Vegetation Database of Sinai in Egypt

Abstract

Sinai is an important region in Egypt due to different reasons. One of the main reasons is the variety of plant species it has representing around 40% of plant species of Egypt. Moreover, it has around 60 endemic species. Sinai is characterized mainly by its hot dry climate, however one can find Mediterranean vegetation types mainly in its North, desert ones mainly in the middle and mountainous ones mainly in the south. This vegetation database is an attempt to collect the plant species records made at Sinai by many persons over time. This database is intended to be a nucleus for the National Vegetation Database of Egypt which was initiated by the Botany Department Faculty of Science – of Tanta University under supervision of Professor Kamal Shaltout (Tanta University) with the great support of Professor Joop Schaminee (Wageningen University, Netherlands) and Stephan Hennekens (Alterra Institute, Netherlands). The current database can be used for determining the classification of vegetation at Sinai, getting better understanding of plant species distribution, applying much phytosociological studies and not the last, better management of biodiversity issues at Sinai. The Vegetation Database of Sinai in Egypt (GIVD ID AS-EG-001) comprises around 1,620 releves and it is still growing.