Will autogenic succession be sufficient to recover from vegetation cover loss or will soil condition need to be addressed in the arid lands of Kuwait?

Abdullah, Meshal M.; Feagin, Rusty A.; Abdullah, Mansour T.; Al‐Musawi, Layla Isa

doi:10.1007/s12517-017-2911-6

Cited by 15 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…The DMZ and the reserve were fenced for the same period (since 1991), and we determined from previous work that autogenic recovery occurred in the DMZ. Therefore, the data of vegetation cover in the DMZ was taken from our previous work and was compared to the vegetation cover in the reserve in this project (Abdullah et al , ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing native desert vegetation recovery in a war‐affected area using multispectral and hyperspectral imagery: a case study of the Sabah Al‐Ahmad Nature Reserve, Kuwait

Abdullah

Addae‐Wireko

Tena‐Gonzalez

2017

Restoration Ecology

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The primary aim of this project was to assess vegetation changes in the Sabah Al‐Ahmad Nature Reserve, Kuwait, which is a war‐affected area following the Iraqi invasion in 1990. After the liberation in 1991, several portions of the reserve were under a restoration program. Remote sensing has been used as a tool to assess vegetation and land cover changes. We studied the feasibility of three common methods—the Mahalanobis distance (MD), maximum likelihood (ML), and support vector machine (SVM)—for classification of the multispectral imagery (Landsat) and hyperspectral (Hyperion). The reserve was also compared to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) located at Umm Nigga at the northern border of Kuwait, as it had recovered naturally, to distinguish between an autogenic recovery and a restored area. We discovered that the location was damaged during the military occupation, but a rapid recovery of the vegetation was then recorded in the reserve after the war from less than 1% measured in 1991 to 42% in 1998. Then, the vegetation cover significantly decreased in 2002 (26%) and slightly increased in 2013 (28%). We found that similar rapid increase in vegetation cover occurred in most parts of the reserve that was under the restoration program, and in the DMZ, which was naturally recovered. We concluded that remote sensing technologies are helpful tools in understanding the process of vegetation recovery as it provides information on location and timing of recovery, particularly where optimal condition exists.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing native desert vegetation recovery in a war‐affected area using multispectral and hyperspectral imagery: a case study of the Sabah Al‐Ahmad Nature Reserve, Kuwait

Abdullah

Addae‐Wireko

Tena‐Gonzalez

2017

Restoration Ecology

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“…Previous studies found that some native plants in Kuwait can survive and grow over hydrocarbon-polluted soils, including the perennial shrubs Haloxylon salicornicum and Rhanterium eppaposum , and the perennial sedge Cyperus conglomeratus [ 9 ]. The regrowth of native desert plants may also vary from one site to another, depending on the extent of disturbance [ 10 , 11 ]. Vegetation growth was slower at some oil-contaminated areas, such as Umm Gudair and the Sabah Al Ahmad Nature Reserve, in the first two years (1991–1993) due to the higher degree of contamination at these sites.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Different Types of Hydrocarbon Disturbance on the Resiliency of Native Desert Vegetation in a War-Affected Area: A Case Study from the State of Kuwait

Kalander

Abdullah

Al-Bakri

2021

Plants

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This study assesses the impact of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration and soil parameters (heavy metals, chemical properties, and water-soluble boron) on the succession process of vegetation survival in the Al-Burgan oil field in Kuwait. A total of 145 soil samples were randomly collected from the three main types of hydrocarbon contamination, including dry oil lake (DOL), wet oil lake (WOL), and tarcrete. Sampling was also extended to noncontaminated bare soils that were considered reference sites. Remote-sensing data from Sentinel-2 were also processed to assess the level of contamination in relation to soil surface cover. The results showed that TPH concentration was significantly higher in WOL and DOL (87,961.4 and 35,740.6 mg/kg, respectively) compared with that in tarcrete (24,063.3 mg/kg), leading to a significant increase in soil minerals and heavy metals, greater than 50 mg/kg for Ba, and 10 mg/kg for V, Zn, Ni, and Cr. Such high concentrations of heavy metals massively affected the native vegetation’s resiliency at these sites (<5% vegetation cover). However, vegetation cover was significantly higher (60%) at tarcrete-contaminated sites, as TPH concentration was lower, almost similar to that in uncontaminated areas, especially at subsurface soil layers. The presence of vegetation at tarcrete locations was also associated with the lower concentration of Ba, V, Zn, Ni, and Cr. The growth of native vegetation was more likely related to the low concentration of TPH contamination at the subsurface layer of the soils in tarcrete sites, making them more suitable sites for restoration and revegetation planning. We concluded that further investigations are required to provide greater insight into the native plants’ phytoextraction potential and phytoremediation.

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“…However, irrigation did not support the ∆SM during the summer season due to the increase in ET rates. Still, it is critical to keep in mind that this option should be considered carefully to avoid any future complications as intensive watering may not be sustainable in the long term, leading to salinization of the soil [53,54]. This is important since increasing water availability through irrigation may provide a temporary success that is quickly followed by poor plant adaptation and eventual failure [55].…”

Section: Can Irrigation Support the Soil Water Content In Arid Lands?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Effectiveness of Supplemental Irrigation to Improve Soil Moisture in an Arid Ecosystem with an Emphasis on Climate Change: A Case Study from the State of Kuwait

2020

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Arid ecosystems are extremely vulnerable to climate change, which is considered one of the serious global environmental issues that can cause critical challenges to the hydrological cycle in arid ecosystems. This work focused on assessing the effectiveness of supplemental irrigation to improve the actual soil moisture content in arid ecosystems and considering climate change impacts on soil moisture. The study was conducted at two fenced protected sites in Kuwait. The first site is naturally covered with Rhanterietum epapposum, whereas the other study site is a supplemented irrigated site, containing several revegetated native plants. The results showed that supplemental irrigation highly improved soil moisture (∆SM) during the winter season by >50%. However, during the summer season, the rainfed and irrigated site showed low ∆SM due to the high temperature and high evapotranspiration (ET) rates. We also found that ∆SM would negatively get impacted by climate change. The climate change projection results showed that temperature would increase by 12%–23%, ET would increase by 17%–19%, and precipitation would decrease by 31%–46% by 2100. Such climate change impacts may also shift the current ecosystem from an arid to a hyper-arid ecosystem. Therefore, we concluded that irrigation is a practical option to support the ∆SM during the low-temperature months only (spring and winter) since the results did not show any progress during the summer season. It is also essential to consider the possibility of future shifting in ecosystems and plant communities in restoration and revegetation planning.

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Will autogenic succession be sufficient to recover from vegetation cover loss or will soil condition need to be addressed in the arid lands of Kuwait?

Cited by 15 publications

References 39 publications

Assessing native desert vegetation recovery in a war‐affected area using multispectral and hyperspectral imagery: a case study of the Sabah Al‐Ahmad Nature Reserve, Kuwait

Assessing native desert vegetation recovery in a war‐affected area using multispectral and hyperspectral imagery: a case study of the Sabah Al‐Ahmad Nature Reserve, Kuwait

The Impact of Different Types of Hydrocarbon Disturbance on the Resiliency of Native Desert Vegetation in a War-Affected Area: A Case Study from the State of Kuwait

Assessing the Effectiveness of Supplemental Irrigation to Improve Soil Moisture in an Arid Ecosystem with an Emphasis on Climate Change: A Case Study from the State of Kuwait

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