Abstract
Sinai Peninsula in Egypt is of special ecological interest because of its variable environment, landscape, distinctive flora. In the present study, 75 species were recorded, belonging to 65 genera and 29 families, and 90.7 % of these species are perennials. The most frequent life form was the chamaephytes (49.4 %) and the Saharo-Sindian taxa were the best represented ones (73.3 %). The classification of the 31 stands gave four communities: Nitraria retusa, Atriplex halimus, Cornulaca monacantha, and Retama raetam. According to the two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN) classification, the ordination of stands showed that the groups A and B are markedly distinguishable, while the groups C and D are superimposed. Chlorides, sulfates, Na, Ca, Mg, K, calcium carbonate, and electrical conductivity are the community distribution controlling parameters. Results of this study demonstrated that the distribution of the plant communities and their composition over a small geographic area in desert ecosystems is related to heterogeneous topography and landform pattern. The heterogeneity of local topography, edaphic factors, and microclimatic conditions leads to variation of the distributional behavior of the plant associations of the study area.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abd El-Ghani MM, Amer WM (2003) Soil-vegetation relationships in a coastal desert plain of southern Sinai Egypt. J Arid Environ 55:607–628
Abd EL-Wahab HR, Abd El-Monem MZ, Moustafa AA, Klopatek MJ, Helmy AM (2006) Landforms, vegetation, and soil quality in south Sinai Egypt. Catrina 1:127–138
Abd El-Wahab HR, Zaghloul MS, Kamel WM, Moustafa AA (2008) Diversity and distribution of medicinal plants in North Sinai Egypt. Afr J Environ Sci Technol 2:157–171
Allen SE, Grimshaw HM, Parkinson JA, Quarmby C, Roberts JD (1986) Methods in plant ecology, 2nd Ed, Moore PD and SB Chapman (Eds), Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, pp: 411–466
Ayyad MA, Fakhry AM, Moustafa AA (2000) Plant biodiversity in the Saint Catherine area of the Sinai Peninsula Egypt. Biodiv Conserv 9:265–281
Bansi H, Wina E, Matitaputy PR, Laudadio V, Tufarelli V (2014) Evaluation of Zapoteca tetragona forage as alternative protein source in ruminants’ feeding. Ital J Anim Sci 13:147–150
Barakat NAM, Zahran MA, Zeinab MN, Shawky RA (2010) Assessment of vegetation and nutritive value of three halophytes in Sinai Peninsula Egypt. Egypt J Desert Res 59:1–15
Barakat NAM, Laudadio V, Cazzato E, Tufarelli V (2013) Potential contribution of Retama raetam (Forssk.) Webb & Berthel. as a forage shrub in Sinai Egypt. Arid Land Res Manag 27:257–271
Boulos L (2009) Flora of Egypt Checklist, Revised Annotated Edition, Al Hadara Publishing, Cairo
Dargie TCD, El Demerdash MA (1991) A quantitative study of vegetation-environment relationships in two Egyptian deserts. J Veg Sci 2:3–10
El-Bana MI, Khedr AA, Van Hecke P, Bogaert J (2002) Vegetation composition of a threatened hypersaline lake (Lake Bardawil), North Sinai. Plant Ecol 163:63–75
El-Ghareeb R, Shabana MA (1990) Vegetation-environment relationships in the bed of Wadi El-Sheikh of southern Sinai. Vegetation 90:145–157
El-Hadidi MN (1969) Observations on the flora of the Sinai mountain region. Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie D’Egypte 40:124–155
El-Khouly A, Barakat NAM (2004) Phenological aspects of Lavandula coronopifilia Poir. In Sinai and Red Sea coast Egypt. Bulletin Fac Sci Assuit Univ 33:195–209
El-Morsy MHM, Ahmed STH (2010) Studies on plant cover of Wadi Umm El-Rakham in the northwestern coast of Egypt. J Phytol 2:73–86
Hegazy AK, Fahmy GM, Ali MI, Gomaa NH (2004) Vegetation diversity in natural and agro-ecosystems of arid lands. Community Ecol 5:163–176
