Habitat diversity and plant indicators of El-Harra Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt

Abstract

Habitat diversity is one of the attractive concepts in ecology that reflects the wellbeing of ecological systems. A total of 30 stands were chosen to represent habitat diversity of El-Harra Oasis. Poaceae, fababceae and astraceae were the most common families with 33 species out of 79 species belonging to 29 families. Therophytes and Hemicryptophytes were the most common life forms with 72 % of the species recorded. Chorology of all non-cultivated taxa was investigated. Species richness, Shannon and Simpson diversity indices and evenness was calculated for each stand. Eighteen soil parameters were investigated and results showed large variation among stands. Seven vegetation groups were obtained from the Two-way cluster analysis classification. Environmental parameters correlation with vegetation groups were determined using DCA and DCCA. Significant factors were detected by one way analysis of variance among the seven vegetation groups. Results showed that soil salinity indicators, soil moisture content and soil particles were the most critical factors affecting the ecological diversity in El-Harra Oasis. Indicator species of the seven habitats were halotolreants or halophytes. Managing water resources and agriculture schemes should reduce the magnitudes of salinity problem in El-Harra Oasis.