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374014

Plant-soil Interlinkage Indicates Functional Green Water Areas in an Arid Ecosystem

Article

Last updated: 24 Dec 2024

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Tags

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Abstract

The biodiversity of arid ecosystems is endangered due to environmental factors and human anthropogenic activities. Assessing green water areas and finding biological and ecological indicators is critical to conserving biodiversity. This study investigates the impact of annual plants in conserving green water areas and supporting the ecosystem. We explored the influence of soil conditions and annual plants on establishing and developing perennial shrubs from northern parts of Kuwait dominated by the Rhanterium epapposum community. The study plots comprise 25 vascular plants, with herbaceous plants dominating. The Simpson's reciprocal index for species-rich plots had the highest value of plant diversity (1/D = 14.9), while species-poor plots had the lowest (1/D = 7). Furthermore, Rhanterium epapposum from species-rich plots had the most significant structural values and canopy cover (42%), whereas species-poor plots represented only 8.4% cover. Soil characteristics such as phosphorus (>20%), nitrate (>42%), carbon (>10%), total organic carbon (>63%), and moisture content (>70%) were higher in species-rich plots. In addition, the PCA biplot correlation analysis between vegetation and soil parameters revealed that total organic carbon, nitrate, nitrite, and soil moisture content were the key variables in species-rich plots. We determined that arid areas with a significant number of annual plants are considered a biological indicator of green water areas. In addition, the presence of loamy soil texture is an ecological indicator of a healthy species-rich ecosystem. However, further research is necessary to understand the relationship between biotic and abiotic factors influencing the degree of elements present in green water areas.

DOI

10.21608/cat.2024.374014

Keywords

biodiversity, Ecological indicator, green water, Plant-soil interaction, Rhanterium epapposum

Authors

First Name

Mansour

Last Name

Abdullah

MiddleName

T

Affiliation

Science Department, College of Basic Education, The Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, Alardyia P.O. Box 23167, Safat, Kuwait

Email

m.taleb@paaet.edu.kw

City

Kuwait

Orcid

0000-0002-7228-6744

First Name

Meshal

Last Name

Abdullah

MiddleName

M

Affiliation

Geography Department, College of Arts and Social Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, P.O. Box 50, Oman

Email

m.abdullah1@squ.edu.om

City

Muscat

Orcid

0000-0002-8200-5053

First Name

Zahraa

Last Name

Al-Ali

MiddleName

M

Affiliation

Natural Environmental Systems and Technologies Research Group, Ecolife Sciences Research and Consultation, Kuwait

Email

zahraamma84@gmail.com

City

Kuwait

Orcid

0000-0001-7877-6376

First Name

Mohammad

Last Name

Almousa

MiddleName

A

Affiliation

Science Department, College of Basic Education, The Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, Alardyia P.O. Box 23167, Safat, Kuwait

Email

ma.almousa@paaet.edu.kw

City

Kuwait

Orcid

-

Volume

31

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

49824

Issue Date

2024-08-01

Receive Date

2024-02-03

Publish Date

2024-08-01

Page Start

99

Page End

108

Print ISSN

1687-5052

Online ISSN

2090-2786

Link

https://cat.journals.ekb.eg/article_374014.html

Detail API

https://cat.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=374014

Order

374,014

Type

Original Article

Type Code

644

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Catrina: The International Journal of Environmental Sciences

Publication Link

https://cat.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Plant-soil Interlinkage Indicates Functional Green Water Areas in an Arid Ecosystem

Details

Type

Article

Created At

24 Dec 2024