Hill MO, P Smilauer (2005) TWINSPAN- for windows version 2.3, Center for ecology and hydrology & University of South Bohemia, Huntingdon & Ceske Budejovice
Jackson ML (1962) Soil chemical analysis. Constable and Co., Ltd., London
Kassas M (1966) Plant life in deserts. In: Hills ES (ed) Arid lands. Methuen, London, p 461
Laudadio V, Dario M, Hammadi M, Tufarelli V (2009a) Nutritional composition of three fodder species browsed by camels (Camelus dromedarius) on arid area of Tunisia. Trop Anim Health Prod 41:1219–1224
Laudadio V, Tufarelli V, Dario M, Hammadi M, Seddik MM, Lacalandra GM, Dario C (2009b) Chemical and nutritional characteristics of halophytes plants used by camels in Southern Tunisia. Trop Anim Health Prod 41:209–215
Mabbutt JA (1977) Desert landforms. MIT Press, UK, Cambridge
Mashaly IA (2001) Contribution to the ecology of the Deltaic Mediterranean Coast Egypt. Online J Biol Sci 1:628–635
McGinnies WG, Goldman BJ, Paylore P (1968) Deserts of the world. University of Arizona Press, USA, p 788
Monod TH (1954) Modes contracte et diffus de la vegetation Saharienne, In: Cloudsley-Thompson JL (Ed) Biology of Deserts, Stechert-Hafner, New York, pp 35–44
Moustafa AA, Zaghloul MS (1996) Environment and vegetation in the montane Saint Catherine, south Sinai Egypt. J Arid Environ 34:331–349
Muller-Dombois D, Ellenberg H (1974) Aims and methods of vegetation analysis. Wiley, New York
Nicholes GE (1930) Methods in floristic study of vegetation. Ecology 11:127–135
Piper CS (1947) Soil and plant analysis. Inter science Publishers Inc., New York
Raunkiar C (1937) The life forms of plant and statistical plant geography. Caledon Press, Oxford
Richard LA (1954) Diagnosis and improvement of saline and alkali soils, US Department Agriculture, Handbook
Täckholm V (1974) Student’s flora of Egypt. Cairo University, Egypt, p 888
Ter Braak CJF (1987) CANOCO-A FORTRAN program for canonical community ordination by [partial] [detrended] [canonical] correspondence analysis. principal components analysis and redundancy analysis (ver. 2.1). TNO Institute of Applied Computer Science, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Ter Braak CJF (1990) Update notes: CANOCO version 3.1, Agricultural Mathematics Group, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Tsoar H (1995) Desertification in northern Sinai in the eighteenth century. Clim Change 29:429–438
Yair A, Danin A (1980) Spatial variation as related to the soil moisture regime over an arid limestone hillside, northern Negev, Israel. Oecologia 47:83–88
Yavari A, Shahgolzari SM, Atri M (2010) Application of floristic marker in eco-phytosociology method for diagnosing existing intraspecific diversity in plants: a case study of Astragalus glaucops. Int J Agri Biol 12:887–890
Zahran MA (2010) Climate—Vegetation: Afro-Asian Mediterranean and Red Sea Coastal Lands. Springer, The Netherlands
Zahran MA, Willis JA (2009) The vegetation of Egypt, 2nd edn. Springer, The Netherlands, p 437
Zahran MA, Murphy KJ, Mashaly IA, Khedr AA (1996) On the ecology of some halophytes and psammophytes in the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft für Ökologie 25:133–146
Zohary M (1973) Geobotanical foundations of the middle east. Gustav Fischer-Verlag, Stuttgart, p 739
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Barakat, N.A.M., El-Gawad, A.M.A., Laudadio, V. et al. A contribution to the ecology and floristic markers of plant associations in different habitats of Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 25, 479–490 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-014-0329-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-014-0329-6