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Vegetation Composition of the Halophytic Grass Aeluropus lagopoides Communities within Coastal and Inland Sabkhas of Saudi Arabia

Sabkhas are unique, highly saline ecosystems, where specially adapted plants can grow. Aeluropus lagopoides (L.) Thwaites is a halophytic forage plant growing in salt marsh habitats of inland and coastal sabkhas of Saudi Arabia. The present study provides an analysis of vegetation composition and di...

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Autores principales: Dar, Basharat A., Assaeed, Abdulaziz M., Al-Rowaily, Saud L., Al-Doss, Abdullah A., Abd-ElGawad, Ahmed M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8912373/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35270136
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants11050666
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author Dar, Basharat A.
Assaeed, Abdulaziz M.
Al-Rowaily, Saud L.
Al-Doss, Abdullah A.
Abd-ElGawad, Ahmed M.
author_facet Dar, Basharat A.
Assaeed, Abdulaziz M.
Al-Rowaily, Saud L.
Al-Doss, Abdullah A.
Abd-ElGawad, Ahmed M.
author_sort Dar, Basharat A.
collection PubMed
description Sabkhas are unique, highly saline ecosystems, where specially adapted plants can grow. Aeluropus lagopoides (L.) Thwaites is a halophytic forage plant growing in salt marsh habitats of inland and coastal sabkhas of Saudi Arabia. The present study provides an analysis of vegetation composition and distribution of the A. lagopoides community in five different regions within Saudi Arabia, emphasizing the environmental factors that affect species distribution. The floristic survey revealed the presence of 48 species, belonging to 26 families. Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Mimosaceae, Zygophyllaceae, and Asteraceae are the largest families (50% of total species). Phanerophyte, followed by chamaephytes, are the most frequent forms, indicating a typical saline desert life-form spectrum. The vegetation analysis revealed the dominance of A. lagopoides in all locations, where it was the most dominant species in Qareenah, Qaseem, and Salwa locations, and the second most dominant species in Jouf and Jizan locations. The flourishment of this halophytic grass within a wide soil range in sabkhas revealed its adaptability to the harsh environment, which could be ascribed to its structural adaptations and modifications, as well as the phenotypic plasticity. The Qareenah and Qaseem locations attained the highest species richness and evenness, while the Jizan location was the least diverse. Within the studied locations, other highly salt-tolerant species were determined with high abundances, such as Suaeda aegyptiaca (Hasselq.) Zohary, Zygophyllum album L.f., Tamarix nilotica (Ehrenb.) Bunge, Cressa cretica L., and Salicornia europaea L. The soil analysis showed a significant variation for all parameters among the studied locations, except for pH, chloride, and clay content. The Qaseem location revealed the highest values of most soil parameters, while the Jizan location showed the lowest. The canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that the community structure and diversity are mainly affected by the soil salinity and moisture. Due to the economic potentialities of A. lagopoides as a forage plant and sand stabilizer, the conservation of its habitats is of vital importance. In addition, this grass could be integrated as a promising forage candidate that can be planted in saline-affected areas, even in the summer dry season.
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spelling pubmed-89123732022-03-11 Vegetation Composition of the Halophytic Grass Aeluropus lagopoides Communities within Coastal and Inland Sabkhas of Saudi Arabia Dar, Basharat A. Assaeed, Abdulaziz M. Al-Rowaily, Saud L. Al-Doss, Abdullah A. Abd-ElGawad, Ahmed M. Plants (Basel) Article Sabkhas are unique, highly saline ecosystems, where specially adapted plants can grow. Aeluropus lagopoides (L.) Thwaites is a halophytic forage plant growing in salt marsh habitats of inland and coastal sabkhas of Saudi Arabia. The present study provides an analysis of vegetation composition and distribution of the A. lagopoides community in five different regions within Saudi Arabia, emphasizing the environmental factors that affect species distribution. The floristic survey revealed the presence of 48 species, belonging to 26 families. Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Mimosaceae, Zygophyllaceae, and Asteraceae are the largest families (50% of total species). Phanerophyte, followed by chamaephytes, are the most frequent forms, indicating a typical saline desert life-form spectrum. The vegetation analysis revealed the dominance of A. lagopoides in all locations, where it was the most dominant species in Qareenah, Qaseem, and Salwa locations, and the second most dominant species in Jouf and Jizan locations. The flourishment of this halophytic grass within a wide soil range in sabkhas revealed its adaptability to the harsh environment, which could be ascribed to its structural adaptations and modifications, as well as the phenotypic plasticity. The Qareenah and Qaseem locations attained the highest species richness and evenness, while the Jizan location was the least diverse. Within the studied locations, other highly salt-tolerant species were determined with high abundances, such as Suaeda aegyptiaca (Hasselq.) Zohary, Zygophyllum album L.f., Tamarix nilotica (Ehrenb.) Bunge, Cressa cretica L., and Salicornia europaea L. The soil analysis showed a significant variation for all parameters among the studied locations, except for pH, chloride, and clay content. The Qaseem location revealed the highest values of most soil parameters, while the Jizan location showed the lowest. The canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that the community structure and diversity are mainly affected by the soil salinity and moisture. Due to the economic potentialities of A. lagopoides as a forage plant and sand stabilizer, the conservation of its habitats is of vital importance. In addition, this grass could be integrated as a promising forage candidate that can be planted in saline-affected areas, even in the summer dry season. MDPI 2022-02-28 /pmc/articles/PMC8912373/ /pubmed/35270136 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants11050666 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Dar, Basharat A.
Assaeed, Abdulaziz M.
Al-Rowaily, Saud L.
Al-Doss, Abdullah A.
Abd-ElGawad, Ahmed M.
Vegetation Composition of the Halophytic Grass Aeluropus lagopoides Communities within Coastal and Inland Sabkhas of Saudi Arabia
title Vegetation Composition of the Halophytic Grass Aeluropus lagopoides Communities within Coastal and Inland Sabkhas of Saudi Arabia
title_full Vegetation Composition of the Halophytic Grass Aeluropus lagopoides Communities within Coastal and Inland Sabkhas of Saudi Arabia
title_fullStr Vegetation Composition of the Halophytic Grass Aeluropus lagopoides Communities within Coastal and Inland Sabkhas of Saudi Arabia
title_full_unstemmed Vegetation Composition of the Halophytic Grass Aeluropus lagopoides Communities within Coastal and Inland Sabkhas of Saudi Arabia
title_short Vegetation Composition of the Halophytic Grass Aeluropus lagopoides Communities within Coastal and Inland Sabkhas of Saudi Arabia
title_sort vegetation composition of the halophytic grass aeluropus lagopoides communities within coastal and inland sabkhas of saudi arabia
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8912373/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35270136
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants11050666
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