Current status of the floristic composition in Wadi Hagul, Northwest Suez Gulf, Egypt

Abstract

The floristic inventory of Wadi Hagul, Eastern Desert of Egypt is being changed at an alarming rate due to recent human disturbance. The present study provides a description of the current status of the floristic data and prevailing plant clusters in the wadi in relation to soil and anthropogenic factors. Floristic sampling was carried out in 30 stands along the wadi and data on soil factors were measured, whereas the anthropogenic threats were scaled for each stand. A total of 98 plant species belonging to 85 genera and 28 families were recorded. On the basis of their conservation status, the collected 98 species categorized into 79 native (45 common, 34 threatened) and 19 introduced species. TWINSAPN classification allowed to identify the four plant clusters: (I) Launaea spinosa, (II) Zilla spinosa, (III) Zygophyllum coccineum and (IV) Panicum turgidum. Over-collection, urbanization, over-grazing, introduced species, military activities, moisture content, organic matter, electrical conductivity, pH, chlorides, sodium and potassium were identified as the most significant factors controlling distribution of plant clusters by canonical correspondence analysis. The variance partitioning revealed that 48% of the total variability was explained by both soil and anthropogenic factors, only anthropogenic variables explained 18%, while soil factors explained 7%, whereas the combined shared effect was 23%. The information in this study will help us to formulate an efficient conservation strategy to prevent further losses of plant diversity along desert wadis.