Ex situ conservation ofDracaena serrulatain Dhofar province, southern Oman

Abstract

Dracaena serrulata is an endemic species found in Oman and northern Yemen. The taxon represents the populations of the dragon tree in the southern escarpments of the Arabian Peninsula. It grows on rocky slopes on the dry plateau at the top of escarpment on north facing hills of Dhofar beyond the range of monsoon at an altitude from 800 to 1400 m. The species is endangered and the trees have been severely damaged in the last decades due to a variety of natural and human activities such as road construction, mine extraction and camel overgrazing. The plants showed poor regeneration within its natural habitat distribution of Dhofar and instant restoration is crucial. Due to mine extraction, many mature, over a hundred years old, Dracaena serrulata specimens were about to be destroyed in the Dhofar mountains. The translocation team at Oman Botanic Garden initiated a rescue program to transplant the trees and save them from destruction. They will be used to create a natural habitat at Oman Botanic Garden and to restore the big, mature trees in their natural habitat in Dhofar. The results showed a negative correlation between the trees size and the overall survival rate. Plants with height range 1-2 m had a high survival rate whereas there was a drop in the survival percentages in the bigger plants. The results showed a positive correlation between the number of tops and overall mortality %.