of their resiliency to grow under harsh and drought seasons. Based on the results, a vegetation restoration approach was designed, which classifies the locations into three categories: community management sites (appropriate sites for one community), restoration sites (appropriate sites for two communities), and prioritized restoration sites (appropriate sites for more than three communities). Limited sites were ranked as prioritized restoration sites, making it essential to consider these locations as optimum hotspot sites for future restoration and revegetation. We concluded that the integrated approach helped develop a detailed vegetation community map that ranked suitability habitats based on several environmental factors, which could be used as biological indicators for restoration planning. The vegetation restoration approach is also functional for regional‐scale studies to identify and rank hotspot locations for revegetation and restoration planning.

Predicting the potential distribution of four endangered holoparasites and their primary hosts in China under climate change

“…Then, we calculated the equally-weighted mean values of the three GCMs as a set of future climate data. Climate data in “.tif” format were converted to “.asc” format in ArcGIS 10.6 (Environmental Systems Resource Institute, ESRI) ( Asadalla et al, 2021 ).…”

Seedling Evaluation of Native Perennials for Implementing Large-scale Revegetation Projects in Arid Lands

“…For the choice of revegetation sites, maps of possible green water areas in Kuwait should be employed. Abdullah et al (2022) and Asadalla et al (2021) established maps for large-scale revegetation and restoration planning, by combining remote sensing techniques and GIS (Geographic Information System) with the Maxent model, that identifies green water areas and hotspot locations through the analysis of numerous environmental variables related to vegetation coverage. Furthermore, it is important to assess and monitor the biodiversity changes occurring at the revegetation sites in order to follow the progress and study the vegetation succession rate.…”

“…Furthermore, it is important to assess and monitor the biodiversity changes occurring at the revegetation sites in order to follow the progress and study the vegetation succession rate. Monitoring methods have been employed lately in Kuwait using remote sensing techniques, GIS, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to capture and analyse highresolution imagery and monitor the progress level of each revegetation site (Abdullah et al, 2021a;Asadalla et al, 2021;Abdullah et al, 2022).…”

“…Arid ecosystems face the challenge of intensive deterioration due to anthropogenic activities and climate change. The flora has been adversely damaged by human activities, such as unsustainable agricultural practices, destructive camping, gravel quarrying, oil extraction, urban growth, war-related damage, and natural processes such as soil erosion and soil compaction leading to desertification (Khordagui and Al-Ajmi, 1993;Al-Awadhi, 2001;Baby et al, 2014). The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has defined desertification as 'land degradation in arid, semiarid, and dry sub-humid areas, resulting mainly from adverse human impact and partially from climatic factors' (UNEP, 1994).…”

Water uptake patterns differ markedly among different sand-fixing plants in Mu Us Sandy Land in Northwest China

“…These studies can provide leading insights into plant-soil-water relationships critical for management of water resources.Implications for vegetation and water managementDeserti cation is serious environmental problem in arid/semi-arid regions of the world(Li et al, 2013;Cherlet et al, 2018). Balancing revegetation and water use for sustainable ecosystem remains a challenging task(Asadalla et al, 2021). Large-scale afforestation using high water-demanding trees is a common practice in desert regions(Halik et al, 2019).…”