No abstract

The world's largest hydrocarbon disturbance occurred in the deserts and offshore waters of Kuwait during the Second Gulf War in 1990–1991. In this research, remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) techniques were utilized to explore how native desert vegetation has recovered from hydrocarbon contamination after the Second Gulf War. By using RS techniques, change detection analysis was conducted to understand the changes about the coverage and extent of the total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) contamination and vegetation recovery. These changes were traced from 1991 until the hydrocarbon was no longer visible on the ground surface in 1998. GIS spatial analysis was conducted to determine the major ecosystem factors that influenced the vegetation recovery along with the removal of hydrocarbon disturbance. According to the results, autogenic recovery occurred at both sites within a few years and that desert native vegetation was found to have the ability to adapt and recover from hydrocarbon pollution. Native vegetation recovered across 31% of the TPH‐contaminated areas at Umm Gudair and 34% at Wadi Al Batin. The changes in TPH contamination were significantly correlated with the soil type, vegetation type, geological substrates, geomorphological features, and annual precipitation. The vegetation recovery of dominant desert communities in the study area was influenced by soil type, geomorphological feature, and TPH‐contaminated areas. Interestingly, the results showed that these desert communities can recover in areas contaminated by TPH at a higher rate than noncontaminated sites in the study area. Such a study can provide important inputs to the restoration and revegetation programs in arid landscapes.

No abstract

No abstract

In this study, we focused on integrating remote sensing techniques and MaxEnt modeling to develop a restoration approach to determine and rank hotspots for revegetation and restoration planning of native desert plant communities. The results showed that the distribution of suitable habitats for native desert communities varied according to climatic, bioclimatic, soil, and topographic factors. Cyperus species occur in deep loose soil, while Rhanterium species predominate on gypsums or calcareous soils growing in areas that contain a thin layer of gravel. Communities such as Cyperus and Haloxylon were not influenced by the wet seasons, making them suitable for restoration because of their resiliency to grow under harsh and drought seasons. Based on the results, a vegetation restoration approach was designed, which classifies the locations into three categories: community management sites (appropriate sites for one community), restoration sites (appropriate sites for two communities), and prioritized restoration sites (appropriate sites for more than three communities). Limited sites were ranked as prioritized restoration sites, making it essential to consider these locations as optimum hotspot sites for future restoration and revegetation. We concluded that the integrated approach helped develop a detailed vegetation community map that ranked suitability habitats based on several environmental factors, which could be used as biological indicators for restoration planning. The vegetation restoration approach is also functional for regional‐scale studies to identify and rank hotspot locations for revegetation and restoration planning.