Current Status of the Flora of North Sinai: Losses and Gains | ||||
| Catrina: The International Journal of Environmental Sciences | ||||
| Article 2, Volume 3, Issue 1, 2008, Page 11-26 PDF (486.17 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Authors | ||||
Wafaa Kamel1; Mohamed Zaghloul   2; Raafat Abd El-Wahab1; Abdel-Raouf Moustafa1
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| 1Botany Department, Faculty of Sciences, Suez Canal University, 41522 Ismailia, Egypt | ||||
| 2Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Recent changes in floristic composition and structure in North Sinai due to human impact and contemporary prevailing drought were studied. Three-hundred plots distributed in one-hundred sites were sampled throughout the North Sinai covering different seasons of 2005 and 2006. Two-hundred and eighty-one species were recorded belonging to 187 genera and 52 families. The collected species included a new record to Egypt (Cyperus glaber) L., a new record to Sinai (Persicaria sengalensis (Meisn.) Soják), and a new record to North Sinai (Eminium spiculatum (Blume) Schott subsp. negevensis Koach & Feinbrun). The distribution of the recorded species was estimated quantitatively based on the frequency of presence. The comparisons of the floristic composition and structure in present study with earlier studies (1960s and 1970s) revealed that the flora of North Sinai has been changed dramatically in the past 40-50 years. Four-hundred and fifty-one (62.3%) of previously recorded species were not recorded in the present survey. Our study concluded that unless refugee sites would be established representing different habitats in North Sinai, the documented change in floristic composition and structure would be continue leading to more loss in flora of North Sinai. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Floristic composition and structure; North Sinai, temporal variation, human impact | ||||
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