Vegetation zonation along the desert-wetland ecosystem of Taif Highland, Saudi Arabia

Galal, Tarek M.; Al-Yasi, Hatim M.; Fadl, Mohamed A.

doi:10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.02.086

Cited by 10 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Arid and semiarid regions in Saudi Arabia harbours diversity of annual and perennial plant species due to unique combinations of habitats and ecosystems [1][2][3][40][41][42][43]. In this study, 163 species belong to 124 genera, and 41 families were reported from the 5 sites in Tabuk region.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…However, 135 plant species were reported in the hyper-arid environment of "nafuds" sand dunes in the middle of Saudi Arabia [43]. In desert-wetland, Galal et al [3] reported 142 species in Taif, southwestern region of Saudi Arabia. The variability in the number of recorded species reflects the remarkable plant diversity in this region [44,45].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Saudi Arabia has a huge arid and semi-arid area of more than 2 million km 2 , containing different ecosystems and distinctive habitats harbouring a unique plant diversity [1][2][3], which has exclusive contribution to the flora of the arid region worldwide [3,4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, the degree to which environmental factors influence species composition varies accordingly. Regardless, soil chemical and physical properties are always shown to be the key factors controlling plant diversity [3,18,19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is a long-standing debate and an inconsistency in detecting chief factors structuring plant communities and the patterns of diversity. Several researchers believe that the soil profile and associated topographical factors are the main drivers of plant diversity [3,7,12,20,26,27]. In contrast, some other researchers highlight the contribution of spatial variables and dispersion capability to affect plant diversity [28,29].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Do Spatially Structured Soil Variables Influence the Plant Diversity in Tabuk Arid Region, Saudi Arabia?

Al-Mutairi

2022

Sustainability

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Plant diversity is affected by spatial variables as well as soil physical and chemical variables. In this study, plant species and soil variables were investigated in five sites of Tabuk Province (Saudi Arabia), namely Aldesah, Alzetah, Alawz, Harra and Sharma, to understand if the spatially structured soil variables (pH, electric conductivity (EC), soil texture, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, phosphate, total organic matter (OM), bicarbonate and sodium) influence the plant diversity. A total of 163 plant species belong to 41 families and 124 genera were reported from the 5 sites. Diversity indices including the species richness (alpha), evenness, Brillouin, Menhinick, Margalef, equitability and estimated Chao-1 were significantly different among the studied sites with pronounced high values in Sharma and Aldesah. The highest value of beta diversity was reported in Aldesah (0.253) followed by Sharma (0.171). According to the principal coordinates of neighbourhood matrix (PCNM) analysis, 11 positive spatial vectors (variables) were found. However, after running the forward selection procedures (using 2 stopping criteria), only 3 spatial vectors were retained (PCNM 1 (adj–R2 = 0.043, F = 5.201, p = 0.004), PCNM 2 (adj–R2 = 0.027, F = 3.97, p = 0.006) and PCNM 3 (adj–R2 = 0.019, F = 3.36, p = 0.007)). The linear models between the selected spatial variables (PCNM vectors) and soil variables were produced to investigate their spatial structure. In the first model, the first PCNM 1 axis showed significant relationship with pH and potassium (adj–R2 = 0.175, p = 0.046). In the second model, the second PCNM 2 axis had a significant relationship with OM and sodium (adj–R2 = 0.561, p < 0.001). Lastly, sodium was the only factor significantly correlated with the third PCNM 3 axis (adj–R2 = 0.365, p = 0.002). In conclusion, the spatially structured variables of soil did not show strong influence on plant diversity except pH and potassium, which were correlated with PCNM 1, OM and sodium, which were correlated with PCNM 2, and sodium, which was correlated with PCNM 3.

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