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ECOLOGICAL STUDIES ON RAWDHAT SYSTEM IN SAUDI ARABIA I-RAWDHAT KHORIM

M.M. AL-FARRAJ, A. AL-FARHAN AND M. AL-YEMENI

Abstract: A broad vegetation analysis has been carried out in one of the prominent Rawdhats (Rawdhat Khorim) in the Central region of Saudi Arabia. The vegetation of the study site which is protected from off road traffic is unusually rich, compared to the surrounding areas, with the influence from the sand dunes on one side and calcareous desert on the other side. The study showed that the silt basin is dominated by ephemerals and their distribution and density varies each year, depending on the amount of rain fall. The perennial vegetation. represented by few stands, constitutes less than 10% of the total vegetation cover. An inventory of 112 species. consisting of 4 life forms (trees, shrubs, perennial herbs and annual herbs) alongwith the ecological and meteorological data have been provided. Qudrat studies have also been coonducted on 8 transect lines to verify the average abundance, frequency and density of each species.

Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O.Box 2455, Riyadh 1145I. Saudi Arabia.