PJB-2023-492
FLORISTIC DIVERSITY, LIFE FORM, AND PLANT LIFE CHOROLOGY AT AL-FAWZAN RESERVE, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
SANAD M. ALSOBEAI
Abstract
Al-Fawzan Reserve in the middle of Saudi Arabia has poor floral diversity studies. A comprehensive assessment was carried out for the first time to analyze the floristic structure, phytogeographical distribution, life forms, and plant diversity of the observed taxa. A total of 145 taxa, belonging to 107 genera and 38 families within the Angiospermae, were successfully recognized. Asteraceae was the plant family that constitutes most of the study area's vegetation (25 species), followed by Brassicaceae (16 species), Fabaceae (14 species), Amaranthaceae (12 species), Poaceae (9 species), Zygophyllaceae (7 species), and Plantaginaceae (5 species, 3.4%), meanwhile, the remaining families were each characterized by the presence of one, two, three, or four species. Chamaephytes demonstrated the highest proportion of species (39.3%), followed by Therophytes (35.2%), Hemicryptophytes (11%), Geophytes and phanerophytes (6.9% each), with Parasites being the least prevalent life form group (0.7%). The floristic data of the chronological analysis revealed that the Bi-regional category is the most dominant chorotype in the study area (46.2%), followed by Mono-regional, Pluri-regional, and Worldwide (37.2%, 12.4%, 4.1%, respectively). Data from the current study exhibited that the perennial's life spans had the highest contribution than the annuals. The current study concluded that 61 species are rare. Out of them, 13 species are classified as least concern (LC) according to the IUCN dataset. The current investigation holds potential value for the effective management and conservation of the studied geographical area.
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